Last review I gave a poor rating for the Baofeng BF-F9 +V2. Today I can give it a better review.

First I dealt with FOSCAM, a camera company, in obtaining the initial radio through Amazon. This is a good company with great customer service. They answered my email questions through the whole process.

The problem (I thought) was that they sent me the same model. They even sprang for the shipping. Was I to have the same difficulty?

I was extra gentle with the belt clip, this time. After carefully removing the screws from the radio, I put them through the holes in the belt clip first. Then screwed them into the case and they went in fine. In fact it was perfect. The screws are tight and the belt clip works like any my UV-82 (Which is not very good).

Now would the battery seat properly. Sadly, it did not. At least not initially. I went ahead and loaded up my frequency file through the CHIRP program. I began to test it having to make sure I held the battery in. It worked good except for the battery. I was not about to send it back, however, and was thinking about other means of making it useful. A battery eliminator, perhaps? That route would only make it useful in the car. I was even thinking about filing away some of the battery case, but I saw that could not be done.

In frustration I reverted to an old technician trick. I slammed the bottom of the battery and it seated into place. It has been fine ever since. At least since the 19th.

I ordered the Nagoya UT-71 for another reason, so I hooked it up and began to use it. I do not transmit much, but I did conduct several range tests. Unfortunately no matter what location I tried, I could not connect with the repeater I need to connect to.

I should note that I found out through research that the BF-F9 is NOT an updated model.

The features. The F9 comes with a 3800mAH battery. The transmit powers are 1, 4 and 8-watts in theory. I have not tested this and some tell me the Baofeng does not always perform as advertised in this area.

The antenna seems to be the biggest disappointment by other reviewers. They say it is pretty much a UV-5R antenna. Some have said that they purchased the better rubber duck antenna available for around $15 on Amazon and it seemed to work for them.

The CHIRP program does not specifically support this model. You can program it, however, through the BF-F8 model. The BF-F8 is the latest high power model from Baofeng that I know of.

The chargers seem to be the weak point of the Baofeng. They work, but last night I set up the F9 to charge and the light did not turn green. I lifted off it off the charger and set it back on and the green light came on. I still have to play with the charger for the UV-82 a bit, but they do work.

The earpiece microphone that came with this model is not a dual PTT. I do not monitor dual channels on the F9 as I do on the UV-82. I found on the UV-82 that with an external microphone, no matter what I do I can only transmit on Channel B. I had to use the dual PTT ear/mic that came with it to transmit on the correct channel.

Personally I like the feel of the radio in my hand. I do not like the camouflage pattern. The UV-82 camo that I purchased is a much better pattern. So far the radio has performed as well as the UV-82 I purchased. I have not seen much performance increase from the UV-82.

My opinion is that you should probably check out the UV-82HP which touts a maximum 7-watts out over this radio for about the same $68 price. That is, if you are interest in the lower priced Baofeng. The UV-5R still seems to be the most popular of the Baofeng line. They are a max output of 4-watts and the price is about half. At least for a new Ham.

If you are not on a budget as I am, you should probably explore the ICom and higher-end radios.

Some other thoughts:
BaoFeng BF-F9 V2+ Impressions

BaoFeng BF-F8HP first glance review at a CERT Training event.