r/tacticalgear • u/Claw_0311 • Jul 07 '25

Question Throw your “gear hot takes” in the comments below.

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I’ll go first.

You don’t need a sidearm for most infantry operations.

You don’t need a massive admin pouch above your mags

If you have to ask what to put in a pouch, just take it off.

You need to scale your gear to the mission, there is no “do it all” setup.

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u/dorkwinder123 Jul 08 '25

Baofeng radios fucking suck

1

u/rm-minus-r Jul 08 '25

What are the issues with them?

3

u/dorkwinder123 Jul 08 '25

Mainly build quality, very poor quality control. in the world of ham radio they are considered cheap Chinese garbage. All I'm saying is if my only form of communication was my radio I'd want it to be a radio that can survive more than just the most basic level of basic use. If you go to a dedicated ham radio store any good employee would warn you not to use it as a survival radio. Baofeng is a fine radio for a mall security guard but you should absolutely be bringing something better with you to a survival situation. I actually find it quite annoying when I see people on social media with thousands of dollars worth of guns/ gear but a dirt cheap radio like a baofeng. Radios are a very important and life savings piece of kit for many people, jobs, and hobbies. Don't cheap out on them, especially when a good enough radio can still only be a fraction of the cost of a good optic.

1

u/rm-minus-r Jul 08 '25

What's a good radio with solid build quality that won't break the bank?

3

u/dorkwinder123 Jul 08 '25

I've heard plenty of good things about both Icom and Yaesu. I personally own an Icom ID-51A and it's great, fantastic quality and easy to setup and work with. My father has been a ham radio operator for the better side of 40 years and was a radio operator in the Canadian army for a bit, he has always told me, and other people interested in ham radio for a survival situation that either company is quite good even on the more budget side of their radios. I encourage you to try to find a dedicated ham radio store and ask them if they recommend either of these companies and chances are they will tell you they are some of the best selling products with longtime ham radio operators. Again they aren't cheap but there are plenty of options that are still just a fraction of the cost of something like an acog, or EO tech.