I seem to have aquired one or two cheap Chinese handhelds over the course of this year.
All very similar in price and functionality and much of a muchness when all said and done.
The one thing that does seems to stand out among my radios is the quality of the audio, the loudness and quality of the speaker.
The quality of the audio components is just as important as anything else in my opinion. It's no good having a great Reciever when you can't hear it properly or the speaker makes it sound thin and weedy. A hilltop QSO could be a nightmare if the wind is blowing and the speaker won't go any louder.
I decided to run a quick test of the sound quality by tuning all the radios into the same frequency and listening hard to them all.
Although all of these radios have good sound quality there was one radio that out performed the rest by a country mile.
Using a strange one handed cock-eyed fashion i managed to record a couple of minutes of test footage.
In what seems like a conveyer belt approach I pass each radio under the camera with the volume cranked up.
It's quite hard to pick out the differences but they are there.
The poor lighting and crap video work leaves a lot to be desired!
Winner!
1. Zeadio/,WLN slim UHF Transceiver 👍👍👍👍👍 - A very loud, rich and clean sounding audio. The squelch works really well on this radio which helps.
Absolutely stunning for the size and price of the radio. The 1W speaker is great and goes quite loud.
The rest
2. Sainsonic GT3-TP 👍👍👍👍 - Like the Zeadio the audio on this radio is rich and clean. However the speaker is not quite as loud.
3. Misuta UV-82+ 👍👍👍- This radio produces some good quality sounds. It's clear and rich in tone due to the design of the casing it's just not as loud as the previous tested radios.
4. Pofung GT-1 👍👍👍. - The audio quality of this cheap radio is really good. The speaker is far from the loudest here but good enough for clear RX
5. Baofeng UV-5RE 👍👍 - This radio has the thinnest and quietest sounding audio of them all. It's not terrible but I have struggled to hear stuff when outdoors with a breeze in the face.
How ironic, the cheapest radio with the least amount of features wins the test and wins it comfortably.
The Zeadio slim handset has stunning audio. Simply stunning!
How they managed to cram this 1W speaker (along with everything else) into a case which is an inch thick is beyond me.
Yet another reason to buy the ridiculously price Zeadio/WLN/Retevis mini slim line rig.
I tip my hat to the designers - well done lads!