Baofeng BL-5L 3800mAh Li-ion Battery – Extended Life 7.4V Two-Way Radio Replacement for UV-5R, BF-F8HP, BF-F9 Series – Classic Black

Delivery : Speed was faster than expected and I didn’t even pay the extra for faster shipping. The packaging: it came pretty basically packaged (bubble wrap and boxed in a padded shipping yellow envelope) All in all can’t really ask for more. Correctness: The battery itself BaoFeng 3800MAh fit my BaoFeng BF-F8HP (Tri-Power) perfectly. There was no fussing with having to trim tabs or force the battery. It was exactly as expected. Performance: It works great, in fact, too great… let me explain: I’m accustomed to letting the a battery drain then recharge it at least three times prior to actual use. Just a habit of mine and I highly recommend it. If you do this, the battery will not form a memory. Anyway, it comes charged, so I installed it in the radio and left it on. Obviously it’s not constantly transmitting so it was a long wait. The only thing I could do was set the radio to FM mode and let it play constantly to drain the battery. It actually took it two days of continuous play to finally kill it. When it came time to recharge, all I did was set it overnight and I had a full charge in the morning. I repeated the process at least four times . If your radio does not have an FM mode, I don’t know if all BaoFengs have it or if it will be used in a different model, you may have a long wait to full discharge. Obviously this is great when you go to the field, since the battery actually lasts for days with the radio in VHF/UHF. On a side note:in the two months that I have had it, I have taken the radio to work and used it in FM mode in my office. The thing plays all day long and all I do is take it back home and set it in the cradle for an hour or two and it’s fully charged! This is not bad for a $15.00 piece of gear. Cosmetics: I got the black battery, it looks great and makes the Radio itself fit my nylon carrier a lot better than the smaller high capacity that came with the Radio. I still keep that one as a backup, but if you like the feel of a “full size” radio, this battery will do the trick. BTW, it does come in different colors and you might feel inclined to order a red one like my buddy did in order to be able to find it easily should you lose it in the field. Having seen his, I feel that it looks weird and just somehow makes it seem like a toy. I guess since it performs the same, it doesn’t really matter, but if looks matter to you, you may want to stick with basic black. You’ve been forewarned. Unknowns: this battery has a port on the upper side corner which I believe is used for a direct plug in car charger that you can purchase with it. I didn’t simply because I have an inverter in my car and can plug the desktop charger if I need to. You can find the Battery/Car Charger combo if you search for it on Amazon. I can't speak for longevity because I've only owned it for a couple of months, I'll update on this as time goes by. Summary: Overall this battery is a good purchase for your BaoFeng. It is long lasting, reliable, and (at least for my gear) allows your transceiver to fit into your pre-existing nylon carrier. For the money, I can’t think of another piece of gear that I would rather spend on. I’m going to buy a second one for my spare BaoFeng and always maintain my smaller high cap battery in a small waterproof container for emergency use. Hopefully this helps others choose wisely.

NOTE: I purchased this battery for the UV-5R PRO, "suspecting" that it would fit. It DOES NOT FIT the UV-5R Pro without modification. But I'm flexible, and I can't take away a star for my own stupidity. I received this battery earlier this week and immediately tried to attach it to my brand new UV-5R Pro. No-Go. Though the UV-5R Pro "looks" a lot like the UV-5R, it's more akin to the UV-5RA body style and the extended battery did NOT fit at first. So out came the X-Acto knife and the carving began. The battery case plastic is soft, so carving away layer after layer of plastic until I got the case just right was painstaking but not impossible. (DO NOT MODIFY THE PLASTIC OF THE RADIO! The tabs on the radio body are perfect as is.) By the time I finished I had removed about half the thickness of the female docking holes and most of the front "curve" that blocked the name badge of the radio from seating on the battery. VOILA! It stays on snugly and it's been on my hip ever since. There really is nothing wrong with the stock Baofeng 2000mAh battery. it's a long-life solution that comes stock with the radio. But this 3800mAh battery is AMAZING! I'm on my fourth day of monitoring, chatting, and listening to the FM broadcast side of the UV-5R Pro and I STILL haven't charged it. The battery adds 1/3rd length to the radio, but it's still short and thin enough to grip nicely in the hand. In fact, I think it grips even a little bit better because of the added length. So as long as you know that it could take some modification to get it on your radio (which will OF COURSE void your warranty and return options) you will find it to be a wonderful addition to the UV-5R series. AND I SAY AGAIN... This battery is NOT a perfect fit for ANYTHING but the UV-5R unless you modify it by carving away some of the plastic mounting surface. STEADY HAND REQUIRED. 73 DE N3LJZ

Exactly as described and what I wanted. It lasts longer than the OEM battery.