so i just passed my technician exam last week and im trying to figure out what handheld to buy. everyone keeps telling me different things and im getting a little overwhelmed honestly. some guys at the club said just get a baofeng to start, others said no get something better right away so i dont learn bad habits or whatever. i dont even fully know what that means

i mostly want to hit the local repeaters and maybe do some simplex with my neighbor who also just got his ticket. budget is probably around 150 bucks maybe a little more if it makes a real difference. ive been looking at the yaesu ft-65 and also the wouxun kg-uv9g but i honestly cant tell if the extra features on the wouxun are worth it or if ill even use them. any thoughts from people who have actually owned these things would be really helpful

congrats on passing the exam, welcome to the hobby. okay so the baofeng thing - they work fine for hitting repeaters, i started with one and it did the job. the reason some people say avoid them is the build quality is hit or miss and programming them can be a headache without chirp, but honestly thats true for a lot of cheap radios. that said if your main goal is local repeaters and simplex with your neighbor, a uv-5r or one of the slightly newer baofengs will absolutely do that and you'd still have money left over for an antenna or a programming cable.

the ft-65 is a solid step up though, yaesu stuff tends to be more durable and the audio is noticeably better on rx which matters more than people think when youre trying to copy someone through a busy repeater. i cant speak to the wouxun personally but ive heard good things about their build quality compared to baofeng. if you can stretch to 150 i'd probably lean yaesu just for the peace of mind and resale value later if you decide to upgrade. either way you cant really go wrong for what youre trying to do right now

I was in almost the exact same spot about 8 months ago and ended up going with the ft-65, no regrets. hits all the local repeaters fine, battery lasts forever it seems like, and its small enough to clip on your belt without feeling like youre carrying a brick. the menu system is a little weird at first but you get used to it. definitely grab chirp and a programming cable, doing it manually is tedious