So I figured I would compare these two since I own them both, and this will remind me what I like and dislike about each–
First off, to anyone outside reading this I realize the Kenwood has a lot more features and really is a class higher (and double the price), but anyway…
The good things about Yaesu
- Yaesu feels better in my hand by far–the Kenwood is too short, it’s easy to accidentally hit PTT or just generally find it hard to re position in your hand, the smaller size might be something I come to appreciate about the Kenwood later, so who knows…
- Yaesu buttons and case have a more study feel vs. the Kenwood.
- Yaesu has power and volume on the same knob… seems so simple yet Kenwood decided to stick the volume as the ring (2nd control) under the channel change knob; This makes it difficult to change volume w/o changing channel. This is probably my biggest complaint about the Kenwood–if they had even added an “ear flap” to the volume control that would have been fine, just something to make it easier to move the volume ring and not the channel knob
- Yaesu gives you better control over the lamp… again this seems so simple, yet Kenwood has no way (that I have found) to activate the lamp when a signal is received–so if I’m scanning channels I don’t know what repeater or channel I’m on when a signal is coming in… not a big deal, but an annoyance considering there is already a lamp setting in the menu, it would be a better of an additional option or two
- Yaesu belt clip can be opened by pushing on the top and it’s spring loaded. Kenwood is just friction fit and relies on the metal retaining shape. I don’t wear the radio on my belt, but I do clip it to a pocket on my backpack and I feel like the Yaesu is more secure
- Yaesu has a dedicated squelch knob–actually I should say, it’s not a knob it’s the ring on the channel knob, which is perfect because having an entire knob for squelch seems like a waste. That said, it’s not that hard to push the SQL button on the Kenwood…
- Yaesu software for programming is great, the Kenwood’s feels like a DOS converted to Win 3.1 hold over. I also have to manually set offset amount, offset direction, step, etc… those are all set automatically with Yaesu SW or when programming on the radio
- This is actually a Kenwood annoyance, not a Yaesu feature… They give you two LEDs on the top to indicate whether you are receiving on Band A or Band B, but they are the same color and are not changeable… it would be great if they had two different colors, or at least let you set one of the LEDs to a blink pattern so you could tell what band you are receiving in the dark
- Yaesu dust covers on the side of the radio seem much more study then the Kenwood… I’m certain I’ll break the Kenwood’s off
- Yaesu never gets hot while charging… the Kenwood gets noticeably warm when charging (which is pretty much anytime you plug it in)… probably unavoidable given its size and the battery configuration, but it’s an annoyance
- Yaesu includes a charging cradle, Kenwood needs to have a barrel plug put in (and the dust flap pulled, another reason it’ll be broken off)
Stuff I like about the Kenwood…
- It’s got 220…
- It will receive very wide band
- You can easy swap between seeing the programmed alpha tag and frequency–on the Yaesu you have to navigate a bunch of menus which seems a bit ridiculous (then again how often are you going to want to do that?)
- Alpha tag for frequencies is longer than 6 characters–I like to use 1, 2, 4 to designate 2m, 1.25m or 70cm on the repeater call signs so I appreciate that Kenwood allows 8 characters. I realize this is more of a complaint against the Yaesu LCD size
- Lithium Ion battery… with the Yaesu you end up with battery memory if you don’t follow allow deep discharge
- Charges with the 12V car plug… the Yaesu will only run from it, but not charge its battery. That means if I’m traveling I need to bring the Yaesu cradle and have access to 120V. Kenwood I can just leave plugged into the car.
- Yaesu put the headset and charge inputs too close together and the dust flap is anchored between them… result is very awkward and somewhat forced connections when you’re using both headset jack and DC power jack
- Joystick control… makes much easier and faster to get to the menus vs. the Yaesu
So I’m still getting to know both of them, but at this point I think I have the Yaesu feature set and operation down. The Kenwood I’m still working the kinks out. Over all if I had $300 to spend on just one of them I’d go for the Kenwood because dual receivers, lithium ion, and 220 TX are great features for not that much more money. I’m still glad I have the Yaesu though and if you’re looking for a radio under $150 it seems like a pretty good one.
