Baofeng UV-17R - Should you Buy it?

The Baofeng UV-17R is a UHF/VHF Two-Way Radio than can transmit on 144-148MHz and 420-450MHz, it can receive on 136-174MHz and 400-519.995MH. Is it junk or should you buy it?

[@Milcom34]

Got One. Pretty Cool Little Radio**** Thanks for Your review.

[@keithfoco]

I just got one and so far I am pretty impressed. I love the firmware. It's so much easier to use than the uv-5r-based radios. The memory banks are a welcomed change.

[@smoki2515]

Bought two of these in April 2024 and they were 83 dollars including tax shipping from China and it did include the programing cable. Friend tried to use Chirp to program it and it corrupted the firm ware so he was told to use the Baofeng software to program and it was a free download on line. Amazon provided a new radio for him free of charge.

[@EWSRadio]

I've got one. It's really dirty. Don't care much, but just FYI.