Comparison of DMR radios

The date at the top is only the date this article was originally posted. It does not change when I update the post!

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Anything with a ? in is something I don't know. If you do, then please help by telling me. If I have missed out any Chinese DMR radios please tell me in the comments.

Disclaimer
Information in this table is not guaranteed. I have made my best effort to provide correct information but there could be errors. Please check before buying, and if you find a mistake please let me know!

Legal information
This comparison is made for licensed amateur radio operators. It is illegal to use any of these radios on licence free channels such as PMR446 or FRS (including GMRS). Radios used on FRS and GMRS must be certified for use on these channels by the FCC. Radios used on PMR446 must have 0.5W maximum output power, and a fixed antenna.

Radio	True DMR	Dual band	Available in	Waterproof	Receiver type	Rough price	User DB	Recommended/comments
TYT MD-380 / Retevis RT3	Yes	No	VHF or UHF	No	Superhet	90	Yes	Yes. Good quality body and good performance. Superhet receiver is good. Promiscuous mode and many more enhancements available in unofficial firmware. Only real issue is tones/beeps volume can't be changed.
TYT MD-390	Yes	No	VHF or UHF	Yes	Superhet	125	Yes	Yes. Same as MD-380 but waterproof.
Baofeng DM-5R	No	Yes	VHF + UHF	No	Direct conversion	50	No	No. Does not talk to other DMR radios (uses a different vocoder), and only works on simplex mode.
Baofeng DM-5R Plus	No	Yes	VHF + UHF	No	Direct conversion	70	No	No. Does not work on repeaters properly. Will talk to other DMR radios fine on simplex though.
Ailunce HD1	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	Yes	Direct conversion	190	Yes	Yes. Good if you need a radio with VFO mode and dual band. This radio is good because it allows full front panel programming and a proper "VFO mode". Also has promiscuous mode.
TYT MD-2017 / Retevis RT82	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	Yes	Direct conversion	220	Yes	Yes. Trackball is disliked by users. Now has TyToolz firmware (like on the MD-380) which adds features like adhoc talkgroup changing.
Radioddity GD-77	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	No	Direct conversion	87	Yes	No. One of the cheaper dual band DMR radios but buggy and not great quality. Still a better choice than the RD-5R though.
Radioddity GD-55/ TYT MD-398	No	No	VHF or UHF	Yes	Direct conversion	-	No	No. Does not work on repeaters properly. No longer sold.
Radioddity GD-55 Plus	Yes	No	UHF	Yes	Direct conversion	115	No	No. Users complain that firmware is too buggy. Development seems to have stopped. Shows the importance of not buying a radio that still has bugs - they may never be fixed!
Kirisun DP-770	Yes	No	UHF	Yes	Superhet	300	No	No. Expensive compared to other Chinese radios and no promiscuous mode.
BFDX CS580	Yes	No	VHF or UHF	Splash	Direct conversion	130	No	Yes. Gets excellent reviews. Colour code and timeslot promiscuous mode as well.
AnyTone AT-D868UV	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	Splash	Direct conversion	175	Yes	Yes, generally good reviews.
AnyTone AT-D878UV	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	Splash	Direct conversion	210	Yes	Yes. Good reviews, but expensive for a direct conversion radio. As of April 2019 this is probably the best dual band DMR radio.
BTECH DMR-6X2	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	Splash	Direct conversion	170	Yes	Yes. Like the AnyTone AT-D868UV but with a few additional features. See comparison of models here.
Connect systems CS750/CS751 (VHF)	Yes	No	VHF or UHF	No	Superhet	240	No	Monitor feature is good – basically a colour code and timeslot promiscuous mode, but there are newer radios out there with more features and cheaper. Generally good reviews.
Wouxun KG-D901	Yes	No	VHF or UHF	Yes	?	150	No	No. Reviews complain that the radio only has 32 channels. Not many reviews and there isn't much of a user community. Meant to be more channels with firmware update but Wouxun says you have to send the radio back to be upgraded. Not worth the hassle and cost.
Baofeng RD-5R	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	No	Direct conversion	75	No	No. A total mess. Full of bugs.
Zastone Mini9+	No	No	UHF	No	Probably direct conversion	50	No	Will not work on repeaters but for simplex use it seems good. Very small, limited display and simplex only. Not legal for use on licence free channels.
Radioddity GD-77S	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	No	Direct conversion	77	No	No screen. Not sure why an amateur would buy this. Maybe good for blind users. For commercial use it would be better to buy a radio with a superhet receiver. Not legal for use on the licence free frequencies it is programmed to by default.
Alinco DJ-MD40	Yes	No	UHF	Splash	Superhet	135	No	I couldn't find any reviews of this. Alinco is a good brand so quality would be expected here, but there are cheaper radios available with many more features (MD-380 and MD-390) so I don't really see why anyone would buy this.
TYT MD-UV380 / Retevis RT3S	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	No	Direct conversion	130	Yes	No. Not to be confused with the MD-380. This radio is dual band but has a direct conversion receiver. It's not a bad radio overall, and has group and private call promiscuous modes as well as user DB, but there are cheaper ones out there with similar specs. Also has some poor design, like all tones are way too loud and volume can't be changed, adhoc talkgroup change doesn't stick after you use push the PTT once.
TYT MD-UV390	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	Yes	Direct conversion	175	Yes	See TYT MD-UV380 above. This radio is practically the same but waterproof.
Alinco DJ-MD5	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	No	Direct conversion	170	Yes	Yes. Has good reviews but still no superheterodyne receiver. Very disappointing for a supposedly "good" Japanese brand to come out with a direct conversion receiver radio.
Radioddity GD-88 / Kydera DR-880UV Plus	Yes	Yes	VHF + UHF	Splash	Direct conversion	195	Yes	No. Too many bugs at the moment. Maybe in the future, but don't buy until the bugs are fixed as there's no guarantee they ever will be.

Explanation of columns:
1. True DMR. Whether the radio works as it should do on repeaters and with other DMR radios. I strongly discourage you from buying a radio that is not true DMR. You will not be able to use it on repeaters.

2. Dual band. Whether the radio supports two bands in one radio. This will almost always be VHF and UHF.

3. Available in. States which bands the radio is available in. VHF, which is normally 136-174  MHz and UHF which usually starts at 400MHz and goes up to 470, 480 or sometimes even 520 MHz. For amateur use then up to 470MHz is fine because no countries (that I know of) have an amateur band above that (well okay, there are much higher frequency bands but I mean within the operation of these radios).

4. Waterproof. No means not at all. Yes means submersible in water. Splash means not submersible but certified for use in rain.

5. Receiver type. Superheterodyne receiver (shortened to superhet) is better because it rejects other channels better. So if someone is standing next to you talking on another radio, your radio will not become temporarily deaf. Direct conversion is cheaper and takes up less space on circuit boards but is easily desensitised. (that’s what it’s called when the radio cannot hear what you’re listening to because of a strong signal on another frequency). Most Chinese radios use direct conversion which is inferior, at least in the way it is implemented in these radios. A radio like this is considered to have "poor selectivity".

6. Rough price. Given in US dollars. As with most things, you may find it being sold at a much higher or slightly lower price. Please let me know in the comments below if the average price of a radio changes so I can update the price in the table.

7. User DB. The user DB is a database of amateur radio operators and their DMR IDs. When they are transmitting, a radio with the user DB will show their name and callsign. Without the database, the radio would just show the ID which is usually a number such as 3111234. Only radios which have been specially designed (or adapted by newer firmware such as with the MD-380) will have this feature. Commercial radios and brands like Motorola, Hytera etc do not have this.

8. Recommended/comments. Whether I recommend the radio or not based on my own experience and my understanding of other user’s comments online. Also gives comments on why I do or do not recommend the radio.

Promiscuous mode, which is mentioned in some comments, means that the radio has a mode where it can hear any talkgroup without needing to program it in. Usually you have to program in a talkgroup before you will hear anyone talking on it. Promiscuous mode disables this requirement.