Just came this morning , and I would like to be all like its fantastic and all that ..
But I must say Im a little disappointed .
I dont know why they had to change the body so much , makes it hard to fit UV-5r batteries
It took a lot of work , but I got the UV-5r AA battery pack to fit the GT-3
At least now I have the option to run AA batteries .. On the + side , the AA battery pack makes the entire radio fit the hand better ...
Do you see anything ? Neither did I , and that makes removing the factory battery a pain in the proverbial ..
Yes , I did have to do something about that .
Removing the factory battery is as easy as can be now ..
Ok , I still dont care for the firmware ..
Why do you need to program semi duplex twice ( input and output freq )
Baofeng got it right with the UV-B5 , why cant they get it right with the GT-3 ? ( Because its still a UV-5r )
Yes , the GT-3 is a sheep in wolves clothing .
So far I have not noticed anything in use ( improvements ) , yes I know its supposedly got some new chips in it , it has a new set of clothes , and a new antenna ..
But you know what , I plug it into my 2 meter dipole ( 4 meters above the ground ) and there is no noticeable difference from my other baofeng radios ..
Bear in mind the GT-3 sells from about $60 to $80 USD , making it not the most cost effective baofeng .
Whilst the UV-5r sells from about $35 and up ...
Is the GT-3 twice as expensive as the UV-5r , well yes quite frankly , but is it twice as good , hell no .
To be fair , I have only had the radio for a few hours , but in that time , I havent noticed any difference what so ever and nothing to justify the GT-3's existence .
Its early days , and these are my initial thoughts ...
old4570 ( VK3FORK )