I got my HAM license back in 2016 and was lucky to get one of the last VX-8s available before model discontinuation. I love that radio and we’ll keep it to the bitter end. In fact, this radio, with its quad bands and all of its upgrades, does so much, that it took me until 2022 to finally get another HT (FT-5D).
When my VX-8 was stolen this past June, I seriously looked at the FT-5 myself.I didn't like the $500 Price Tag, and that's a LOT for a Dual Band HT! So, I bought a VX-6 as a stopgap measure with the hopes of finding another VX-8; Which I DID! Even today, VX-8s are highly sought after, nd bring serious Money. I was EXTREMELY lucky with my find last Friday!
DUDE! Im so glad I stumbled on this video! I thought I knew my VX-8DR pretty well but I never knew how to, "stick" the volume on! This has always been the thing I hated about this radio over my VX-7! Thanks!
I noticed at the beginning he was Using 49mhz RadioShack radios, I still own two of those single channel 49 MHz radios, and a 5 channel 49 MHz radios that still work today. I.enjoyed your video on EDC radio. great job.
@@DonzLockz i got really lucky. The high price is testament to the design and functionality of this great radio. It's probably at peak price at the moment.
@TheoSmith249 Yes, 100% agree. I just picked up a used VX-6R that looks like it's never been used, mint condition. I love it but still get alerted on saved searches on the VX-8xx. One day. :)
I have been a ham for 32 Years. The VX-8 is my ALL TIME Favorite radio! I bought my last VX-8 8 Years ago. It has NEVER had n issue or failed me in ANY way. This past June, it was stolen out of my vehicle, in broad daylight, while I was at home. Someone had some SERIOUS Kahonies! My wife was out of town that day and she had the Dog with her-I think the Dog would have alerted me in time had he been there. The radio was found last Friday Morning a half Mile from our house. A Dept. of Trans. worker found it. The Sheriff's Deputy who took my original report believes it was druggie who took it, THOUGHT it was a cell phone, could not make that "Phone" work, so they chucked it into the ditch. where it sat in the weather for 14 Weeks! Battery appears to be good, but the Radio itself is toast. Two weeks after the 8 was stolen, I bought a new VX-6-because there were no VX-8s I felt were worth buying. There was ONE of facebook, but the person was asking $500 BUCKS! Not gonna happen. So lastFriday morning the DOT employee hands my wife the radio, as our was the closest house to where he found it-She recognized it as MY Radio. I called the Portland Ham Radio Outlet where I originally purchased my VX-8 to let hem know it had been recovered. I'm soaking it in a bag of Rice to get the moisture out, but I DO think it's done for. This was friday Morning. The Portland HRO told me the Sand Diego Store had a VX-8 with an asking price of $200.00. I called the San Diego Store, and spoke with Joe about their VX-8. It was brought in as a consignment by a woman whose Husband had recently passed. It had its original Battery, an Alkaline Case, a Speaker Mike, and the manual. I shared my story with joe, we talked "Shop" about the VX-8 for a bit, and I was leaning very strongly towards buying it. When Joe offered to send it to me for the $200.00, and free shipping, I jumped on it! I ordered it Friday-it went out in the Mail from San Diego on Saturday-It arrived in my PO Box on the North Oregon Coast on Monday. I owe a debt of thanks to the Ham Radio outlet in Portland and the Ham Radio Outlet in San Diego, for their ABOVE-aND-BEYOND level of service and professionalism I plan to keep my new VX-6 as it also is a FINE radio. But my beloved new-to-me VX-8 is my BABY! Bruce A. Forster-AC7AA
That is a bummer about the vx8..but a really good price. I think that’s what I paid for mine a few years ago. I still used it all the time. It’s weird with all the waterproofing that water got inside. Was it cracked or something? It might live again once you get it all dried out..
You may have to pull it apart to get at that water..not too hard to do. Pull the antenna nut out and the data port nut off with a pick or tiny screwdriver, same with the channel selector and it’s nut…then a couple screws on the back and carefully pull it apart. That will give you a good look to see if there really was water in it..could be the battery contacts got corroded. I had a couple of China batteries that would not connect to the little tabs on the back..pretty touchy.
@@design2survive I don't believe battery is the issue-original Yaesu and seems to take a charge okay. I can SEE the condensation inside the glass on the display, and when I removed the battery, the metal body of the radio was wet. I do not expect it to recover, so that's why I bought a used VX-8 from the HRO Store in San Diego.
I have one of these. I don’t use it. I don’t have a ham license. I have used it as a scanner to listen to emergencies. My town uses different frequency frequencies. I can’t listen with this radio. I can listen to every township in the area. I don’t know what my town uses. Is this radio still relevant in 2024? I was going to get a vx6, is that a better option. I’m going to take my test soon. I just want this for emergency use. Should I keep this radio or get the vx6?
A lot of towns have gone digital.. so a vx6 wouldn't help you in this case. The VX6 is probably a little easier to use as a ham radio than the vx8. I still love my vx8 though..it has some quirks but does it all.
@@design2survive they went to something called Rave alert. I live in Indiana, but can hear all Chicago with it. It’s a great lil radio/ scanner. I’m sure it has lots of stuff. I don’t really know how to use it. I’m watching videos and learning. It’s kinda fragile, the rubber cover for charging port and earphone jack broke….Well the screw in the middle. I might just glue it back on. The little plastic where the screw goes.
I love it. It actually is a three band handy, because it can also tx on 6m/50-52MHz. Instead of the mike, you could plug in a GPS unit, which makes the ARPS much more powerful. I paid 350 €, and with it came a bluetooth-insert, so no need of a mike. The con: The NiMH-battery is not very potent, and leaks power, and the device cannot be charged with a 5-V-powerbank, neither with USB. I had to buy a 12-V-powerbank. But that is ok for me. What also is excellent: The mod. I was more or less understood 12 mi away over the "grass" (QRM).
The US version is actually a quad band. It has limited power output on 220mhz as well. 12v is fine because it works on a basic car battery for charging.
I own the same radio. There is no TX limits on mine when I got it. But regarding chinese radios, I reccomend Wouxun because it is the only brand I don't recieve on the harmonic frequencies. I reccomend the third party speakermic, because the original one is very weak on volume. I have been using a Diamond SRH-320A reccomend that, but it shorted itself/open circuit. The antenna that you get with the radio is very good. Very nice SWR. But not on like PMR channels, SRH-320A has a decent SWR on PMR446.
I have this radio but am completely new to HAM radio. I do have my license but all of the language for operation is pretty foreign to me. I live in Portland. DO you recommend any books or classes I could take to understand Ham a little better. The test was fine but it didn't teach me what I wanted to start using my Ham radio. I realize every unit is different but I'm looking to just understand the basics. Thanks.
Claude M. P. Are people able to hear you? Can you get any audio at all? I know there was an issue with the speakers making contact on some of the early radios.
@@redneckoutdoors5214 They basically do the same thing..the vx 8 has dual receive. It’s more of a Swiss Army knife. The vx6 is like a waterproof ft65. It’s more simple, but probably tougher than the vx8. It has wide receive, so you can listen to shortwave. I use dual receive all the time..scanner on one and ham frequencies on another.
@@design2survive oh ok that's cool just wanted to know which radio would suit me better and it seems like the vx6 would be my choice because of all it features.
Hello I like this device. Can I buy a 4-year second-hand yaesu vx 8? (good enough to be used for many years?) This radio has many variants 8 / r / dr / e vs which is the best?
@@design2survive thank you for your reply. What do you say for many years of use of the device (for attentive use) and the frequency ranges they have are the same in all versions?
I recently got into ham radio and bought myself a Baofeng UV-82HP. Thing is that this radio really looks cool and I feel like the baofeng is too unreliable if SHTF. What I'm looking for in a radio at the moment is that it will be good in an emergency situation. So the 5 hour battery kind of makes me question if I should get it or not, since my baofeng has 15 hours of battery life. Anyways, would this radio be a good radio to buy in my situation? Or is there any other radio that you think that I should look into? Thanks and have a great day! Edit: Forgot to mention that FM radio is a must have
@@design2survive oh okay. Do any of them have gps? Being able to handle some water would also be quite good Have also heard that baofeng's have acesss to more frequencies (if that term is right) and you gotta open up a yeasu and do something with the motherboard to have access to more frequencies. Is this necessary? Thanks!
Elliott :D no just a plain Jane radio. It has broadcast radio built in as well. For waterproofing you will need to spend quite a bit more. $225 or so on the vx6
@@design2survive oh okay, thank you very much for the quick responses! I'm kind of on a tight budget at the moment. Which radio of your recommendations would you feel like is the best? Does the vx6 have gps? Since I feel like having access to gps on the radio might come in handy. Do you happen to know any website where I can get a used one? I'm very new to ham and don't really know what's good or not. Thanks!
Elliott :D I don’t really know if any have a full gps..the vx8 has gps for use with aprs..but it’s not like a mapping system. I think you’d need a separate gps to get what you want. I think those yaesus are good values..
@@design2survive Thanks. Is there an antenna I can purchase though? I don't have the sort of set-up here for things that are not neatly accessed and put away lol
I wish they still made and sold this VX-8 - I would buy one in a heartbeat. I far prefer this HT to the new colour HT with all the digital voice modes - I am not interested AT ALL in DMR or DSTAR or whatever they are called
SETH KINSEY so many factors. Probably a couple miles with a short antenna. I’ve hit repeaters 30-40 miles away. So it just depends. Battery life on the bigger ones is usually a couple days.
@@design2survive I did. I own my Vx-8DR for 5 years and did the mod long time ago. I am also a HAM. I need that frequency because in south america it is the primary emergency freq in mountaineering but seems that this little radio is not capable of TX in that wave. Cheers!
I think the lack of chip availability, and overall cost would make it not feasible. Couple that with yaesu’s terrible marketing, and it would be impossible.
The best ht...6 meter band, a bit impractical perhaps, but...imho... the best ht so far...sad they stopped making them...good video detailing the radio...73...de...AC3FB...
No wonder I couldn’t use mine. Too many buttons and gismos. I bought every bell and whistle , GPS, computer program, extra battery , various antennas, connectors etc and I’m an extra!
I got my HAM license back in 2016 and was lucky to get one of the last VX-8s available before model discontinuation. I love that radio and we’ll keep it to the bitter end. In fact, this radio, with its quad bands and all of its upgrades, does so much, that it took me until 2022 to finally get another HT (FT-5D).
When my VX-8 was stolen this past June, I seriously looked at the FT-5 myself.I didn't like the $500 Price Tag, and that's a LOT for a Dual Band HT! So, I bought a VX-6 as a stopgap measure with the hopes of finding another VX-8; Which I DID! Even today, VX-8s are highly sought after, nd bring serious Money. I was EXTREMELY lucky with my find last Friday!
DUDE! Im so glad I stumbled on this video! I thought I knew my VX-8DR pretty well but I never knew how to, "stick" the volume on! This has always been the thing I hated about this radio over my VX-7! Thanks!
I noticed at the beginning he was
Using 49mhz RadioShack radios,
I still own two of those single channel 49 MHz radios, and a 5 channel 49 MHz radios that still work today. I.enjoyed your video on
EDC radio. great job.
I wish they still made this. It checks all the boxes for me. Thanks for the video!
I have a few models, drop me a line if interested
Great review and I LOVE your sense of humor at the beginning.
Great to see all the stuff it does. Ive been looking for a year but cant find one.
I found one on craigslist . Non ham. 2016 version. Perfect condition. 300bucks. Was looking for over 1yr.
@TheoSmith249 Wow, that's awesome! I seen one recently here, but it was AU$1100 !!!
@@DonzLockz i got really lucky. The high price is testament to the design and functionality of this great radio. It's probably at peak price at the moment.
@TheoSmith249 Yes, 100% agree. I just picked up a used VX-6R that looks like it's never been used, mint condition. I love it but still get alerted on saved searches on the VX-8xx. One day. :)
This radio has tons of functions! Hopefully they come out with an updated model with all these features! Great video!
Zach’s Stuff I don’t know what’s up with yaesu over the last couple years..the vx8 series was top notch in my opinion..
I absolutely love this radio. I have a few of them.
Great Video. I use a Yaesu VX-8DR for my EDC as well. Very good radio.
I have three of these fully equipped and love them 73 de N1AD
I just got one and love it so far. What kind of accessories do you use?
Seth Wheeler the external mic, Diamond 77 antenna, gps, extra batteries 73 de N1AD
@@Stevenfclark cool, I'm looking up now. Have you used. A longwire for it?
I have been a ham for 32 Years. The VX-8 is my ALL TIME Favorite radio! I bought my last VX-8 8 Years ago. It has NEVER had n issue or failed me in ANY way. This past June, it was stolen out of my vehicle, in broad daylight, while I was at home. Someone had some SERIOUS Kahonies! My wife was out of town that day and she had the Dog with her-I think the Dog would have alerted me in time had he been there.
The radio was found last Friday Morning a half Mile from our house. A Dept. of Trans. worker found it. The Sheriff's Deputy who took my original report believes it was druggie who took it, THOUGHT it was a cell phone, could not make that "Phone" work, so they chucked it into the ditch. where it sat in the weather for 14 Weeks! Battery appears to be good, but the Radio itself is toast. Two weeks after the 8 was stolen, I bought a new VX-6-because there were no VX-8s I felt were worth buying. There was ONE of facebook, but the person was asking $500 BUCKS! Not gonna happen.
So lastFriday morning the DOT employee hands my wife the radio, as our was the closest house to where he found it-She recognized it as MY Radio. I called the Portland Ham Radio Outlet where I originally purchased my VX-8 to let hem know it had been recovered. I'm soaking it in a bag of Rice to get the moisture out, but I DO think it's done for.
This was friday Morning. The Portland HRO told me the Sand Diego Store had a VX-8 with an asking price of $200.00. I called the San Diego Store, and spoke with Joe about their VX-8. It was brought in as a consignment by a woman whose Husband had recently passed. It had its original Battery, an Alkaline Case, a Speaker Mike, and the manual.
I shared my story with joe, we talked "Shop" about the VX-8 for a bit, and I was leaning very strongly towards buying it. When Joe offered to send it to me for the $200.00, and free shipping, I jumped on it! I ordered it Friday-it went out in the Mail from San Diego on Saturday-It arrived in my PO Box on the North Oregon Coast on Monday.
I owe a debt of thanks to the Ham Radio outlet in Portland and the Ham Radio Outlet in San Diego, for their ABOVE-aND-BEYOND level of service and professionalism
I plan to keep my new VX-6 as it also is a FINE radio. But my beloved new-to-me VX-8 is my BABY!
Bruce A. Forster-AC7AA
That is a bummer about the vx8..but a really good price. I think that’s what I paid for mine a few years ago. I still used it all the time.
It’s weird with all the waterproofing that water got inside. Was it cracked or something?
It might live again once you get it all dried out..
You may have to pull it apart to get at that water..not too hard to do. Pull the antenna nut out and the data port nut off with a pick or tiny screwdriver, same with the channel selector and it’s nut…then a couple screws on the back and carefully pull it apart.
That will give you a good look to see if there really was water in it..could be the battery contacts got corroded.
I had a couple of China batteries that would not connect to the little tabs on the back..pretty touchy.
@@design2survive I don't believe battery is the issue-original Yaesu and seems to take a charge okay.
I can SEE the condensation inside the glass on the display, and when I removed the battery, the metal body of the radio was wet.
I do not expect it to recover, so that's why I bought a used VX-8 from the HRO Store in San Diego.
@@bruceforster3709 that's a bummer.. I was hoping that submersible factor would help.
Built like a tank waterproof very easy to operate ideal fm em comm radio needs a big battery and a good antenna still got one works well
How does it know distance and direction on the a APRS function if you don’t have GPS connected?
I don't know why Yaesu stopped selling this HT.
myantispambox such a great radio
I agree. The VX-8DR is the best handheld ham radio Yaesu has ever produced in terms of ruggedness! I own one and it is awesome.
is there any comparable replacement? or is the vx-8r still in production?
Might have been trying to boost sales of the ft2 and ft3 models.
@616e6f6e They don't have built-in APRS capability though...
I have one of these. I don’t use it. I don’t have a ham license. I have used it as a scanner to listen to emergencies. My town uses different frequency frequencies. I can’t listen with this radio. I can listen to every township in the area. I don’t know what my town uses. Is this radio still relevant in 2024? I was going to get a vx6, is that a better option. I’m going to take my test soon. I just want this for emergency use. Should I keep this radio or get the vx6?
A lot of towns have gone digital.. so a vx6 wouldn't help you in this case. The VX6 is probably a little easier to use as a ham radio than the vx8. I still love my vx8 though..it has some quirks but does it all.
@@design2survive they went to something called Rave alert. I live in Indiana, but can hear all Chicago with it. It’s a great lil radio/ scanner. I’m sure it has lots of stuff. I don’t really know how to use it. I’m watching videos and learning. It’s kinda fragile, the rubber cover for charging port and earphone jack broke….Well the screw in the middle. I might just glue it back on. The little plastic where the screw goes.
I love it. It actually is a three band handy, because it can also tx on 6m/50-52MHz. Instead of the mike, you could plug in a GPS unit, which makes the ARPS much more powerful. I paid 350 €, and with it came a bluetooth-insert, so no need of a mike. The con: The NiMH-battery is not very potent, and leaks power, and the device cannot be charged with a 5-V-powerbank, neither with USB. I had to buy a 12-V-powerbank. But that is ok for me. What also is excellent: The mod. I was more or less understood 12 mi away over the "grass" (QRM).
The US version is actually a quad band. It has limited power output on 220mhz as well. 12v is fine because it works on a basic car battery for charging.
got mine a month ago, really great! But the power test said only 3w at high... Have check it out, or may it depends by the battery no really full?
Are they still worth it? I got offered one for US$470
I own the same radio. There is no TX limits on mine when I got it. But regarding chinese radios, I reccomend Wouxun because it is the only brand I don't recieve on the harmonic frequencies. I reccomend the third party speakermic, because the original one is very weak on volume.
I have been using a Diamond SRH-320A reccomend that, but it shorted itself/open circuit.
The antenna that you get with the radio is very good. Very nice SWR. But not on like PMR channels, SRH-320A has a decent SWR on PMR446.
The best HT of all time. I wish I could find another one. Kc3fsx
NickPixelTV I was able to find this one on qrz.com..such a great radio.
I have this radio but am completely new to HAM radio. I do have my license but all of the language for operation is pretty foreign to me. I live in Portland. DO you recommend any books or classes I could take to understand Ham a little better. The test was fine but it didn't teach me what I wanted to start using my Ham radio. I realize every unit is different but I'm looking to just understand the basics. Thanks.
I saw 146.840 briefly on your display. Are you in the Portland area???
Thankfully not anymore.
I think this is the sexiest radio Yaesu has ever made.
I have one but I can not hear anything when someone is sending me a signal any idea
Claude M. P. You probably have the APRS modem turned on on the b band..
@@design2survive off since this afternoon here is my email I am stuck. STAC@VIDEOTRON.CA
Claude M. P. Are people able to hear you? Can you get any audio at all?
I know there was an issue with the speakers making contact on some of the early radios.
Is the Yaesu vx-6 does the same like this one
It doesn’t have 6m or aprs.
@@design2survive but other than that they are almost the same radio
@@redneckoutdoors5214 They basically do the same thing..the vx 8 has dual receive. It’s more of a Swiss Army knife. The vx6 is like a waterproof ft65. It’s more simple, but probably tougher than the vx8.
It has wide receive, so you can listen to shortwave.
I use dual receive all the time..scanner on one and ham frequencies on another.
@@design2survive oh ok that's cool just wanted to know which radio would suit me better and it seems like the vx6 would be my choice because of all it features.
I still have mine!. Never going to give it up. But looking to sell a vx-8gr.
It’s a great radio!
@@design2survive guys can the new Yaesu ft 3dr do all the same stuff is this radio?
@@davidaix5771 it’s different. It has digital mode, but not 6m and 220.
@@design2survive well I already have a tribander but I don't have something that does 6 meters
You still selling the vx-8gr?? @FlonishaMerritt
The owl is on the shed.
Does it support C4FM and wires-x?
FT3D or whatever it is named do C4FM. But who else uses C4FM?
Hello I like this device. Can I buy a 4-year second-hand yaesu vx 8? (good enough to be used for many years?) This radio has many variants 8 / r / dr / e vs which is the best?
The dr has APRS capability with an added gps..waterproof. The dr and FT1DR have built in gps but no waterproofing.
@@design2survive thank you for your reply. What do you say for many years of use of the device (for attentive use) and the frequency ranges they have are the same in all versions?
a a the radio seems durable. The DR has 2m 220 70cm and 6m. The gr has 2m 70cm..
@@design2survive thank you
Начало ролика получше многих фильмов
Собрался купить такой, а он снят с производства((((
I recently got into ham radio and bought myself a Baofeng UV-82HP. Thing is that this radio really looks cool and I feel like the baofeng is too unreliable if SHTF. What I'm looking for in a radio at the moment is that it will be good in an emergency situation. So the 5 hour battery kind of makes me question if I should get it or not, since my baofeng has 15 hours of battery life.
Anyways, would this radio be a good radio to buy in my situation? Or is there any other radio that you think that I should look into?
Thanks and have a great day!
Edit: Forgot to mention that FM radio is a must have
Elliott :D I sounds like you would want something like the yaesu fr-4xr ot ft 65.
A little more money.. but way better radio
@@design2survive oh okay. Do any of them have gps? Being able to handle some water would also be quite good
Have also heard that baofeng's have acesss to more frequencies (if that term is right) and you gotta open up a yeasu and do something with the motherboard to have access to more frequencies. Is this necessary?
Thanks!
Elliott :D no just a plain Jane radio. It has broadcast radio built in as well.
For waterproofing you will need to spend quite a bit more. $225 or so on the vx6
@@design2survive oh okay, thank you very much for the quick responses! I'm kind of on a tight budget at the moment. Which radio of your recommendations would you feel like is the best? Does the vx6 have gps? Since I feel like having access to gps on the radio might come in handy.
Do you happen to know any website where I can get a used one? I'm very new to ham and don't really know what's good or not.
Thanks!
Elliott :D I don’t really know if any have a full gps..the vx8 has gps for use with aprs..but it’s not like a mapping system.
I think you’d need a separate gps to get what you want.
I think those yaesus are good values..
Any suggestion for a good shortwave antenna for this radio? Thanks
Sean Danconia I just use a long wire..
@@design2survive Thanks. Is there an antenna I can purchase though? I don't have the sort of set-up here for things that are not neatly accessed and put away lol
Sean Danconia you might be able to buy something on a spool . I have one for a receiver..
design2survive thanks
Any idea where to buy the programming software?
Why would your dumbass buy proprietary crap when you can just use chirp?
@@yuron8210 ah, thx. Didn't know that existed.
I wish they still made and sold this VX-8 - I would buy one in a heartbeat. I far prefer this HT to the new colour HT with all the digital voice modes - I am not interested AT ALL in DMR or DSTAR or whatever they are called
John K I agree. Yaesu needs a premium dual band dual receive analogue. Ditch the vx6 and ft60, replace with vx9.
nice vid!!! subbed... enjoyed it
What simplex range have you gotten out of this, and what is the battery life?
SETH KINSEY so many factors. Probably a couple miles with a short antenna. I’ve hit repeaters 30-40 miles away. So it just depends.
Battery life on the bigger ones is usually a couple days.
Automatic Packet not Position 73 de N1AD
I use the radio in my radio go bag along with my solar powered equipment.
Can you transmit on 139.970 MHz with the mod? Thanks!
Aquanaut I would think so..but don’t know. Look up mars cap mod.
@@design2survive I did. I own my Vx-8DR for 5 years and did the mod long time ago. I am also a HAM. I need that frequency because in south america it is the primary emergency freq in mountaineering but seems that this little radio is not capable of TX in that wave. Cheers!
As sought after as this radio is why they don’t update it is crazy!
I think the lack of chip availability, and overall cost would make it not feasible. Couple that with yaesu’s terrible marketing, and it would be impossible.
The best ht...6 meter band, a bit impractical perhaps, but...imho... the best ht so far...sad they stopped making them...good video detailing the radio...73...de...AC3FB...
No wonder I couldn’t use mine. Too many buttons and gismos. I bought every bell and whistle , GPS, computer program, extra battery , various antennas, connectors etc and I’m an extra!
Any significant advantages to packing a slim jim antenna?
I'll give you a dollhair for that radio 😁
Shoot the moon. Shoot the moon. Shoot the moon.😮
Bwahahaha, and I thought that I was the only geek who played with walkie talkies in my Northwest backyard.
Marco Angelo not so..there are several of us.
Marco Angelo it’s awesome, sometimes my daughter checks in to the local nets. Almost has it figured out..
Automatic packet reporting system. lol
Arnold's Pretty Radio System.
Yaesu
Yaesu
Yaesu
Voice of America propaganda is the best!!!
Baofeng and a small AM radio... $35.
Will do 90% of VX-8R functions.
Joe Shmoe minus aprs, shortwave, two extra bands, and a terrible front end.
@design2survive add: Baofeng has not: 8.33 step, 3 listening (radio+2 bands), waterproof, time set, spec-analyzer, and japanese quality.