[Boafeng GMRS-V1]

I've spent the last 2-3 days playing with the V1 I just received.  I don't have equipment to test the actual wattage this thing is putting out, it does have an option of selecting Hi/Low power on a per-channel basis, and the simplex channels are all set to low power by default whereas the duplex channels are set to High. There is however, nowhere in the manual nor on the radio itself that specifies what High TX power vs Low TX Power actually is.  That said:

 

I found the build quality to be far superior to a typical bubble pack radio, however short of the ICOMS I own (F21GM and F4TR1) and the Motorolas I used back in my days as a paramedic (Big bricks that could be thrown, full force against a brick wall and still keep going).  Overall I think this thing could take the beating of normal wear and tear, but I doubt that it would stand up to hard core duty on a daily basis.  Still for ~$55 it's hard to beat.  

 

Simplex transmission is clear and loud on the receiving end, the supplied rubber  duck is good enough, but I swapped it out with a Nagoya 701C and the difference was undeniably noticeable.   In fact, with the 701C, I was hitting a distant repeater much more consistently and on the RX side, I was receiving weaker signals than I was able to do with my ICOMS which ARE 5 watt radios IIRC.  I don't know if it is the wattage or the fact that the 701C is tuned better than the antennas on my ICOMs, and in the end I can't tell you if this is legitimately a 2 or a 5 watt radio, but I would be just as comfortable talking through one of these in an emergency as I would my ICOMs.

 

Programming from the keypad is not difficult, but getting the programming cable and doing it via chirp would probably be easier.  Everything is selectable and modifiable except that you can only TX on the GMRS frequencies. Tones can be programmed directly from the keypad and you can program additional channels VHF and UHF bands for scan-only operation. The one problem I had is that I could not program my local NOAA weather channel.  I can switch to VFO mode and enter the frequency and receive the signal, but when it came time to saving the frequency to a channel, it would not do it.  Any other frequency seems to save without a problem except for that one.  

 

I haven't had it long enough to comment on battery life but they do take the larger BL-8L 3600 mah battery that you can get for the uv-82 HP's

 

One thing that surprised me was how compact this radio is.  It is tiny and I am seriously considering the larger battery just to make the thing more substantial.   

 

Hope that helps.  I'd be glad to update this later with more info if anyone is interested.  I know there was a lot of curiosity about these radios.  For the price of a pair of bubble packs, this radio has been a real pleasure to use so far.  

If you get the extended battery for your GMRS-V1 please let us know how it works out for you and any major pros or cons compared to the stock battery. Thanks!

[Boafeng GMRS-V1]

I got mine in late November and have used it occasionally.  No problems so far.  One thing I noticed is how quick the stock battery charges - 2.5 hrs. 8.2 volts.  I left it on (scanning) for several days before it needed recharging.  I put up a quick and very 'amateur' Youtube video up on Nov. 25.  I'll probably do another video later when I get a better cam.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y6Fa1Tu97I