ANILE-8R Single Band UHF Portable Commercial Two-Way Radio

I bought two of the Anytone ANIHL-8R transceivers. I am hoping to replace my older part 90 tagged Baofeng UV5Rs because they have unreliable DCS receive decode when used in a signal - rich environment. In my case, an interim fix for that problem was to put the Baofeng recever on carrier operated squelch only. That trick works OK for now, but, won't work well if the FCC ever co-locates another company on this frequency. That's part of what DCS on receive is for, to allow channel sharing! Hence, the ANIHL-8R sets were purchased for evaluation.Although they basicly DO work, and, DO mostly solve the DCS and receive overload problems, The ANIHL-8R sets could be better overall. They DO have a nicer mechanical build than the UV5R. There's a nice metal chassis with an integral reinforced block for the belt clip, and, a smooth yet robust feel to the controls. The case appears to be good quality polycarbonate, and, te unit is uncluttered by keypads and displays that basic business band users mostly don't need anyway.I'd also like to say that the folk at Anytone Tech are very responsive, and, quick to reply, even on a Saturday!However, in a side by side comparison with the UV5R sets, both with stock antennae, as well as Nayoga 701 commercial tuned,and, both with, and, without the Anytone QHM-22 microphones, the Baofeng UV5R sets "hit" my employer's repeater much more consistently from my apartment. That's only three miles from the plant in my case, with roughly a 100' hill in the way (Telford, PA Train Station area, to the JBS Beef plant in nearby Souderton, PA.) I also noted that the audio output was signifigantly weaker on at least one of the ANIHL-8-R sets, I really don't feel I'm getting the one watt claimed in the manual IMHO.In closing, let me say that if you are working in a relatively quiet area at modest ranges, the ANIHL-8R will probably do OK. But when I took them to work, it was found that we had to leave the volume all the way up. Our plant is, of course, noisy, fast paced, not a place where missing calls is tolerated for long! Nonetheless, the improvement in DCS performance was noted and we will continue evaluating these, and other radios as an eventual upgrade from our UV5Rs.

Well made, sturdy, not light-weight/flimsy, and feels like a "real" radio. Bench testing & on-the-air test results have been impressive. Good receive and transmit audio quality. Power output, receiver sensitivity & other performance well within advertised specifications and parameters noted in FCC certification test documents. I purchased 2 of these radios, and after 2 months of use, I consider the overall quality and performance of both radios to be better than 3 other "similar" UHF hand-held radio models (made by 2 other manufacturers) used in the same time frame. The belt clip is easy to fasten to the radio & it works well in the field. The "wrist strap" really isn't of much utility as the radio goes back on my hip when I need to use 2 hands for something. The radio gets in the way if left dangling from the wrist. The supplied 1300 mAh battery seems to last fairly well during a "normal" work day, but you may want to consider also buying the optional 1800 mAh #QB-43HL battery in a heavy-use environmentI have NOT received a discount or been compensated in any way for this review.

I've used about 15 of these at our plant over the past several months and have been very satisfied. We used a lot of Black Box radios in the past, and these are very comparable in voice quality and durability. I've used many variations of Baofeng radios over the past 3 years, and the AnyTone radios are definitely built to a higher standard all around.We plan to replace all our other radios with these as they drop out of use.

Just got them and used them for the first time today. Easy to program for the most part and they seem to work pretty darn good. My only gripe is that the dimensions listed seem a bit off. I will have to measure again but for one thing, even if you include the top of the knob, this unit is not 5 inches long. I was really hoping for something a little bigger and felt mislead by the specs listed.

Great radio. Easily programmable, reliable and easy to use.

Great product. Works flawlessly. Easy to program.

Works as described. Perfectly clear through out a 250,000 square foot warehouse

I review these kind of radios since 2006 on my hamgear blog. While it might be tempting to compare this radio with a Baofeng BF-888S - it's the same concept after all - there's a massive gap in quality. This is an excellent radio, worthy of using in a professional environment. Nice, crisp audio (RX as well as TX) and a receiver which doesn't collapse under challenging conditions such as strong out-of-band signals.