[mugwump]

That report is pretty weak IMO. Not saying the anecdotal report isn't true, or that Chinese QC can't be spotty, but the comments are instructive.

I have a Yaesu HT. It's nice and I like that it's waterproof. But the HT I carry around the farm is my cheap-ass UV-5R. When I use it, I use it a lot. No problems so far in over a year. Does everything the Yaesu does and if it gets lost/trashed I won't lose any sleep.

Like everything, it depends on your use case. For what you seems to be using them for, a more expensive HT makes sense. For me, not so much. Yaesu/Icom are nice but when you can buy six UV-5Rs for the cost of one Japanese HT? No way. These things are hammers to me. You can put 20 x Baofeng 888-S with chargers and twenty spare batteries in a garbage can for less than $400. They all worked when I programmed them, but if a few are dead if I ever need to pass them out I won't be bothered.

I also have a case of Yugo SKS I bought when they were going for $84 apiece. Same idea. Would I rather have ten quality ARs? Well, yeah! Too pricey though. What is the patrol coverage of five, 2-man teams armed with SKSs and a cheap HT for each team (that only needs to hit our simplex repeater anyway) vs one guy with a nice BCM M4gery and an ICOM? No comparison.

"Quantity has a quality all its own."

Good to see a ham posting here. I'm not slamming you or your post. Keep an eye on the issue and let us know what develops.