TIDRADIOTD-H8 Ham Radio 10Watt 2500mAh Capacity Survival Gear Solid Performance Handheld Walkie Talkies Wireless Programming Module with Repeater List for Camping Hunting Security(2nd Gen)

I ordered the H8 2nd generation. I got this radio for three main reasons, to have an analog radio with long battery life, able to obtain a list of nearby ham radio repeaters and easy programing, and a radio I can use without fear of damaging it (unexpensive).First I don't care about the advertised 10w. I know the real difference between 5w/10w on a handheld radio is how fast the battery drains. So I didn't measure the power output. Comparing the H8 with a Yaesu FT-5D and a Icom ID-52 the radio works well on transmission and reception. In reception is more sensitive and less noisy that my FT-5D and about the same as my ID-52 (the ID-52 has better reception that the FT-5D). In transmission (mid power setting) is about the same that the FT-5D, the ID-52 can reach repeaters that the other two radios can't. Overall the H8 is on par on transmission and reception (analog) with more expensive radios.The battery life is way longer that any of my other radios. We are talking about two days longer under same use, 4 to 6 hours at day in reception with dual watch and battery saver off and some occasional transmission. I can get about 4 days under the mentioned conditions.Programming ham radio repeaters is a pleasure using the phone app. You get a list with nearby repeaters based on your location. You only have to select the repeaters in the app and transfer them to the radio via Bluetooth. You can change the radio parameters using the phone app too. The web-based programming is more convenient when you want to program your own frequencies instead of importing repeaters.Now the negative... The provided antenna has high SWR on the VHF band, going from over 2.75 to over 3 across the band. Transmitting using high power while touching the battery metal contacts on the back will make you feel a RF burn after about 10 sec. transmission. Using a different antenna with a SWR below 2 over the band solved the RF burn problem.Overall the H8 is a great analog radio for the price.

I can honestly say there's nothing to dislike about this radio the TDH8 performance is out of this world with the Bluetooth programming it's easy to set up in a matter of minutes. You're able to download the repeaters in your area from a touch of a button makes life so easy. The 10 Watts of power really does make a big difference I have another radio that's only 8 watts and this TD H8 that has 10 Watts really puts out and I can hit repeaters 30 mi away with no problems. The look of this radio is really cool with the Crystal transparency and the lights it looks great. Sound quality is really great everything is very clear and not distorted. I like this radio so much this is my second one that I purchased. The stock antenna that comes with the radio is pretty powerful I can sit my living room and talk to different repeaters in my area with no problem.I also bought a Bluetooth mic and have one set up in my vehicle with a mobile antenna and the other one I have set up in the basement hooked up to an antenna on the roof to use as a base station. Tidradio also has a lot of accessories to add for your TDH8 Radio, it's a quality radio and is well worth the money spent.

Another update. TIDradio did make the belt clip right. They refunded me $9 towards the purchase of an aftermarket belt clip. They apologized but did not have the belt clips available to replace the old one, this is not a bad thing as the old one was weak. Rating returned to previous star level.This is an amendment to my previous review and i dropped three stars due to this at this time. I was carrying my H8 on my belt when it literally flew off my belt and hit the floor of the garage. The impact caused some scuffing to the case of the radio, which is not a huge deal. Upon inspection i discovered that the belt clip had broken, it split the plastic on one side of the length of the plastic. It was not anything that could be repaired and to be frank, i was worried about the durability of the belt clip when i installed it.I got in touch with tidradio, they appeared to be concerned and asked for my order number. Since then it has been radio silence. So my takeaway right now is that since i am past the amazon return window they dont care. I am a constant user of the belt clip so this is a big deal for me. Tidradio, here is what I think needs to happen (if you bother reading these reviews) 1. The belt clip needs to be reengineered to be more sturdy, thicker/stronger materials are needed. 2. Actually follow up with customers when you reach back to them about a message. I should have a new (albeit flawed) belt clip sitting here on my radio right now (it has been a couple of weeks) not sitting here typing this. Why bother contacting me and asking for details if you dont do anything about it. In summary, I have talked this radio up and I can promise that I am responsible for a ton of sales of this thing to other hams in this area, I can just as easily tell everyone going forward what I am thinking currently. Word of mouth means a lot when it comes to radio sales and I have nothing good to say about tidradio right now. I love the radio but the customer support is not up to par.I just took delivery this evening and I am already fairly well impressed.Programming via Bluetooth was very easy. I made my first QSO with it and go an excellent signal report and best of all I was sitting around in the living room with the stock rubber duck antenna on it. None of my other HT’s (YAESU and TYT) do that.I like the form factor in my hand. Love the color display, it just looks sharp.It is also easy to manually program too.I was able to use a baofeng and a tyt cable to connect the radio to my PC, chirp works well, the firmware update program works well and the factory CPS was able to read the programming I put into the radio (didn’t explore it other than that. It’s a bit clunky and doesn’t have repeaterbook interface)Early days, but I think I’m going to like it.One thing that is disappointing, they shipped this without the USB-C charging battery. This small thing should have been taken care of. I am knocking a star off for that.Audio reports have been good but they did tell me I was quiet. I upped the mic gain and now getting good reports.