TIDRADIO UV-5R Pro 8W Ham Radio Handheld - Dual Band Two-Way Radio (144-148MHz & 420-450MHz) Walkie Talkie Kit for Outdoor Adventures, Hiking, Camping & Emergency Communication

Got the radios, antenna's and programming cable. All arrived safely and in good order. Unpacked and inspected and all accessories and booklets accounted for. This is for the 8 watt 5 pack radio set. I charged and tested each radio for battery capacity, freq operations, and switch tests. All good.Now for the fun.A card is included to go to their website and download the software. They want a song and dance on Facebook and I like another user don't use socialist media, I had to find another way. I did a quick search and found that this radio can be programmed using the FTDI cable and CHIRP software. Perfectly!!! So use it.I'm a newb so I was a little apprehensive. Installed the Baofeng cable I had bought previously because unlike these guys, they were explicit and forthcoming about their software. I just couldn't get the radios for some reason. No hoops to just through. The drivers auto installed and I checked "Device Manager - (Ports) Com & LPT and a port 7 was assigned. Installed CHIRP software and messed around for about 45 minutes before the fault became crystal clear. The cable needs to be shoved in like it's the last thing you're ever going to do. :-)Once driven home, turn radio on, fire up CHIRP and choose "download from radio" to familiarize yourself with operations. From there, its easy to choose from either built in configs in the software menu or build one yourself. The software is comprehensive and straight forward and you can program nearly every aspect of the radio. Just using it as FRS/GMRS to train the kids and that those freqs were built right into the menu as well, so it was a matter of choosing them from the menu, and downloading the config to the radio. This goes also for the Baofeng model. Easy as pie. Pity they make you jump through hoops for the software but you really need not. I'd give five stars if not for the horse puckey. This is 2020, just ask for a review instead of leading your customers on. Very bad practice.