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Addressing the original question. There are discussions on Motorola and Kenwood HTs on this forum. I settled on Kenwood because I was already familiar with their mobile radios. My criteria for handheld were: - Part 95 (because I wanted to be squeaky clean legally and RF-wise when on GMRS), HAM frequencies is nice to have but not required - No less than 16 programmed channels - Reasonable price on ebay, below $100 - Lithium batteries (low self-discharge current allows them to be stored for months and maintain the charge) - that turned out not to be so much important - Programming software avilability - Parts availability, like cases, buttons, whatnot... So I settled on Kenwood TK-3170-K (and it's brother 3173-K). I have four of these for 4 years, with 3 still working and one quit on me (receives but does not transmit). They are honest 4 Watts, Part 90 and 95, perform on 70cm HAM band just fine (software complains about out-of-range, but still works). They are significantly bigger and heavier than Baofengs, but still not a burden for a day hike. As all Part90/95 equipment they can be programmed in a foolproof way that people who have no clue about radio can easily operate them without fear of striking wrong frequency or rendering radios non-working. I did a quick and dirty comparison against Baofeng UV-B5 and Yaesu FT1-XD, the performance is on par with Yaesu, but outshoots UV-B5 both HT-HT and HT-repeater. With all that said, should I start anew today, I would probably go with TK-380. It's bigger than 3170, has NiMh battery and weird connector for external headset and programming. But it is almost twice cheaper on ebay, and NiMh allows for an easy refurbishing with new cells.

Yes, CCR is the LOL of radio.

Could be a bad lot number, batch of 60 or so get made with a sub part or other issue and is not caught, Amazon gets that entire lot and Bam that's what happens. There are plenty of reviews on these radios not out puting their ratings. ALSO I have seen one like yours where it is cranking out 70-80 watts. But that's doesn't say much for consistency. I have UV-5Rs that run excellently. I still have both the 82HPs, they are in fact rebranded uv6r's it's right in the box from btech and only put out 6watts on high. And again look through reviews you will see this is not uncommon. One actually quit work without using an external mic.

Which proves the point, that those things are a hit or miss, b/c the QC is just not there. Again, I started with those and I have a dozen or so of these BF-888S at home set as intercom. The point I am trying to make here is to be VERY AWARE of what you're getting, understand its limitations and make an educated purchase. G.

this software can be used to adjust power levels to your liking BTECH UV-25X2 and UV-50X2 Squelch Engineer Software