Top positive review
20 people found this helpful
Excellent radio
By Dan S. Druge on Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2019
I serve with fire service in the Pacific Northwest on the ocean. I needed a radio that was not too expensive that could be used on RWC's (Jetskis). The radio needed to compatible with our service radios that if lost in the water or damaged would not break our budget. At the suggestion of an instructor, I looked into the GT-3WP. The programming was easy with CHIRP. They were not expensive and seemed hefty and durable. We used them for the first time on a rescue in the ocean the other day. I kept mine in the pocket of my life jacket and used the supplied earpiece mic to hear over the wind and engine noise. I was able to have clear communication with our support boat which really increased our capabilities. The radio took some seawater splashes and continued to work flawlessly. Then I was deployed as a rescue swimmer. I wanted to test this radio to the worst conditions so I left everything on and jumped in. After 15 minutes in the seawater, the earpiece mic went into continuous transmission. but the radio continued to function. I had to turn off the radio to stop transmitting. I was in the water for an additional hour and half with the radio in my pocket. Upon return to the station. The radio would not turn on. I thought I destroyed it and left it on my desk for a few days. Several days later, I thought I would try it out. I put it on the charger on it powered on. When I took it off the charger, it failed. I took the battery from my partners radio and it powered on and worked perfectly. I contacted the seller and was able to get a replacement battery and put the radio back in service. My recommendations: excellent radio for this kind of environment. Will handle heavy splashes of seawater and perform excellent. Not for swimming for extended periods of time. I have bought another one and will continue to use these for water rescue.
Top critical review
33 people found this helpful
This is NOT the same Baofeng GT-3WP I purchased previously
By JR on Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2019
I started buying GT-3WP radio’s for the IP67 rating for use on Kayak fishing/camping trips. In addition to various BaoFeng UV-5 radio’s, I have owned (2) two GT-3WP radio’s since 2017, with several BL-9 spare batteries for each. I wanted to add a 3rd GT-3WP for additional family members so I purchased a new one on July 7th, 2019. My attached pictures show the issues very clearly. For the record… I have my both a GMRS license, and a HAM Technician operator’s license. I also own other brands of portable radio’s. Let’s start with the positives: 1. I was able to load my custom channel list with latest build of Chirp software without issue. 2. The radio appeared to be the same as the other (2) GT-3WP’s I own. That’s about all I have for the positives… On to the negatives: 1. Battery release broke: After I charged the new radio and battery, I attempted to remove the new battery, in order to charge 2 spare batteries (for an upcoming fishing/kayaking trip). The battery release tab broke off in the process. I was willing to live with a broken tab (and avoid the return process) because I could still release the battery by pressing on the spring mechanism. 2. Radio is incompatible with existing BL-9 batteries: I tried to attach 1 of my existing BL-9 batteries to ensure it was fully charged. None of my existing BL-9 batteries would fit into this new radio body. 3. Packaging labels were modified: I’m not an expert of who manufacturers these radio’s for Baofeng. But the radio’s I purchased in 2017 have a sticker that indicates they were made by SainSonic. The exterior label on the boxes also indicate SainSonic, but the 2019 BaoFeng serial label was tweaked to introduce the PoFung name. No other change in variants is observable on the packaging. 4. Misleading product photo's. The listing pictures of this product show 1) a silver colored battery compartment, and 2) a label that it was made by SainSonic. That’s a picture of the SainSonic version – not the PoFung version that was shipped. The ONLY clue that something is amiss in the posting is the word slipped into PoFung in the title description. Again, I’m not an expert on the purpose and status of the PoFung brand name, but my research indicates PoFung was introduced as temporary marketing name to be used while BaoFeng was dealing with trademark rights in the US a few years ago. I received a radio that looks and feels like a GT-3WP, and it arrived in a box labeled SainSonic | BaoFeng, but it is not the same radio structure or battery as previous versions. The reason I buy additional quantities of the same radio is to maintain uniformity, interchangeability, and ease of management. Clearly we miss those objectives with the radio I received. It seems that PoFung is more than just a marketing name and PoFung radio’s are physically different radio’s than the SainSonic variants. In this reviewers opinion, these PoFung versions are PoJunk. It’s a shame as this time sink (the new GT-3WP purchase, trouble shooting, and return) has given me serious pause on buying additional BaoFeng products. There are very few water proof radio’s offered by BaoFeng, so sourcing a replacement will likely set me on a path to using an alternative brand in the future.
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