$39.99 1/3/5 watts
https://baofengtech.com/product/uv-82c/
$54.99 1/5 watts
OR
https://baofengtech.com/product/uv-82hp/
$62.99 1/5/7-8 watts
All three cover 136-174mhz (VHF) 400-520mhz (UHF)
Which covers all the below
Ham 2 meter, 144 MHz to 148 MHz
GMRS/FRS 462.5625 MH to 467.7250 MHz
70cm 420 to 450 MHz
(70cm+gmrs/frs = 420 MHz to 467.7250 MHz with 2m being in that 136-174 range)
Retevis is cheaper and advertised as waterproof. All three also look very similar like one company copied the other. In fact even their websites look much the same.
For mobile 50 watt radios, Baofeng is actually $100 cheaper(now that I look at them again). So if I got two Retevis handhelds for $40 each and Baofeng mobile for $200, that would be $280. If I got all Baofeng, it would be $310 - $326. I suppose for $30-46 difference, I might go with all the same brand. Up until writing this, I was thinking Retevis was cheaper on the mobile too but I might have been looking at 25 watt radios. One benefit of having all Baofeng is that all Baofengs are CHIRP compatible.
The immediate use is that my wife works second shift at a nursing home 20 miles away. 20 miles of hills. We rarely get a cell signal at home and between here and town, only get a signal at the top of 2-3 hills. Each of those spots even has a graveled place to pull off to the side. There's a Ham repeater about 5 miles from here, between here and town and I'm hoping that a radio here, through repeater to vehicle will at least make it so that a signal could be had at the top of every hill instead of the 2-3 cell spots. I'm also looking at a 10/25/50 watt mobile radio for the house. We already have a 12 vdc power supply here and in a month or three, it will be hooked back up to solar panels and battery bank. Our batteries finally crapped out after 8 years. We lived off grid for 5 years and for two of those years, had a land line here with a cordless phone running of the battery bank via inverter. So if the electric was out, I'd still have power for a mobile radio and then carry a handheld in the truck so if she or I broke down in a valley, we could walk to the top of the hill and call for help. That repeater is a little higher than our place and I think, higher or as high as any hill between it and town. Gonna have to stop by and talk to the guy. I did drive by and see the tower. There as an SUV the driveway that had antennas on it so I'm sure he'd know what's what as far as repeater range. I'll stop by next Saturday.
I guess ideally, it would be a mobile at the house, mobile in the truck and also handheld in the truck in case we break down in a valley and need to walk to the top of a hill. We get a lot of wintery mix and then the temp drops as it gets dark and then sometimes changes to snow so you get a condition of a thin layer of ice underneath snow. We also get ice storms here occasionally. Being rural, the state/county can't always keep up with salting the roads, especially the 4 mile paves road closest to us. The trip to town is 4 miles gravel, 4 miles paved county road and 12 miles State Hwy.
My other use of course if shtf scenario and it just so happens that from what I've heard, there's supposed to be a survivalist/prepper community right around where the repeater is. Pretty sure I talked to one guy on the phone who sells solar panels and related components. The conversation subject ended up on prepping. When I told him we were off grid, he really wanted to come see our setup but things were a mess here so I put him off. Never know who's who so I also had to wonder if he wasn't trying to scope things out for a resource come shtf as there are some people who plan on surviving by robbing others. Being new to the area, I didn't have a feel for how people are here. I now know that aside from meth heads, just a bunch of nice people. Then I saw him once at the lumber store. He had his solar business and his name on his pickup which Is how I knew who he was. I didn't strike up a conversation with him. He was already talking to someone. Seemed like a nice normal guy though. If tshtf big time, with just the four of us, life would be tough. A community would fair better than a family. If nothing else, barter and help each other and the repeater guy would likely have info coming through the airwaves. Even if I had the same setup, he's got a better spot. We're 200 foot down from a good high spot. When we don't get a cell signal here, we drive a mile up the gravel road if we need to. If we don't get a signal there, we go another mile up by a big radio tower. Hill country's a biotch.
With the dems being allowed to cheat now, in 2022 or 2024, they'll have the WH and a big majority in the Senate and House at which point they'll be able to do whatever they want. I can see them ratifying a treaty with the UN at which point, we're under the control of globalists. The left's goal is to collapse the US and other Western countries and build their global utopia aka global communism. The collapse and transition will be bad times and probably all times there after. Think I read something about seven years. ;~)