Retevis RT85 Handheld Ham Radios, Portable Dual Band Walkie Talkies, 2 Pack

These are excellent radios for the price. I purchased a two pack with a coupon for $20. I own several radios and these are my current go to for edc. They are small, light, and easy to carry. They feel very solid and well built. The screen is bright and clear, and easy to read in bright sunlight. Menu is intuitive and easy to navigate. Rx excellent and volume gets loud! Tx is strong and I am easily able to hit my local repeaters with stock antenna. They are chirp programmable and can easily be programmed from the keypad also. They can be unlocked to expand the frequency range for GMRS (with radio off: hold “F” + “1” keys and turn radio on. *Use as such at your own risk). Again, excellent radios for the price. IMO better than most basic radios out there.

These are great with kiddos

For years, hams have chosen the venerable Baofeng UV5R as "the cheap HT of choice" for good reason. After buying these Retevis RT85's though, spending some time playing with one, and closely examining it's performance and features I have to say there's a new sheriff in town. While the UV5R isn't a "bad" cheap HT, the RT85 is better in EVERY way I feel. Let's start with the PRICE. For $29.99 (I caught them on sale for $23.99) for a PAIR, you're basically buying one and getting one free. Even the cheapest UV5R I've ever seen was $19.99 and that was just for one. All of the features are pretty much the same as any other dual band HT. CTCSS encode/decode, scan, memories, CHIRP programmability, included drop in charger, etc. The scan speed is certainly "slow", but that isn't a problem unless you have 50,000 memories programmed in and use the scan feature a lot. I don't. My biggest balk, albeit a small one, is that the battery does not have USB-C charging capability like many of the newer handhelds do these days. I think there's a spare/replacement battery out there though that will fir the RT85 that does have a USB-C port on it. A minor inconvenience, but none the less, if we are picking it apart, I might as well mention it. Even the BELT CLIP is better quality than that of the UV5R, which, let's be realistic here, doesn't say much. The RT85 out of the box does not come with GMRS/MURS transmit capabilities. You can program the frequencies, and you can even press PTT and the radio will transmit, but it will NOT be on the programmed frequency. However.. There is a specific keypad sequence you can use to unlock it. Google is your friend. Some key points that I REALLY like, the antenna connector is a STANDARD SMA. Not the wonky SMA male like the Baofengs have. So any "normal" SMA antenna will work with it. A nice touch, because the included antenna is mediocre, but works fair. An upgraded "big daddy" antenna will definitely be a nice accessory though. Obviously, CHIRP programs these too which is a big plus and makes thing easy. The display is also STUPID bright on it's highest setting which makes seeing it outdoors easy. It is dimmable though so you don't need a welder's helmet to look at it. The biggest for me is HOW IT FEELS in the hand. It doesn't fee cheap. Sure, it isn't a Motorola Astro Saber, but it feels solid. It feels better than a Baofeng. I'll go out on a limb here and state It feels comparable to my Icom IC-V86, which is an absolute unit. For the price, you cannot go wrong, and even at a higher price point, you STILL wouldn't go wrong because it's just all around a better handheld than the UV5R ever thought about trying to be.

So far, these radios (purchased as a two-pack) seem to be an amazing value for the price. It is the same radio as the QRZ-1 by Explorer. The only differences are a few firmware differences and a slight body design difference. I like that there is an option to name the memory channel from the radio without having to go through a computer for programming. Works well with CHIRP, battery seems to last well and the power output seems to be a full 5 watts on high. Overall, I would purchase again and recommend to anyone looking for a budget and simple analog HT option. I have had my fair share of the boofwang radios, and although these are still cheap and Chinese I do feel that Retevis has a better quality and more reliable product.

Nice radios overall. Here is some feedback on BQ1.46 firmware it shipped with: 1. FM radio mode doesn't appear to include a scan function. The FM radio in the RT-85 does have 24 dedicated memory slots for the FM radio though so it appears that radio stations first need to be identified manually and then programmed individually into those 24 slots. The FM radio is a nice feature though. 2. There seems to be no option in the radio menu firmware or programming software to exclude a memory channel from the memory channel scan list (short of deleting the memory channel assignment). There seems to be a grayed-out option buried in the programming software that suggests a particular memory channel could be skipped however setting it doesn't seem to stick in the software. I have NOAA weather frequencies I'd like to program into memory but exclude from a scan. I don't see any way to exclude a programmed memory channel from a scan which is disappointing. I really hope there is a solution for excluding memory channels from a scan in a future update. 3. Channel width has Wide, MIDD, and NARR settings. I gather that Narrow channel bandwidth is 12.5kHz, Wide is 25 MHz. What is the "Mid" channel width though as it isn't mentioned anywhere. 4. The RT-85 (Ham Radio) and TD-H5 (GMRS radio) are physically similar but the button operation is different. 5. The USB-C or cradle chargeable batteries on the TD-H5 fit the RT-85 (which are only charged via a cradle) but a couple plastic tabs must be removed in order to fit the RT-85 batteries on the TD-H5 (I used an exacto knife on the RT-85 batteries to make them compatible with the TD-H5). The RT-85 charging cradle works with both radio and battery combinations. Both radios do require a respective license to transmit legally in the US. 6. When programming frequencies to memory that are not legal to transmit on, I advise leaving the transmit frequency blank in the programming software to prevent accidentally transmitting on them. Warning: There is an alarm feature that by default appears to transmit an alarm on the frequency you are currently tuned to if you press F and then # (which is easy to do inadvertently). 7. Here is a minor nitpick, but it would be nice to start a scan with a single button press instead of pressing three buttons (F-1-F). 8. Very rarely, I have noticed that the FM radio mode may turn on even though I did not press the button to enable it. Power cycling the radio sometimes seems to help prevent that.

After trying them for two weeks, I'm very happy with the RT85 radios! Good transmit audio, clear & bright display, convenient size & weight. A have a good combination of basic features and they're straightforward to use. (I like them much better than the B--f--g radios I tried in the past.) I am especially impressed by the fact that these radios can encode and decode 2-tone and 5-tone signalling, in addition to the more common DTMF and PL tones. That makes them very versatile! Getting a pair of these for under $50 is a real bargain! There are a few minor issues. The receive volume is too loud; with the control rotated only about 90º the volume is more than loud enough; a tiny change in rotation makes a big change in volume so it's difficult to get a level that's "just right"; fully modulated signals can sound slightly distorted. (I'm sure that could easily be solved with one resistor.) Also, the display backlight times out pretty quickly ... a longer option would be nice. (But the display is nice and bright, and very clear!) Despite the few minor issues, I really like this radio. I recommend it to anybody looking for a bargain! If I needed more HTs I'd buy this model again without reservation!

OK, lets state the obvious: The Retevis RT85 is unlikely to outperform any of the 'Big 3' radios or a repurposed commercial radio in the amateur radio bands. HOWEVER, the Retevis RT85 radios do indeed in my opinion, far exceed the performance and durability of most of the other offshore manufactured radios. Battery life is exceptional. Receive is sensitive and audio is clear on both RX & TX. Drop in chargers as well as USB charging is a definite plus. Display is crisp and easy to read. The RT85's, especially if you can catch them on promo pricing, are one of the better deals out there for wither a new ham looking to start slightly above the typical entry level offshore radio or as a solid choice for a seasoned ham who just wants something a little less expensive to tote along for yard work or to keep in the car as a backup HT. No regrets with this purchase and I would purchase again if the need were to arise.

I bought these on impulse using a gift card, and my wife and I have been using these when hiking or kayaking and really don't want to risk loss or damage to our Kenwood HT's. In that intent, they work just fine, but when within a 1/2 mile of our public safety building, or in high density areas, we get a lot of inter-mod. But! They do seem to be a bit better than the Baofeng on the SA. The good: decent signal, clean audio and OK battery life. The bad: nearly impossible to program on the fly, you really need a computer with Chirp. Would be nice to be able to switch to a single band, and the key pad is just wrong.