after being assured I the unit would go up to 520mhz,it only went to 450mhz. I am thru with this place

bought this for backcountry communication mostly. I give youth wilderness experience for confidence and self reliance. always have a front radio and back. I am replacing Baofeng radios that have failed before the warranty and they will not respond. These will be put to the test in a week. I have only heard good reviews and only expect quality for the safety of the youth. also ordered 2 more.

I love the wouxun KG-UV8D radio it works great and has wonderful audio.

The KG-UV8D is a fairly easy radio to maneuver through. Audio on air is very good quality and has outstanding transmit range. For the price I would definitely recommend it!

THE GOOD: - Nice large display. - Cross-Band Repeater. - Dual Receive. - Good feel. - Stock antenna is surprisingly good. - FM radio reception sensitivity is very good also. THE BAD: - The radio is frequency-limited by factory default, you need to unlock it with an extra software, but the company warns against it with void-of warranty. - Programming software is horrible as is and the radio is NOT compatible with CHIRP! - Popping, crackling sounds, as well as 'jar-effect' sounds as if you're talking from an underwater tankwith unrecognizable high-pitch noises all over. - Unit got burning hot after a short time use. - Display is invisible, completely blank outdoors in the sun. - With fully charged battery (the 2,600 mAh one!), the Maximum power output on UHF was measured at only 3.3 Watts! - NO Part-90 certification! :( - Side buttons are hard to push and hold. - Sound quality was the WORST I've ever heard! - NOAA weather channel reception is completely distorted. - Since the radio uses SMA-Male antennas, I needed to buy an adapter in order to be able to use my SMA-Female antennas. - NO weather sealing of any kind. - Scanning is very slow! - Battery life, even with the 2,600 mAh extended battery is very short. - FM radio operation is illogical. After activating it, you still can't use the Up/Down Arrows to go to channels, you need to press teh RPT button, then enter the frequency manually. - Squelch shuts off reception, as if it overloads. Whatever causes it, you either get distortions or blank cut-offs. - Display is very soft plastic, you MUST protect it. - Both Transmission and Reception Power Level indicator shows High, even when the battery is low or the reception is very week. - Using plugged-in external speaker-mic, the audio gets even weaker and worse in quality, just to confirm that it is the unit itself! - Stop watch? Really? - Other than the Cross-Band Repeater, there is NOTHING good about this radio! IS THIS RADIO TOTAL JUNK, OR I GOT A LEMON?! :(

Appears to be a great radio for the money. The display is a serious issue since my activities are out side and on a boat. Will probably use the voice prompt to toggle between two or three channels I programmed it with the Wouxum cable using Cirp and Windows 10. That went well.

I love radio,so much so I just bought a newer model the kg-uv9d from TWR.

Basic features work well. Reception range beat my expectations. Transmission range and power are acceptable. Being able to scan a range of channels while listening to another is nice. I have not tried the repeater function.
Programming channels and their settings is not a good experience, either on the unit itself or with a computer. The software is mostly straightforward but more often than not random errors end up being saved to the unit. Fixing these errors with the keypad on the unit can be unintuitive.
Overall worth the price if you are willing to put up with the issues with the more advanced features.

I use this radio daily on the jobsite. We have our own repeater and it works very well. Small enough to carry and not pull your pants down either. East to use/ program.

Good radio good service. the only thing I don't like , is when the panel light goes out so does the screen writing, but apart from that, all good