Bee: I've been collecting GMRS radios for handing out to family when we go traveling away from cell towers (not too hard if you're anywhere with lots of hills) or in the event of an emergency. Being able to hand out GMRS radios instead of needing everyone to get an amateur radio license is Talkpod A36plus MAX really nice, and it's been a lot of fun trying out all the different radios.
I have several of the classic Baofeng and Tidradio GMRS radios, which work pretty well and I'm quite familiar with at this point. I also have a Radioddity GMRS radio that I quite liked. The Talkpod differs in a few ways, and overall I find the menus to be very similar to how Baofeng menus are set up. That's fine, but I prefer the menus that Tidradio and Radioddity have, since they're a bit easier to navigate. That said, I do pretty much all of my configuration with CHIRP, so I'm not not exactly in the menus very often.
The stock antenna is basically fine; all of the stock antennas I've tried have compromises, and this isn't any different. Upgrading to a Nagoya will probably improve your experience, but it's over half the cost of these radios, and the improvement won't matter to most people.
I'm thrilled the battery can be charged via USB Type C. The lack of USB recharge is one of my least favorite things about the Baofeng radios, and I was very excited when I discovered that feature on the Tidradios. I'm so glad I can add this to my collection of radios that can actually be recharged easily without a specialized charger.
Overall, I'm very happy with Talkpod A36plus MAX radios, and they're going to make an excellent addition to my collection!
I have several of the classic Baofeng and Tidradio GMRS radios, which work pretty well and I'm quite familiar with at this point. I also have a Radioddity GMRS radio that I quite liked. The Talkpod differs in a few ways, and overall I find the menus to be very similar to how Baofeng menus are set up. That's fine, but I prefer the menus that Tidradio and Radioddity have, since they're a bit easier to navigate. That said, I do pretty much all of my configuration with CHIRP, so I'm not not exactly in the menus very often.
The stock antenna is basically fine; all of the stock antennas I've tried have compromises, and this isn't any different. Upgrading to a Nagoya will probably improve your experience, but it's over half the cost of these radios, and the improvement won't matter to most people.
I'm thrilled the battery can be charged via USB Type C. The lack of USB recharge is one of my least favorite things about the Baofeng radios, and I was very excited when I discovered that feature on the Tidradios. I'm so glad I can add this to my collection of radios that can actually be recharged easily without a specialized charger.
Overall, I'm very happy with Talkpod A36plus MAX radios, and they're going to make an excellent addition to my collection!
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