I am paralyzed without a QWERTY keyboard; I just stare in silence. Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts.

These issues, especially the APRS stuff, is why I canceled my reservation at HRO when they called telling me the radios were available for order. Come on Yaesu, fix it! Thanks KM4ACK, 73

With John Kruk’s reply about the keyboard not going to change I don’t think this one is for me.

It’s the radio no one asked for instead of giving us the QRP all band all mode

I always get the feeling that the makers don't use their own products. Some of this stuff is really obvious and there is real estate to make it right. Good review. 500 > 400?

Great points. I have noticed some of those quirks from other youtubers. I wish others could be as honest and point out the short comings about radios. I have not liked this radio since they first announced it,mainly because of the lack of a screen. I will be sticking with my 400 as it collects plenty of dust on it own.

I have three Yaesu radios and zero Icom radios, but I must admit that Icom routinely eats Yaesu's lunch on user interface design. It's an important aspect of actually using a radio and Yaesu doesn't seem to understand that. They treat the user interface as an afterthought. Hopefully they can fix some of the goofy shortcomings in a firmware upgrade but that won't fix the 2.5" screen. Companies court young customers (it's a marketing thing) but the ham market is an aging demographic and smaller screens don't work well for us mature users.

#5 No memory banks! Again!

It's like the FTM 400 and the FTM 300 had a baby and had the worst qualities of both but they added features no one asked for. Except maybe for plugging the hand mike into the head unit.

Thank you for the great way to show the glitches, I was expecting the radio would have such bugs, but I didn't imagine it would be that way. I am also a heavy APRS user and text messages, maybe I will keep my ftm-300. Thank again for the review 73!

Historically I used Kenwood and Icom rigs. Seeing the 500 in so many vids I thought I'd try one but never bought even after my wife offered to pay. This vid seals it. I hate it when manufacturers do stupid things. I'll pass on the FTM500... Thanks Jason for going where the others won't.

And it can all be yours for a **discounted** price of $650!! I have a feeling the used price for the FTM400's will maintain or increase a bit.

From what you have said, I agree with you. To me, the oversized VFO is simly not necessary and is such a waste of precious real estate. My old eyes as well as probably most HAM users would prefer and appreciate a larger screen. The non QWERTY keyboard is absolutely ridiculous! Especially with on screen options moving position whilst typing! What were they thinking?🤷‍♂️ Aesthetically, it looks great but yet again, the human interaction element seems to have been forgotten about. This is how some cheaper Chinese variants can be better as well as new models be pumped out 10x faster than name brand Japanese models. I cant imagine that Yaesu will be physically changing the screen and knob in the near future. It had potential but sadly, I will not be buying this one. Thanks for the great video Jason. ;)

I’m a “casual” APRS user and rarely use messaging, but I have to say that I would go absolutely crazy trying to navigate that interface. I’ve always liked Yaesu (my first amateur radio was an FT-411) because they were always easy to use. Once menu navigation came into play, I’ve had a harder time liking their products. Now the physical interface too? 😢 It hasn’t affected all of their products, I love my FTdx1200! And the FT-857 & FT-891 aren’t bad either. If Kenwood would get back into the game things might be different, but right now their only offering is a HT that doesn’t add much to a discontinued model from _years_ ago. Competition should breed innovation. I’m not a big fan of the Chinese radios but I have to say that even the cheapest of the DMR radios hold their own against C4FM and D-Star seems to be a very regional thing. Barely any here. Heck, even the Chinese analog only radios allow for split CTCSS/DCS tones for TX & RX. (Intermod is so bad in my region that some repeaters use separate CTCSS for TX/RX and without this ability those repeaters are unusable.) I wish commercial radios were easier to use in the field because I’ve used them before I became a ham in ‘93. One good thing I can say is the construction quality has improved to commercial levels over the years. So now all I can do is sit back and watch how things shake out with new products. Reminds me of buying a new car: never buy one of the first model year after a big change or new model. Let the recalls and fixes be put in over the first couple years, then consider one. Sorry, rant off. 73 de NØSR

I find most manufacturers are making there radios less User friendly and much more expensive. This radio is Canada is #946. I could get the FTM 400 for $700 plus ish. They are making the working more difficult to preform simple tasks. I believe this is why the Chinese radios are so popular. Younger people looking into this hobby and seeing the prices of radios, are more likely to by the cheaper radio as the big 3 are pricing themselves out of this part of the market. If I had seen these kind of prices when I was looking into getting my licence, I'd never have become a ham. Plus is is bad enough when you get a Chinese radio with software issues, but crap like that for an almost $1000 radio!!!! I'll never get one. I'll wait for all the 400's to hit the flea markets and swap shops. Lately every time and Icom or Yaesu put out a new radio, They fluff it up a bit, remove good features and crank up the price. You'll notice Kenwood doesn't come out with new radios like the others. I think they will stop catering to hams as younger people come into the hobby and say I can't afford that. It's a shame that the big manufacturers ar keeping new people out of the hobby because of sticker shock. I am looking selling my Icom 7300 and looking at a Xiegu G90 so I can get out portable.. Buy the way a 705 is almost $2000 here!

Keeping the 400 for a long time over here. It is packed for my trip to FL next week.

Wow! Thanks for making this. I have a 300 and a 400, and your review clinched it. I'm not touching this radio with a 10 foot pole. That UI and the overall UX is deplorable.

The product design, outside the front facing speaker, just baffles me. I will stick to the 400 in my car (subaru wrx) and try to find a good spot for the external speaker.

A VFO knob on a mobile radio that takes up half the real estate is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Yaesu has lost their minds.

I tend to stick with ICOM because their menus seem to make sense. I own some Yaesu rigs and for the most part they are much newer but I leave them off and use the IC-5100

Size wise this would work well in my car replacing a FTM-100. But I'm going to take a wait and see approach.

Thanks Jason for that review! I guess I'll hang on to my 2 400's until the bugs get ironed out...

Good points. Those things would annoy me too. Thanks for the heads up.

Man you have to just *love* it when they try to reinvent the wheel. QWERTY has only been the standard for several generations so why don't we throw ABCD ordering at them? My use of APRS messaging is limited but this would aggravate the living daylights out of me too.

All agreed Jason. I don't own the FTM-500 (sticking with the 400) but your points are spot on. In John Kruk's video with Ham Radio 2.0, I got totally lost when he was explaining APRS, because you just had to know what knob to push, with no onscreen reference. And even HE forgot to push the right knob to save his APRS message that he created. But Kudos to Yaesu for trying new things, as long as they react to what doesn't work well.

I never had the FTM 400, 300 or 200 but love the 500 just because its the only one I have had, so nothing to compare it to. I find it really easy to use, easy to programme and love the decent speaker in the head. It sits pride of place in my car and I love using it.

It's 2023. The entire front should be a large touchscreen display, with an optional "controller" with buttons and knobs that plugs into the unit or works wirelessly. How about USB ports for accessories? I don't mind paying money for quality, but the price of this dual band radio is a slap in the face when it's only offering FM transmit. Yaesu thinks it can put a premium price tag on it because of GPS. Yes, GPS, the amazing feature found in every cheap prepaid cell phone. I'm not a hater, I'm a Yaesu fanboy. FT-100D, FT-897D, FT-2980R. Solid well-built radios. The FTM-500 is both CHEAP and EXPENSIVE.

Big knob, small screen. The keyboard order should be a software issue. I agree with you about the knobs. And I also agree that Yaesu should work a lot harder on having a unified OS for all of their radios for a consistent user experience.

Thanks man! I was thinking about this radio but I might look at something different. ..I like Yaesu especially the mobile rigs but this one is just way too different than the normal Yaesu menu's

I don't think Yaesu recognizes that many, if not the majority of uses will use these "mobile" radios as a "base" radio. Why not add mouse and keyboard control via a bluetooth connection? As a "base" radio, I thnk the 300 makes more sense.

I agree on the knobs and have the some problem trying to tune the top/primary from the function knob. I think for me it's muscle memory (albeit I'm coming from previously using an ID-5100 mobile). The APRS text thing is less annoying to me since I rarely send APRS text messages.

I was thinking of one of these for the shack, heading to Dayton end of the week. I have a nice ID-5100 but just like the look of the fancy color screen. There is no way this old man could ever remember all that stuff you had to do just to reply to a little text message. ICOM`s are not as fancy but way easier to understand and use. I wish ICOM would come up with some upgraded Mobil rigs. I have a IC-9700 in the shack I use for satellites, I may just have to pick up a second one for local stuff. Thank You for the video, you just saved me making a mistake and buying one.

Seems like a new team (of non-HAMS) software engineers has written the software for this radio and apparently has no UI design knowledge either... I have a FTM400 and I thought the screen was a similar size, I'm surely not changing now! In fact I suspect an FTM300 might be a better bet, not sure if it has the same interface (but it surely has an even smaller screen I think).

Great vid. Gotta say, I'm not really feeling the urge to get rid of my FTM-300 just yet. Sure, twirling the nob for an APRS msg is a bit m'eh, but I'm used to it. I actually had a 400 for a while, but traded 'down' to get the 300 cuz I liked its form factor better. If I had become really accustomed to the 400's keyboard, I think I'd be disappointed with the 500.

In fact, I’ve decided to NOT buy any new radio for the car and just put / start with my 144MHz only rig. I was going to buy this radio to monitor Air Traffic on both Commercial and Military Frequencies ( from Kadena Air Base and MCAS Futenma 315MHz + / - ) but I recently discovered my FT-70D is quite capable of any of those frequencies and what’s more, by plugging in the speaker mic, I can plug the audio into the Line In / Aux of the car and listen to traffic through the car speakers, something I often did in my RAV4 with an FT891 / ATAS120a

I just got one of these and now am thinking about returning it. I originally planned on the FTM-300 but liked that this one has the front-facing speaker mic jack on the head (more flexibility for a bag or go-box where I plan to use this unit). I see the latest firmware is from December 2023 so I wonder if there will be another one to possibly address some of the issues, especially with APRS. I have the FT-5D (and also the FT-710) and i mistakenly assumed that some of these things would be similar. If I return it I'm not sure what I'll get instead, but it's too much money for something I may not enjoy using.

I agree with most of your points. I don't think this is really a replacement for the 400, and I also think this radio was rushed. At least it feels like it to me after using it for a month. Overall I do really like the radio. Just gonna take time getting used to after coming from a 300 then 400.

To me it looks like Yaesu organization as a whole is a problem. Like the interface designers and developers are siloed by physical product rather than working to produce a consistent user experience across products.

I've never been overly impressed with the built in APRS functions on any of the Yaesu radios, messaging just sucks on all of them. I've only used them for basic beaconing. If I want to do APRS on the fly I use my Mobilinkd and APRSDROID, this way I can actually send a message in a few seconds compared to the 5 minutes of frustration it seems to take to send a couple characters on my FT-3 or VX-8.

I have the 400 - and I love the large screen - especially when mobile - as I can glance across at it without my reading glasses on! 500 adds nothing I want and removes a lot of stuff I do want.

Thanks for the video. The APRS functionality (lack thereof) is most concerning. I really wouldn't like that keyboard, either. Can text be input via the handmic? I'm still getting used to the Ft5d APRS after using exclusively the d74 (for aprs) since 2018, which is what I learned on. I don't love touch screens on HTs, but the 5d is stronger than the d74 with some APRS, so I'm trying to get proficient... It's just, clumsy feeling... As for the 500, I hope those changes you mentioned are possible and actually implemented. APRS is the reason I'd get this to replace the d710 in my truck, but it needs to function well and easily.

I've considered buying this. You made my decision. Is there another ftm rig you suggest besides the 400?

The screen on my Samsung phone is quite a bit larger than the screen on the FTM500. Yaesu should create an "app for that" so we have the option to control the radio straight from our phone - APRS and the radio menu function. Imagine how easy it would be to do APRS on our phone instead of fat-fingering the tiny screen on the FTM500. You're absolutely right about the keyboard layout and buttons changing position while navigating between screens. Pooly thought out design. I would like to thank all those amateurs who complained about the giant screen of the FTM400, Yaesu heard your cries, and they fixed it.

Kruk already said the keyboard stays because it’s a global radio. Lame, but that’s what he said on HR2.0 stream

Great vid. I'm not an APRS user but I can see how that is frustrating. I'm a firm believer that the developers for Yaesu radios have never used the radios as intended. The FT-891 menu system could not be more unfriendly to mobile users and still be called a mobile radio. Yaesu seems to have a trend lately or breaking what didn't need fixing the FT-857 to the 891 and now this. Thanks for the honest review.

This is GREAT video

Definitely not worth $600 with these issues

For me I think Yaesu has a new radio coming soon that will have a large knob like this one and it will make since on that radio. Think they are switching to this just so it will be normal once you see the new radio. But I'm like you, they could have done away with the larger knob and gave us a bigger screen or even a few more buttons. I think John said it was because of it being designed for mobile use but I do not think it would have hurt to never have the large knob in the first place

I believe the large knob is there because this head will be used for a FT891 successor.

I've always like Yaesu for the most part. With this, I'm wondering if they actually have Amateur operators on the tech team at this point. This is not a radio I will invest in. Still looking forward to an FT 891, for other reasons.

Hi, Where can i find that handy info sheet you have on your desk?

I would like to know if the Kenwood RM-V71A will do any of this.

I can't believe how convoluted the operation of this transceiver is. Yaesu makes the FT-2980r, one of the easiest radios to operate without a manual. I bought one several years ago, and I don't believe I've opened the manual once after the initial unboxing. It is simply very intuitive to use. What on Earth were they thinking when they released the FTM-500? I don't believe I'll be giving up my FTM-400XDR anytime soon. I realize I don't use all of the features available on the 400, but the larger screen and the logical layout of the knobs make this radio preferable over the 500.

Hello: I’m in Okinawa where I was about to order this radio and put it into the car I am goin to buy. Aside from these annoying points that you made, it occurred to me that if I buy a domestic model of this radio, it may very well NOT operate in English! lol….and I don’t read Japanese. Think I’ll call a radio shop and find that out BEFORE I order it. I can buy it for less than $400 but no point if the firmware is Japanese

I've read the comments and watched as much of this video as I can stand. I am new to ham radio so don't beat me up too much but these are four comments I have about this video. So what, So what, so what and big deal. For someone that is just staring out the price range and features really intrigue me. There are a lot of other hammers out there that like this radio. Being brand new to ham radio I have nothing to compare to so I may buy this one. Good video man but maybe do one that states what you DO like about this radio

I dunno, yaesu keeps making the screens smaller, but the intended use is for a vehicle, bigger is better. I want to buy a new yaesu radio to get C4FM, but too much I dont like about the new radios, and i am a yaesu guy.

I have never used APRS but they seem like legitimate issues to me. My sub $150 phone has multiple keyboard choices. Would addiing the QWERTY keyboard be that big of a deal?

In the screen where you select edit text there is a clr all if you press the clr all it will erase all text in the message and then you hit the edit text button and start with a blank message to use as your reply

Great video but I am kinda puzzled why you didn’t find the time/date stamp in the station list to be annoying and needs a firmware fix. Check the times as beacons come in and you will notice the local times are not properly displayed. In Jason’s interview with John, John is able to skirt this bug because all of the APRS beacons were more than 24 hours old and his radio was only showing dates. Had the beacons been coming in live…everyone would have seen the time received was not even close.

My 300 is a pain for APRS, love the radio but given the lack of other APRS radios on the market what can I do outside of needing an app, computer or internet.

That is just maddening and painful to watch with the APRS functions. Unreal.

Ugg, the FTM-400 was good but not great for APRS and the 500 seems to be worse. I do not understand why Yaesu still limits you to the radio screen for messages. Lets hope Kenwood comes out with a mobile of the D75 and then we woud have a better APRS radio.

Thanks for the video. When I first saw the FTM-500 in your video image it looked like a Chinese knock-off radio, I hope that it has the feel and quality of the real YAESU radios

I don't get where these manufactures keep making their radios smaller. They are at the point of 'too small' The more buttons on the face means less menus.

Was interested in a 400. Hadn’t bought it. 500 came out and jt interest level is zero. Bad design kills sales. They need to learn the hard way.

What about no memory banks!?

Yaesu makes great radios but they really need to improve APRS messaging as well as open up the TNC.

Not a fan of the Ftm500. I do like that they incorporated the speaker and mic connection in the head. I love my FTM400 screen. Yaesu should offer a FTM400 style head to work with the FTM500 radio body.

My number one issue with all the Yaesu mobile radios is they do not support banks/groups. The FT5D has banks. I was hoping the FTM-500 would have banks so I could replace my FTM-300.

If there’s one thing Yaesu does is ‘not listen to their customer base’. You guys in the US are the largest ham market in the world. The big three still don’t provide interfaces to Mac OS. Shame Electraft wasn’t cheaper over here - they seem to use their ears and respond. Appreciate they can’t mass produce to the same level as the others. I’ve been looking for a new mobile and put this at the top of my list but it’s very expensive so it has to be right, obviously isn’t. Appreciate the vid. Thanks Mike

Wow. That’s awful! Thanks for showing us!

I was researching the 500 as a new radio because I really liked the microphone and speaker in the head unit, now I am seriously rethinking this. I don't know what they were thinking with a huge dedicated VFO knob in the middle of the head. Really? Why? Come on - it is a vhf/uhf radio, not a HF rig. Why not just make a keyboard selection of alphabet or qwerty as an option? Why the button inconsistancies? Makes me want to go back to Kenwood that has memory banks.

I'll keep my FTM 400XD.

That UI is a real shame.

They already have bluetooth, they need a way to connect a bluetooth keyboard. (FTM300 here)

Glad i did not buy

Everything in this video was addressed in the other Jasons video. Yaesus answer was... No. One of the funniest moments of that video was "Why would Yaesu release another radio almost exactly like the one they made for 10 plus years? " (818!) Kruck was like No it's not a 400. I'm going to just not buy one and be happy.

Yaesu misses many things on this series - FTM 500, 300, 200 radios. In addition to what you found, my number one is no memory groups. Firmware upgradable? Possibly but they will not. I have the FTM 300. Nice little radio but misses the mark.I do nor understand when you reply to a message why the old one is there. This is APRS messaging. You should get a blank screen to type your message. Having to delete each character makes no sense.

Yep, all that has turned me off buying that radio, especially no QWERTY keyboard!

Wow! You raised some seriously valid points! The QWERTY keyboard and that completely jacked APRS reply methodology MUST be fixed and it’s well within Yaesu’s ability to fix that. Any email system on planet earth gives you a completely BLANK space to type when you hit reply. Why all that editing just to reply? Would seem easier just to send a new message Excellent video

You are right brother...n0amy

Hmmm. I don’t like that keyboard. Guess I’ll look at the 200 and if it has the same quirks.

Totally agree with you. Trying to do aprs with these radios is ridiculous. That’s why I use Mobilinkd and a phone.

Icom just needs to come out with a replacement for the 5100 with aprs and then nobody would have a reason to buy a yeasu again.

I am not interested in a mobile radio that shares the same screen as a HT!

Yaesu does very odd things. I don't use VHF/UHF radios because all the repeaters in my area are dead and APRS is pointless for me because I don't drive anymore.

Wow, I’ve been thinking about a new rig, but those fault and just the look of this rig are a big no for me. Yaesu really screwed up with this rig.

What was Yaesu thinking? Perhaps too quick to market? Now, ICOM has an open runway. If ICOM would add APRS to their radios they'd pull in the crowd of us APRS users.

I think I will just stick with my FTM400.

Gents, I've seen it at the place where I work. The shinking workforce of older folks who know what they are doing are being overwhelmed by new college grads, untrained with zero real world knowledge. It hits the marketing teams hard. They just want a new product (to hit a bonus). Anything, release something. They drive R&D and engineering teams, which are severely understaffed, to release a product. A poorly planned out product that doesn't fill any product holes and doesn't meet what users want.

I will probably not buy this radio. The 400 works just fine for me.

The 500 is a big disappointment. I'm glad i purchased one of the last 400s before they stopped making them.

That is a horrible interface and not making it clear what knob to press to do what you want. Would definitely not want to use it mobile. Very glad I decided last second to not buy one.

I am the happy owner of 2 FTM-400XDEs and I won't give them away. I don't like the new model at all, what were they thinking with the small screen, this is supposed to be the successor to the FTM-400? Ridiculous.

This radio isn’t for everyone. Unless you’re a fanboy many options beside this radio.

That APRS system is pretty ridiculous.

New is not always better

I'll offer $10 for it, as I don't have anything but Pis, DigiRig and Baofeng UV5RA HTs...

1 is legit, terrible planning there. 2 makes no sense to fuss about to me (alphabetical works fine for me) I'm not trying to type 50 words a minute. The FTM300 is alphabetical. I think you may just be used to the old fashioned qwerty keyboard. 3 isn't a good design. 4 I don't have any interest in APRS but have more interest in C4FM and Wires X. No comment here. BTW I have the FTM 300 which I like and see little reason to pay extra for the 500. Unfortunately, I don't think they hit this one out of the park. They should have a larger screen radio option.

Oh man the ftm500 deffo looks like another ft817/818 update mistake, maybe that's why I don't buy anything from them... Stick to the old ftm400 I might buy a ft5 as that looks like a winner until the D75 steals the show...