JOSH! you never stop amazing me! i have two of these T1s. Pretty content with it. i have used it on VHF and now will STOP. I was curious about the antenna being so short and working with VHF frequs... I dont think i have roasted it yet... Big fan of your channel. My 4 year old is really into our collection of FRS radios. They have been a LIFE SAVER during pandemic! He really missed hanging out with his friends so i sanitized the radios and dropped a few off at his friends houses. We live in a small town and we are at the top of a hill so he can reach out to almost all his friends! I hear him relaying messages to friends that are out of reach from each other.

Been looking at a T1 just to play with. I have 2 Baofeng uv-3r+ radios, love the small footprint. Also love the Yeasu vx-3 used my buddies for a couple of months and it is amazing whish I could get one. Thanks for the review Josh.

Very cool care package!

Been looking for a tiny radio to pickup weather & etc in the backcountry. I'm not interested in transmitting but along the lines of listening. This looks to fit the bill. Thanks for the review.

Ordered a couple of these Baby-Bees in March for a bit of fun after watching the SOTABeams review - they're on the SLOWEST boat from China and still haven't landed in the UK! Thanks for your thoughts on them, looking forward to them arriving (maybe). Keep up the good work chap!

Nice video!!! Thanks!!

I would probably use the T1 as my "Neighborhood Walk" rig as I'm relocating to a less-than up-and-coming area... If I get mugged, I'm out what, a $20 HT and a pair of sandals? But hey, if you're doing a giveaway, I'd be happy to do a neighborhood field test and see if any muggers think they want it more than I do!!!

Wow, cool goodies sent to you by Empire:) Those Baofeng tiny UHF Radios looks sleek and can be used for varied situations. Yes, it should had the ability of changeable antenna while the the volume and squelch issue needs to be addressed. Guess, Baofeng will take note of your review and rectify them soon. Greetings from New Delhi, India. 73s

I have one of these. I bought i it from Amazon and it came with a programming cable. I only use it for monitoring frs frequencies at work, since that's what they use in house for comms. Works well for that. I did notice the volume control is somewhat unforgiving, but it is ok for my situation.

Thank You So Much You Have Spar Me On. You Have Also Inspired Me To Get My Ham License Im In Ca. North Of You Hope To Be Talking With You On Air Soon. Choa

I bought these devices. They are pretty nice!👍They work on 145MHz👍Tested🌞👍

I've got a couple that I use around my property. It's open, and under 1km, so they work okay, as long as we remember to charge them.

Regarding the volume - it's pretty common to add a resister to cut the volume levels down. I forget what value I used on mine, but it's MUCH better.

I love this radio not because of anything about cheap or micro-B, it is because of it size, I love that it is so small and slim, if any one who make a very good and expensive radio size like this I will buy it too. Thats why I am now looking into ID-50A.

Neat little unit!

BeerDefender is a novelty bottle opener. So put para-cord loop on it and good to go

The slow release I can image. Where I work we use a lot of ht for communication. And more often then not people open PTT half way through the last word. But that’s a neat little radio.

I thought of a use case - see them going for as low as 15 bucks on ebay. Ever since my old Radio Shack HT-200 died I've always been looking for an ultra small radio for semi-discreet carry for monitoring. Now the wattage on the old HTX-200 was crap but I kept it in the pocket of my flightsuit as a flight medic as a glorified scanner to monitor the agencies I might be flying to when on scenes. With 16 channels and VHF capable, I see the T1 as pretty much having that same functionality. Though most emergency services are on digital trunking - many maintain an old VHF "ringdown" frequency. 15 bucks is pretty cheap for a pocket scanner! Just a thought!

Josh, how about using it for cross band repeating? The distance going to your field repeater and the ability to move around a little.

I see a possible market BF was trying to hit, in Europe there is PMR radio service (similar to FRS) that has 16 channels and according to wikipedia requirements for radios are: -non removable antenna -power under 0,5 W therefore technically BF-T1 programed to low power and PMR channels is legal

To me, this would fill a spot similar to the Alinco DJ-S41 (the 70cm version of the DJ-S11)... Not really something I would spend money on personally, but certainly not a horrible option for an FRS-like radio to use at hamfests/county fairs/other events/activities when the whole family/group has a ham license.

It was nice of Empire Outfitters to send the radios to you. They have a limited use. For me, I believe I would look for something better. Just my opinion.

I've had a couple for backup for about a year.5. They will run dead on their own unlike a normal lithium battery with newer modern radios. The plan was to have them in a go box but brought them out to use them and they were dead. I did put them in at full charge!

I would use something like that for emcoms for the family in a shtf that's about all it would be useful for my area

Use the Baofeng T1 with a crossband repeater? Here in rural Kentucky, repeaters are few and far between. The T1 would allow you to go the the far reaches of your farm and still hit the crossband repeater in your shack. The crossband repeater connects you to all the repeaters your normally can reach. Just a thought.

Hey, thanks for giving more attention to this radio. I've had one for a while back when they were super cheap and everywhere on eBay. For the volume, there is a mod you can perform. It's been a year or so, but if I recall correctly, a resistor on the board is way too low. So, the radio is effectively always at max volume. IIRC you have to replace this resistor with a significantly higher resistance resistor. I have mine modded and it has been running just fine -- I followed a guide online. Obviously, you shouldn't need to mod this, but hey, cheap radios. You can program VHF into it using the manufacturer's programmer. BUT, the antenna and chipset is not tuned for VHF, so when you transmit, you are sending out spurious harmonic emissions in the non-amateur spectrum. I did see a post somewhere which verified this with an analyzer. So, transmitting VHF on it is obviously illegal and dangerous as hell. But, you can listen to VHF with even with the bad antenna. I still like this radio (let's face it, it's cute). The antenna can't get messed up or bent. It's small. You can charge it via USB micro. But a better cheap UHF radio would be the BF-888.

Killer patch

You all know what its for lol. Its obviously a beer opener. If you have the pointy part sticking out you can use it to strike the top of the bottle cap, this will help loosen it. Or if you miss opening the bottle with the main part of the opener. The pointy thing will graze the side of it, also loosening up the cap.

It would be interesting to look at the spectral content of the transmitters of the radios that you review. A few more details would be appreciated. Subjective observations and descriptions are fine but I think you need to start drilling down into the technical details.

I believe the smaller Baofeng HTs are underappreciated. My first pair were UV-3R which are kind of toy-like, but were cheap and fun for close-in use around home and property on MURS etc. Next I got a couple UV-3R+ versions which are better all-around, like more rugged build, and have a better antenna scheme, but still have some limitations. And then I got a few UV82s which I think somewhat rival my Wouxuns. I especially like the dual PTT buttons. I would certainly not recommend any of these, including the Wouxuns, for demanding SAR or other critical work. But for Ham and personal coms, they are an economical alternative for budget-minded Hams. Always remember, three is two, two is one, one is none...this applies to cheap HTs too. That's why I bought several of each so I could have spare batteries, chargers etc. it seems the drop-in charges are not too good. I loaded all of mine with a variety of interesting frequencies to listen to. TIP: if you program in public service frequencies, be sure to omit the Tx 'side' so as to not cause any unintended interference to these services.

Hey! Great videos! I was looking forward to get a pair of these, for MTB purposes, due to price, size, reach. Wich one would you recomend to go on a full mtb day in the mountains? Regards from Nicaragua

I purchased one of those BF-T1 radios to use around the house as a remote mic into my remote base. However, it didn't come with a programming cable, so that's on order. While familiarizing myself with the radio, I found that the FM broadcast band portion doesn't pick up a single station across the entire band! Guess I need to alert the seller and either have them refund the purchase or send me a full functioning radio. ... Kapt Irk

it would be nice for warehouse or retail store enviorment

Could you look at the baofeng bf-r5 mini if you haven't already looked at it thanks, great video from UK 🇬🇧 I've got one of these but just waiting for a programming cable for BF-T1

Looks a lot like the GD73.

That’s a magic mountain radio. For trying to make contacts at the top of collosus before you go over the drop and throw the radio.

At 2W with a fixed antenna, those little radios would work for FMS under the new power rules.

Can it be programmed to be use as a mini scanner radio

Since the uv-3r is no longer made, what radio would you purchase instead of the uv-3r?

What is good unlicensed radio for hikers and campers. What would you recommend to someone who doesn’t have ham license.

Wasn't the BF made non FCC compliant and considered not usable in the US?

Would the T1 be a good single use, APRS rig (albeit UHF w/o modding)? I do a lot of snowshoeing and usually have an APRS/APRSDroid rig tucked away in my bag while I'm out and about.

The metal thing is for pushing buttons while not touching it yourself

How can I make a 10 element yagi with 20 baofengs, 2 aluminum poles 8' long for cleaning pools and a bunch of arrow shafts??? Come on Josh let's build this!

I have one and got the stuff to program and just couldn't figure out how to program the radio

A couple of buddies and I usually go on mountain runs in our cars, the cobra radios we have are complete ass. I've managed to program my BF-T1 to work with 1-20 FRS Frequencies. What are the chances we would get in trouble if we set up 3-4 radios to use as 2 ways, on FRS frequencies on these T1's? 😂

Can you name channels or frequencies on the T1 using Chirp?

If someone just wants to USB charge and has a UV-5 series get a 3800mah BL-5L BaoFeng battery and the USB charging cable for the port on the side. $20-30 for both.

a touch more money-wise (and only a touch)... i would go with a uv-5r + a 1.5-2 inch stubby antenna (a.k.a. dummy load). still no good on vhf, but leaves options open.

I have a VX-2R, is that comparable to the 3R?

Getting me a pair to talk smack on Sparc. 🤣

Nice bottle opener that would never ever be repurposed as knuckle dusters. 😁👊

I just got a T1 clueless on how to use it plus I need the cable now lol

Hi josh I was wondering if u know where I can go for my technician test I live on South Gate very close to Cerritos and I’m ready for the test u know any place and when is the closest date I can do it and if I need to schedule please help thanks and keep up the good videos 👍👍

Did you ever see the DMR ht like that radio?

Got a uv-3r for $27 on ebay

Retevis RB-17 has USB C type and 4000mA charges rapidly...

How far could I get on 2m/70cm maybe 5w with a J-pole or slim Jim in my attic. I want to simplex to a friend 20 miles away.

the power off, self drain on the battery for this thing is terrible.

I bought a set of these for my wife and I (both hams) for Christmas 2018. What a POS. No programming cable included. Impossible to program without the cable (you MUST use the programming software). Range was horrible. I returned them. Garbage!

The like to dislike ratio is unprecedented

This shouldn't be a last-ditch backup, it should be a first-ditch option. They're cheap and crappy and mine broke within 15 minutes. The battery also self-discharges.

I think it would be cool to have in a bailout bag, but I’m concerned about the antenna and the volume adjustment.

Pretty much the only good thing about it is the micro USB charging.

So I just ordered a pair of the baofengs all I want to do is listen to the space station and the police in my area also talk to my wife, can you provide the links from your videos on this? Thanks in advance even if you can't help. 👍

Just because it exists does not mean it is worth looking at.

First!