WRWH978

Pretty disappointed after watching the review. (thx) Wonder if there will be a V2 in a year or so? I'll stay with my retevis RT97 repeater in the meantime.

Lithium batteries have a great self life over NiMH and NiCAD batteries. They will keep their charge capacity nearly at full charge for a long time where as NiCAD batteries have one of the worst self discharge rate with NiMH batteries a little better than NiCAD.
Also, NiCAD batteries need to be exercised and conditioned regularly or they will eventually fail with a short service life. NiMH batteries have a little better service than NiCAD but no where near as a Lithium battery. I have a couple Lithium batteries that are approx. 10 years old and they still reconditioned above 90% capacity.
Also, if you put NiCAD and/or NiMH batteries on the shelf or they have been sitting on the shelf before their initial use for long periods of time, you may need to "reform" the battery in order for them to relearn their use and charge duty cycles or they will perform with short use duty cycles between charge cycles.
In otherwords, you need to take care if them and make them happy or they will just be pissed off and not perform as expected.
I learned this from a class that Alexander Battery or was it Multiplier, I don't remember now it was one of them, hosted at an APCO National Convention back in the 90s. Following this practice I feel has given  me great longevity for the batteries whereas I have seen people not performing good maintenance were  constantly replacing batteries prematurely.

They only put out 5 watts on TX. I run the VHF version for some of my SAR sites and they all run thru a TPL 100 watt amplifier. Thats how they would ship when purchased new. They are a solid little unit so If your looking for a commercially made unit that will last this is one to use. 

I dont know that there is a "right" or "wrong" answer, but if storing anything for a long period (more than several months), I would, and always do, remove the batteries..  
..and, upon reflection, i think that is actually the "right" answer..

Would ammo (metal) boxes work? Something like this?
https://www.minutemanstove.com/products/minuteman-faraday-emp-electronics-protection-box?variant=40623487287375
If so, would be a good way to stash an emergency radio and some accessories.

Go jump on it. I would, if I did not have four of them already:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266327438043?hash=item3e025a32db:g:o0MAAOSw8j9kc3QY&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwJU%2B%2F62jI%2F09cb8W%2FP7DsJ4OoYgKBsHR25P%2FGaaJ8M5VUJUL306ARrTijgep5YOaQssrqbxrMWiC9xToo1iZv%2FZ7%2FpNWM3QODRRpAVrVJA6Qygy95qrkhw%2F6oc6WfjmkouBxj6tjLWOAPrtdwttcc4hHhp1EDfXwIpLDt10IRS5vRPvjmyaKyML6Gas95e%2FwX2u1XU7I6QxSfpAEKCDsvGgYziCzxXzEMNyoaZXT4R2OAgNRxF%2FVuL5mi04dtEbiIQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4Slo5GsYg
But you also would need programming cable, keep this in mind.

Save your money and buy a quality radio.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. Things to consider:
- condition of the radio, how much it is beaten up;
- condition of the battery, assume you will need to replace it;
- speaker and programming port: 3170/73 have Kenwood port that is also used by the majority of CCRs, so cables and speakerphones work. 3140 has a different, more robust connector, but that means buying special programming cable that will not work with Baofengs. Do you have Baofengs? Do you plan to have Baofengs?
- you will need charger, 3170/73 takes both LiPo and NiMH batteries, so makes sense to get universal charger KSC-25;
- antenna connector, Kenwood radios generally not compatible with CCR antennas, you will need authentic Kenwood antenna, they are cheap though.
In 2014 it was no brainer to get a pair or three of 3170 for $100 total, replace broken parts, get new batteries, and have a good radio for about $70 a piece. Today ebay prices on used Kenwood radios went up, so I'm not so sure anymore. New KG-805G is only $100.

It's based on the IC-F21 commercial model, so I'd say it is a robust radio, but not to the tune of $150.00
I lucked into a used one a few months ago for $49.00, I replaced the OEM antenna with another one [the original was starting to deteriorate], I need to get a NiMH battery for it, it came with a 600 mAh Ni-Cad
I have a programming cable that fits anther Icom & found the software online, so I reprogrammed it to my preferences, since out-of-the-box, channels 1-8 are repeaters, channels 9-15 are the 462 MHz interstitial, & all channels are set to narrow band, so I tweaked it a bit
Programming it with multiple key/PTT presses? No thank you
If you're an Icom aficionado, & want a Part 95 h-t, I'd say get one, but I wouldn't pay more than $50.00 max depending on it's condition & what accessories it has, just my .02 cents
73

You'll have to shop around a bit. Don't get in a rush to buy one. A second alternative is the TK-3173. It's the same radio but with trunking features, which you won't care about for GMRS. It's programmed using the same software and cable as the TK-3170.
http://www.swscomm.com/kenwood/TK-3173.pdf
Oh, before I forget the radios are Part 95 certified to so they are perfectly legal to use on GMRS.
Also make sure you get a US market code model. They are several different types out there. I got two from Ireland a while back that required a different version of the software to program them. Look at the photos and VERIFY it has an FCC ID of  "ALH34713110". Sellers frequently get the description wrong so looking at the FCC ID is a good way to be sure what you're looking at is what you want.
If you get either one I have all the documentation, brochures - user manuals - service manuals, for them. I also have the programming software and the most current radio firmware too.
While the official frequency range is 450MHz to 490MHz you can program in frequencies under 450MHz for use on the Ham 70cm band if you have a license or thinking about getting one. The software will generate a warning every time you do that but will accept the entry when you click OK. I have a number of Ham 70cm repeaters programmed in mine and it does work. One of the reasons I like Kenwood radios. Some other manufactures won't let you do this.
TK-3170 Grant.pdf

If a nearby C4FM radio also has Group Monitor turned on with the same group ID, it’s possible to have a simplex conversation directly between the two radios.  If you connect through a repeater you do tie up repeater resources.

Howdy to everybody, I've been a lurker on the forum for a few months now... great knowledge here, still learning much about GMRS and radio in general.
Matt

Howdy to everybody, I've been a lurker on the forum for a few months now... great knowledge here, still learning much about GMRS and radio in general.
Matt

I have three of these and not regretting the purchase yet, if anything just for the coolness of operating the radio with the app. I did some testing of the range via texting and was able to get about a mile in my hilly neighborhood with the stock antenna.

Howdy to everybody, I've been a lurker on the forum for a few months now... great knowledge here, still learning much about GMRS and radio in general.
Matt