I should receive the RA86 within days according to shipment tracking. I ordered it direct from Retevis; $89 with the programming cable and the 3db (dinky) antenna. I cannot yet comment on the radio's quality or function.
I can however comment on Retevis customer service. They seem to take customer concern seriously (as far as I can tell) and have stated that the aforementioned reception issues have been addressed. We shall see.
Otherwise, I've previously made a couple HT purchases directly from Retevis and so far so good.
I figured $89 bucks is worth a shot for camping/kayaking/fishing coms. No cell service where we spend a lot of the summer adventures.
If anyone is interested I'll update, if not,
Best to ya!
