Motorola and Kenwood are good brands but you are also paying a premium price for their brand name. As a great many consumer grade radios are made in China, Malaysia, and other countries with low cost labor, it doesn't always pay to always shop brands. Some of the Chinese radios are every bit as good as your favorites but your rant reminds me of the early PC days when the mantra among IT people was "Nobody gets fired for buying IBM." There were (and still are) PCs that not only rivalled the IBM brand but surpassed their products with greater reliability and features,