Inceptor, is it a good product or am i better off investing in a expensive one?
It depends on what you want. This is an inexpensive way to get into handhelds. It may not make a difference to you but this radio is ready to accept interops. That is the gov 1st responder frequencies. I have a buddy in a nursing home. I bought him one that was similar so he could get with the ham community in his area. We got our tickets about the same time and both have been involved in ham for a lot of years.
The avg handheld can run into a lot of money. I have 3 handhelds right now and rarely use them because of the coverage. I have a number of mobile units too that do have decent coverage and use one of them as my base unit.
If your goal is to get into entry level ham, this would be the way to start. It works fine and doesn't cost a lot of money. Keep in mind that the max output for a handheld is 5w. But if your intention is for close in communications in an emergency, this will do the job. I bought mine for 2 reasons, the cost and the capabilities. I am not sorry I got mine.