Downs

I'm too far away from that Sherman unit but if you ever make it out towards Greenville we have a fairly well active local repeater.  
 
https://mygmrs.com/view?id=1525

So, as AdmiralCochrane pointed out on another thread... there isn't a main thread where the pros/cons of brand, non CCR, name radios are explained, so beginners don't fall on the Cheap China Radios trap... thinking they are getting a killer deal, when they are not. The question for this thread is: Why are used, and usually older, brand name radios a much better value than most Cheap China Radios? or CCRs?
 
Most of those 2nd hand brand radios, Motorola, Kenwood, ICOM, et. all are perfectly functional radios, some might have scratches, dirt, etc, but they are no longer being used b/c the company upgraded to fancier models, usually with color screens and lots of buttons to click around, etc...
 
The best example I can think of this are the XPR 4550/6550 Gen1 MotoTRBO radios (DMR) which are, as measured, still pretty darn good radios for the money; obviously the Gen2 have even better receivers, and fancier screens, with more buttons in some cases. 
 
So, I'll start with the XPR 6550 portable series. First I'll put the price I've seen on average on eBay, then some pros/cons. Average price doesn't mean its always that way, some go for much higher, others have gone for much lower. 135 is the average of what I paid for all my 6550 radios, so its not a made up number.
 
Average cost: $135 USD, eBay. Usually includes charger and battery, both tend to be genuine as well. Some might even include programming CD too..
Cost of programming cable: 35-85 bucks, 85 being Moto genuine cable, 35 being the no brand one. I have one of each. 
 
Pros:
-High performance, tunable, varactor Front End. (Radio won't become useless (desense) when other strong signals are around)
-The last superhet dual conversion in the XPR line AFAIK.
-LCD backlit screen. (6550 model)
-Motorola SMA connector. (same as Baofeng, ugh... blasphemy... Motorola and Baofeng should never be in the same sentence hahaha )
-Lots of inexpensive accessories, including batteries and chargers, if you want to keep costs down vs. the genuine Moto accesories. 
-FM and DMR digital (Tier II)
-Battery on digital will last a very long time.
-Submersible, and the brand name Motorola shoulder mics are also submersible too.
-Nearly indestructible... don't ask me how I know this.
-Microphone can also sport an antenna without an additional cable, since the side pinout has a coaxial RF out. (very handy feature)
-Loud, in fact its so darn loud you can use it in place of an alarm clock.
-Several audio tuning features, which improves audio quality to your liking.
-A ton of "community" support.
-Very easy, and affordable, to replace the entire housing if it ever breaks. 
-Service manuals to fix nearly anything that might wrong.
 
Cons
-Single band.
-Bigger than average... its not a brick, but its much bigger than say, a TH-F6a... 
-CPS can be challenging at first... it was quite daunting for me when I first moved into DMR style CPS/radios... but once you get the hang of it there is no going back.
-No VFO, if you like that sort of thing. I thought I would miss that, I haven't, and I think its been nearly a year since I stopped carrying my Alinco MD5...
-Rotary knob cannot be locked when the keypad is locked. Can be frustrating, but you put the holster loop around the antenna so its not a problem.
-16 channels per zone. This one was somewhat of a pain... since the Rotary Encoder only has 16 positions, the channel per zone is just 16. I split the GMRS channels into FRS and GMRS channel zones, so I could fit 14 FRS use and 16 for GMRS use, 12.5 vs 20.
-Needs an entitlement to do 25kHz, which can be obtained free from Motorola.
-Only Part 90.
 
 
G.

I'd go with the 7550e, as it has a numeric keypad.  The radios are all pretty much push-to-talk once you have them programmed, and you can do it with software that makes it very simple.  
 
You can learn all the direct entry features as you go along.  
 
They all seem like very good radios, Motorola doesn't really make junk.  It will last a very long time and take a beating.  I will note that the 7580e is not a GMRS radio, so there's that.

A repeater that has a large coverage area is often referred to as a “high-profile” repeater. 25, 50 miles and more are all practical and possible under the right conditions. You will read experiences on this forum of 75 + miles. Distances are the radius from transmitter to repeater and vice versus. So a repeater with a radius of 50 miles can mean 50 miles in all directions from repeater (or a 100 mile diameter). The best GMRS repeater in Cincinnati has about a 40 mile (radius) range or more.
 
Repeaters transmit on the 8 of the same frequencies that your radio uses for simplex. So even if you are not in repeater mode you can hear transmissions from both repeaters and simplex users.
 
If you are hearing transmissions from persons separated by great distances you can bet you are listening to them from a repeater.
 
The quality of an FM signal is fantastic throughout the majority of its usable transmission range under any given set of circumstances. Ever notice how the quality of an FM commercial radio broadcast is so good until you get near the edge of its coverage range? Quality falls off very quickly as you are approaching the edge of its usable coverage range.
 
Also, some repeaters are linked. This means that repeaters in some cities are linked to repeaters in other cities. This allows a repeater in city A to pick up a user around city A and the signal will be transmitted in both city A and in City B.
 
Sunday night is a night in which some nets are active. If you are listening to repeaters connected to a net, do no be supervised to here conversations between folks coast to coast. On two occasions I personally spoke from Cincinnati to New Jersey, upstate Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin, Iowa and Los Angeles.
 
Spend time reading the zillions of posts in this forum and you will learn lots.
 
Welcome, and enjoy the journey.
 
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM
 
 
 
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HRO-Plano is your only shop in your area they ship fast too.

The main problem with most CCRs is not the transmitter (though that too can be an issue, but usually to traffic on other frequencies), it is in the receiver. Most, but not all CCRs, are created equally (i.e. poorly). But there are exceptions.

If FRS works for them and don't want to upgrade to business radios, then that's perfectly OK.  I am OK with business use of FRS.  Most business users of FRS are casual users of 2-way radio and don't need expensive business radios and the hassle with FCC licensing that goes with it.  Given that business use of FRS is 100% legal, it helps fill this niche, sort of like what PMR446 does in Europe.  Accommodating casual business users of 2-way radio as FRS does helps keep the Part 90 Industrial/Business (IB) pool frequencies more available for licensed users who really need those frequencies.
 
I recently had a paving crew resurfacing one of the streets next to my house and the flaggers were using FRS.  I saw them using FRS and I quickly found them on FRS channel 1 (462.5625).  The flaggers were only about 100 feet or so apart and FRS worked fine for them.  What was different about them was they behaved themselves and strictly used the radios for what they were meant for.  They actually sounded professional, unlike the usual sewer mouth chatter you normally hear from flaggers on FRS.

Downs bought the 1225, for substantially less than that and without the cable.
The Kenwwood is better in terms of finding the proper software. Also has more channels.
 
For your use, either is good but the Motorola is more compact and maybe a little simpler to operate. But if you do get a Motorola, it's probably best to pay a shop the $25 or so to program it, or buy it from a shop (used-radios.com for example) that will program it for you.

For using it for amatuer use? Yeah sure. Im not advocating freebanding here. The GMRS btech will run you 55 dollars.  
When the FCC starts to care about other things let me know. If they truly cared they could roll out to the california desert and write enough citations to fund the FCC for a year, in one day.
 
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More like 24 vs 150. While that may not be a big deal for you to drop 150 dollars to test out a new hobby others may not be in the same financial position.
 
I must have the best luck ever when it comes to cheap radios then. Ive got a pile of their HTs and a couple of their mobiles. No radio failures. I have had 2 batteries fail out of probably 15 or so batteries.
 
One of my original UV5Rs has been riding around on my motorcycle handlebars for about 5 years now, exposed to off highway use, vibrations, rain, sun, ice, its been completely ejected a few times taking spills on dirt roads at 30 or 40 mph after being a little airborne on the bike. Looks awful with faded buttons and rusted wrist strap attachment and screws but still functions and gets good audio reports.
 
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Ignore the Baofeng hate.  Instead of trying to get the 82C to do what you want legally you can always get the BTECH GMRSV1 (a UV82 certified for GMRS use) and do what you are seeking. 
 
[offtopic]Some folks have large amounts of money to dump into their hobbies others do not.  I have to balance a limited income across multiple things I like to do including Jeeps, Shooting competitively, radios, motorcycles, ect and without the Baofengs on the market I probably wouldn't even be in the radio hobby because there's no way I was going to dump 150 dollars into a handheld radio to come to find out it didn't do what I wanted to do with radio spectrum, or be something I would enjoy to mess with.  My initial UV-5R got my foot in the door to take the test and that one radio turned into a pile of radios including some Japanese radios that I don't even use regularly anymore and now live on my workbench[/offtopic]

I'm brand new to GMRS, but been into Jeeps since 96. We are installing Midland MXT-115s in my wife's, Brother's and my Jeep shortly.
we are in SC, I hate mud, but have to deal with it. WRFE441

Bearing Boxcar's point in mind (taking the statements in the regulations broadly, rather than as strictly binding) that does make a definite difference in perspective.
 
I've been looking at the broad amount of information available on repeaters, the sort of "community" in the linked repeaters and the nets, and people sharing their stories of communications, combined with the marketing of GMRS in offroad communications, and I've been thinking of GMRS as a sort of "Ham-lite". 
 
I guess the reality that "community" is a lot smaller piece of the big picture of GMRS than it seemed, and both in intent and largely in practice, GMRS is actually a lot closer to being "FRS-plus". 
 
I think I've also missed the context a lot of these stories are part of; that most people have a lot more "connections" than i do, that some of this "community" fits into, be it friends, family, or social groups/clubs.

I've currently got 45 P1225's (mix of 2ch & 16ch)  and over 20 CP200's in my rental fleet. Then there's the mix of 36 VHF and 36 UHF Vertex VX & EVX portables - not to mention all the Trbo DMR radios.  I think I'm set. Some folks think I'm just sick.

For using it for amatuer use? Yeah sure. Im not advocating freebanding here. The GMRS btech will run you 55 dollars.  
When the FCC starts to care about other things let me know. If they truly cared they could roll out to the california desert and write enough citations to fund the FCC for a year, in one day.
 
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More like 24 vs 150. While that may not be a big deal for you to drop 150 dollars to test out a new hobby others may not be in the same financial position.
 
I must have the best luck ever when it comes to cheap radios then. Ive got a pile of their HTs and a couple of their mobiles. No radio failures. I have had 2 batteries fail out of probably 15 or so batteries.
 
One of my original UV5Rs has been riding around on my motorcycle handlebars for about 5 years now, exposed to off highway use, vibrations, rain, sun, ice, its been completely ejected a few times taking spills on dirt roads at 30 or 40 mph after being a little airborne on the bike. Looks awful with faded buttons and rusted wrist strap attachment and screws but still functions and gets good audio reports.
 
Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Ignore the Baofeng hate.  Instead of trying to get the 82C to do what you want legally you can always get the BTECH GMRSV1 (a UV82 certified for GMRS use) and do what you are seeking. 
 
[offtopic]Some folks have large amounts of money to dump into their hobbies others do not.  I have to balance a limited income across multiple things I like to do including Jeeps, Shooting competitively, radios, motorcycles, ect and without the Baofengs on the market I probably wouldn't even be in the radio hobby because there's no way I was going to dump 150 dollars into a handheld radio to come to find out it didn't do what I wanted to do with radio spectrum, or be something I would enjoy to mess with.  My initial UV-5R got my foot in the door to take the test and that one radio turned into a pile of radios including some Japanese radios that I don't even use regularly anymore and now live on my workbench[/offtopic]

Ignore the Baofeng hate.  Instead of trying to get the 82C to do what you want legally you can always get the BTECH GMRSV1 (a UV82 certified for GMRS use) and do what you are seeking. 
 
[offtopic]Some folks have large amounts of money to dump into their hobbies others do not.  I have to balance a limited income across multiple things I like to do including Jeeps, Shooting competitively, radios, motorcycles, ect and without the Baofengs on the market I probably wouldn't even be in the radio hobby because there's no way I was going to dump 150 dollars into a handheld radio to come to find out it didn't do what I wanted to do with radio spectrum, or be something I would enjoy to mess with.  My initial UV-5R got my foot in the door to take the test and that one radio turned into a pile of radios including some Japanese radios that I don't even use regularly anymore and now live on my workbench[/offtopic]

For the record, a programming cable for the Bao Feng UV-5R will work just fine. Be sure to get one with FTDI however, as the cheap knockoffs may not work at all.

I used to work with a guy who had no less than 8 mobiles in his personal vehicle. He had pulled the passenger side seat so that he could install a homemade "console" that also held his Laptop and 3 radios, along with his converta-com amp. He also carried at least 3 portables with him most days. 
 
I remember asking him one time how many radios he could talk on at once. I also remember that AAA cancelled his membership because he requested too many jump starts.
 
Some people can take anything too far.

no, thats what we call a "Whacker" lol

You'll get yourself all twisted up trying to find "Legal" Part 95a radios with Type Certification.  Especially if you want a certain standard of actual (not just advertised) performance.
 
Take a deep breath, and go searching the FCC violations for ANY instance where a user was fined specifically for using Part 90 radios in GMRS.  You'll search high & low without finding a single instance.
 
Your options for good (and relatively inexpensive) radios increases dramatically once you take the step over to Part 90 equipment (which meets or exceeds all Part 95 technical spec's.)
 
I am not a lawyer, your mileage may vary. Caveat emptor, etc.

Same here.  '19 Wolverine X4 with Kenwood TK880.   And a Kenwood HT and Wousun HT.
 
I'll be relegated to simplex when camping unless I'm near my local area where there are available repeaters.  There are no repeaters near where I camp for extended periods.   Without a repeater and someone monitoring that frequency the odds of reaching a random rescuer is slim.  But simplex with fellow riders should work pretty well (I've yet to put mine to the test).
 
Go to Map on this website to find repeaters that might be in your range.
 
Lots of folks here with more expertise and experience than I.

Got it, thanks!

toggle on the show offline and outdated repeaters to see them all