BaoFeng UV-5RE Plus Dual-Band 136-174/400-480 MHz FM Ham Two-way Radio, Improved Stronger Case, More Rich and Enhanced Features (2013 Enhanced Version)

BaoFeng UV-5RE Plus Dual-Band 136-174/400-480 MHz FM Ham Two-way Radio, Improved Stronger Case, More Rich and Enhanced Features (2013 Enhanced Version)..

Grab Now BaoFeng UV-5RE Plus Dual-Band 136-174/400-480 MHz FM Ham Two-way Radio, Improved Stronger Case, More Rich and Enhanced Features (2013 Enhanced Version) By BaoFeng

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110 of 114 people found the following review helpful.
So-Called "Newer 2013 Model" Baofeng UV-5RA Models
By CDC
As a buyer of well-over 300 Baofeng radios (and counting) for the group I belong to (not all of which were purchased through Amazon but many were), I'm always amazed at the lengths some sellers go to to hype their products as being "newer" or "better" than other models, or perhaps (to give them the benefit of the doubt) they just don't know any better.

First, the Baofeng UV-5R series (including the original and still extremely popular UV-5R, I'll explain why in a minute) is what is normally referred to by many as a SDR radio (or software defined radio). While not a true SDR product (you can't use it with your computer to control the radio's functions or scan a wide amount of VHF/UHF frequencies with it), none the less a large chip is programmed on the circuit board built inside each radio. That chip determines what capability the radio itself can perform.

Every UV-5R series radio has the ability to transmit from 136-174 MHz on VHF and from 400-520 MHz on UHF in both narrow-band and wide-band modes (very useful for the occasional FRS or MURS use, which requires narrow-band mode to work correctly).

Every model does "at least" 4W on VHF/UHF from the factory, but occasionally you'll get a batch that does 4.5W or even 5W out, but the difference between 4W and 5W is minimal at best. A 4W radio with a better antenna will easily outperform a 5W radio with the standard crappy antenna that Baofeng ships on ALL (including the UV-5RA, -5RAX, and -5RAX+) models.

Baofeng DOES NOT program those chips any differently for the UV-5R vs. any other UV-5R series (including the UV-5RA). Version 307 of the firmware (which is the most current release I have in any of my radios) works EXACTLY the same way as previous older releases of firmware at least back to the 295 release (over a year ago), so any claim from a seller that this release provides additional features (at least from a user's perspective) is simply BOGUS, since the firmware inside both radios have the same features. In fact, my UV-5R radios with the 307 firmware release is EXACTLY the same radio (inside and within the firmware) as my UV-5RA radios with the 307 firmware release.

Second, you CANNOT in any way upgrade the firmware (unless you count buying a different radio and it comes with a different firmware release), so again the claim in the listing from some sellers that you can is simply BOGUS.

Third, you can believe that two thinner pieces (glued or screwed together on the faceplate of the UV-5RA) is somehow stronger than one thicker piece of plastic (on the original UV-5R series) if you like (and maybe it is), but I haven't seen that in real-world use from my own UV-5RA units. The standard UV-5R units that we use seem to hold up just as well (when dropped in the desert dirt or rolling down a hill) as any other Baofeng radio we own and use.

Fourth, and my biggest issue with all of the non-standard UV-5RA, UV-5RAX and UV-5RAX+ units, is that NONE of the Baofeng battery accessories (except the little 1800 mAh standard battery) work WITHOUT modification (unless you use a Dremel tool to grind or cut off part of your extended battery that works on the standard UV-5R - but won't work on your UV-5RA, UV-5RAX or UV-5RAX+).

Getting new UV-5RA units that don't work with Extended 3800 mAh batteries (without modification) doesn't make my group happy. That may not bother you, but NONE of the sellers of the non-standard UV-5RA, UV-5RAX, and UV-5RAX+ units ever seem to mention that lack of hardware compatibility in their listings, so buyer beware!

BTW, NONE of the "AA" or "AAA" battery shell packs work on the UV-5RA, UV-5RAX, or UV-5RAX+ units either, so that's 3 different battery accessories (including the 3800 mAh extended battery) that you can't use on these radios without hacking them with a Dremel tool (but they all work without modification on the original UV-5R units).

So "if" you want a "pretty" radio (as my wife calls it), buy one of the various versions of the UV-5RA (or -5RAX, or -5RAX+) with the shiny face plate and live with the fact that you'll be modifying ALL of the battery accessories you buy later in order to get them to work. Oh, you should see how well that shiny faceplate lights up when a flashlight hits it in the dark, just the thing you don't want for night use.

Virtually every guy in our group ends up carrying a standard UV-5R and giving the UV-5RA, -5RAX, or -5RAX+ to the wife or kids, since the wife and/or kids rarely care about the other accessories working and they (the wife and kids) tend to like the "pretty" radios, but again there is NO INTERNAL difference and NO EXTRA FEATURES in the UV-5RA, -5RAX, or -5RAX+ units (other than a different looking shiny faceplate) vs. the original and still wildly popular UV-5R (which I refer to as the M16 of radios, as all the accessories you match it up with just plain work).

Now you know the real background on these radios.

72 of 73 people found the following review helpful.
Great Radio...Great Price.
By Ice
Been a ham operator for 36 years and have seen and used all sorts of radios. This one is really good for the price.
Really can not believe they are so cheap in price.

Radio has some of the loudest receive audio in an HT then I have ever heard. Audio output is 1000mW which equals 1 watt. Transmit audio is clear and crisp. Radio for me was easy to program, granted you should do some reading in advance and use appropriate cable drivers and software. I preferred to use "Chirp" software as it is less troublesome then BaoFengs own software.
I had ready programmed by second day of use. Programmed in many ham repeaters and local fire and police frequencies. Through the software, I was able to program alpha tags for each frequency in memory. You can program up to seven alphanumeric names per memory channel. Through software, I programmed all ham repeaters to be skipped when I am in scan mode. This enabled me to only scan my local police and fire frequencies. My computer is using Windows 7 Professional software.

The cable I used was Baofeng Programming Cable for BAOFENG UV-5R/5RA/5R Plus/5RE, UV3R Plus, BF-888S (Newest Version, Support WIN7,64 Bit). B00CP0I474
This one is the one made by BaeFeng with proper Prolific chip in cable. Others might have issues with counterfeit Prolific chip in cable. I did not want to take a chance with cheaper cable, so I bought the one I just mentioned.

Make sure you use correct Prolific chip driver. I used Prolific PL-2303 Drivers 3.2.0.0
System Requires 32 / 64 bit Windows Vista / 7 / 8. Check out [...]

These sites have lots of great info:

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Hope this helps all who are thinking about this radio. It has exceeded my expectations.

PS. Also has FM radio built in....works well.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
More than you expect for $50, but not perfect
By William R. Sweeney
The UV5R is a miracle. How can so many features be sold for so little?
What you get is a pretty decent in-town repeater radio.
It's no Kenwood or ICOM, but it does work.
It's tiny antenna isn't so great for rural repeater or simplex use.

Pro:
Decent sound/transmit audio.
Seems well made, good guality feel transceiver.
Talking prompts for buttons for night.
Good battery life
Uses Kenwood HT accessories
Can actually hit the satellites with dual band
Works with CHIRP shareware programming software(still in beta only)
FM radio and light can be useful

Con:
Low gain OEM duck, reverse SMA connector limits replacements
Cheap charger has easily bent/broken contacts. No car charger available.
Incredibly bad manual, complex to program manually
Poor included software
Transmit for more than a few minutes, and the screen goes dark (LCD temperature issue)
USB programming cable is often made with counterfeit chips, may have issues with Win7 driver install
USB response does not always work, buggy upload/download, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't
Seems a bit sensitive to impulse noise.
Firmware not upgradable, new firmware is already out but older radios may not have it

But hey, its a knock around who cares about it radio for $50. REALLY

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Asus Nexus 7 (2013) ASUS-2B32-LTE 7-Inch 32GB Tablet - Black

Asus Nexus 7 (2013) ASUS-2B32-LTE 7-Inch 32GB Tablet - Black..

GET Asus Nexus 7 (2013) ASUS-2B32-LTE 7-Inch 32GB Tablet - Black By Asus

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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
Nexus 7 Is one of the best as long as it works!
By K. Geddings
I got this myself for christmas but after reading some of the reviews and issues with problems with it i decided to take it out of the box and try it out for an hour or so tonight just to make sure none of the "out of the box issues" that a few people were having did not happen, after all it would be terrible if i opened it up christmas and it had major issues, as my family will be there and more family coming in that weekend. It seems the vast majority of issues with the Nexus 7 has been out of the box.

So i opened it up tonight, charged it up. took about only 2 hours to charge it to 99 percent which was pretty nice. I updated to the latest android version right away (4.4.2 which just came out last night) and then installed two of the test apps that people have been using the GPS test and a multi-touch test app. (as that app is able to directly see any phantom touches or incorrect touch issues) i ran the touch app for a bit, no issues, it picked up on my touch with many fingers, no extra taps were shown at all. I then used the GPS test app , (after i disabled wifi so that it would only pick up my location through the GPS) while in my house it took a few seconds longer then in some videos to pull up the GPS and it had a not so great accuracy but that was inside the house.....so good enough. when i went outside with it and took a walk from my house to my church (which is a few blocks and under a pretty tree filled path) it did fine with no drops and around 10-15 feet accuracy on average (walking not in car)

Some people have said the brightness of the nexus 7 is too bright in low light. i turned it all the way down (as it was very dark outside) and i did not feel it was overly bright at all, felt just right. I ran a little risk taking it outside without a case (as i would get the case before christmas) but i had no trouble holding it and it did not feel like it wanted to come out my hands at all as long as i was careful.

I ran the GPS app for about 30 mins total without any drops.

I am into photography not as a pro but just as a way to express myself and connect with others. I had a Canon DSLR but downgraded to a powershot 110 HS as i wanted something smaller and that camera does very well for the price. Some have said that the camera in the nexus 7 wasnt all that great. i took a few test shots ( even a few in low light outside) and i think the quality is very good. In some cases it may overexpose things but overall it was able to produce realitively sharp and clear images that would be just fine on the 7 inch screen and look pretty good on a larger monitor.

Video quality was good too but..it may have been the low lighting in my room or something but i found the video clips i took were a bit laggy for some reason. the nexus 7 itself did not feel laggy otherwise, maybe it was just being not the best light or something. but i assume it would do good in better light during the day. But that is something to note. Picture quality is good but video quality may be hit or miss inside in lowish light. But for me thats not a big problem. I just wanted a small tablet that could take decent pictures and on that this wins, I think unlless you are a pro photographer or have a high end camera phone and just love it. For average pictures while you are out and about..say you just want to have "one" device that you can use without having to fiddle with another camera or cell phone camera this would do you fine.

The only thing i do not like is the camera app. it is simple enough unless you need to get into the settings with uses a weird circleish menu.......but no fear. there are a few good quality photo apps you can use with Android that replace the slandered camera app and if you are into pictures i would HIGHLY RECOMMEND you do that. I also liked that you could change the aspect ratio. i used 16:9 which does shrink the megapixels down a bit but looks much better when viewed back on the 16:10 nexus 7 screen and looks just fine on a 16:9 monitor.

there were a few shots i took that i thought were pretty impressive even without editing.

The screen is very nice its very easy to read text, i pulled up a free google book and had no trouble with that, pictures look very good on it and overall it just feels like a quality product.

I did not try any games on it just yet (saving that for christmas) but google maps and google earth seem to run fast and good on it.

I also did not have any restart or freezing issues in the hour or so i have used it. It turned off a few times but that was when i found out it was set to go to sleep in 2 minutes and some apps (Like the gps test app) will still cause it to sleep when used. So i recommend go into the settings and change the sleep mode to 30 minutes. and i think there are apps /settings that can tooggle which apps can and cant cause sleep mode to happen.

Battery usage seemed pretty good I used the nexus on about 1 hour and a half ish on just battery alone after charging to 99 percent and i took a few pictures some video clips and used the gps test app for about 30 minutes and came back after using itotal for about an hour and a half to 92 percent charge left

to me that is very good and if you dont use the gps and do other things i am sure it will last longer too.

I love the size and feel of the nexus 7 it just is small enough. its not too small and its not too big. My last tablet was the ipad 1 so this is a pretty good upgrade for me. I felt the ipad 1 for its time was a good tablet but its larger size and weight made it not so easy to carry around while walking to the church and showing things to people on foot with one hand and all. plus the ipad 1 has no cameras.

Holding it while out tonight just felt nice. but i would recommend getting a case for sure as it feels just a tad fragile carrying around without a case. but has a solid build and does not feel cheap at all

Oh and i forgot to say but the front facing camera is good enough. it took decent pictures of me in average indoor light in my room at night. so good enough in my opinion though the camera placement on the front is a bit odd but no problem.

I haven't even used half of the features of the nexus 7 yet. but i am very impressed and glad to see that it will work fine Christmas when i re-open it. I have not tested out the LTE yet (but that was not really something people have complained about)

I will update this later for more infomation when christmas comes around i just wanted to make sure there was no issues and problems out of the box. Oh and i had no problem with it finding my wifi connection, i know some people have said they had issues with wifi connection as well. felt solid and fast to me!

All and All this is one of the best tablets for the price i am sorry for those who had hardware issues but i got mine this past week from Google so maybe some of the newer batches directly from them have fixed some of those issues. I would say give it a chance it seems 9 times out of 10 this will be a flawless product!

I am glad i took the dive and know come christmas i will have a lot of fun and get a lot of use out of it!

So dont be afraid of the bad reviews some have posted on here, i say give it a chance and hopefully you will not be let down!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
Best of the Best
By Z Habib
Bought this item from Google Store so technically I'm only writing a review here because there isn't one of this product on Amazon.

So mine arrived back in October with T-Mobile sim card which I dont use. I wanted this device because I wanted to run Whatsapp on it hence I needed a SIM card tablet device and this one fit the bill perfectly. Plus I wanted a Google android, I knew KitKat was on its way, ASUS is a great brand and owning a Nexus is my dream.

The device is great. It runs smoothly, is very quick in performance. No lag time at all. There was no krap installed from before. I love the swype gesture and ofcourse KitKat 4.4 is already on my device since well over 2 weeks now.

The screen is amazing. The clarity, ufff! If the screen gets puggy i just wipe it off with my shirt and thats it! good as new! The back side can be cleaned off easily but since I purchase 2 rooCases (slimshell) along with this device, I dont really need to clean the back side.

This device also has a notification light which is uber awesome :)

If any of you folks need to know more, ask away. I may not be a verified amazon purchaser but i did buy the device from Google Store and love it to the very core.... hmm that actually rhymed ;)

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Verizon won't activate
By topaz_john
This is a great tablet, perfect in every way except that Verizon, the only carrier in my area, will not support it for LTE. Others have activated an older tablet and transferred the sim card to their Google Asus Nexus 7 which seems to work just fine. I paid extra for this tablet so I could access the stock market, weather etc. in remote locations without wifi but I'm the victim of some sort of competitive Google/Verizon turf battle. I'd recommend this very nice, well sized, and wonderfully detailed screen tablet with 5 stars if you can use ATT or Tmobile who will activate and support this newest generation of Google Nexus 7.
Feb 17, 2014..update..Verizon has apparently resolved any issues it had with my Google Asus 7 Tablet and I was able to activate it at the Verizon Store. This is an amazing tablet, just what I wanted and very versatile. 5 stars

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