Comparison of digital PMR446 radios. dPMR446 and DMR Tier 1.

Old radios:

Radio model	Digital mode	Approx. price	Waterproofing	Notes	Availability
Icom IC-F4029SDR	dPMR	-	None	First digital PMR446 radio.	Discontinued. Icom recommends IC-F29DR2 instead.
Icom IC-F29SDR	dPMR	-	IP67 (submersible)	Icom IC-F29DR with display.	Not officially discontinued but availability is poor
Icom IC-F29DR	dPMR	-	IP67 (submersible)		Discontinued - Replacement is Icom IC-F29DR2
Kenwood TK-3401D	dPMR	-	IP54 (splashproof) & IP55 (water jets)		Discontinued - Replacement is Kenwood TK-3701D
Kenwood TK-3601D	dPMR	-	IP67 (submersible)		Not officially discontinued but availability is poor
Motorola XT660d / XT665d	dPMR	-	IP55 (water jets)	Motorola's first and only digital PMR446 radio. XT665d includes LPD channels (low power, not PMR446 and they have worse range so not much benefit of having these channels). The dPMR association claims that this is not a dPMR radio, but I received a recording of the digital signal from someone who says they have this radio and it decoded using some software that decodes dPMR signals, so I think the dPMR association are mistaken and it is a dPMR radio (maybe just not certifiied by them).	Discontinued - No replacement. Motorola only sells analogue PMR446 radios now.
Hytera PD355LF	DMR	-	IP54 (splashproof)		Discontinued
Hytera PD365LF	DMR	-	IP54 (splashproof)		Discontinued
Icom IC-F29DR2	dPMR	-	IP67 (submersible)	Programming cable is about £50 and software (CS-F29DR2) is about £24.	Discontinued. Replacement is IC-F29DR3.

Current radios:

Radio model	Digital mode	Approx. price	Waterproofing	Notes	Availability
Icom IC-F29DR3	dPMR	£192	IP67 (submersible)	Programming cable is about £40 and software (CS-F29DR3) is apparently available from dealers. Icom says software from the last model (the IC-F29DR2) is not compatible so you have to buy new software (which is rather a shame because the radios appear to be functionally identical with the DR3 only having a more powerful speaker).This radio seems a good choice.	Good availability
Kenwood TK-3701D	dPMR	£145	IP54 (splashproof) & IP55 (water jets)	Programming software is about £20 and cable is generic kenwood style so many can be found cheaply. Range test video. A good choice.	Good availability
Alinco DJ-PAX4	dPMR	€180	IP67 (submersible)	Programming software freely available online. Cable looks to be kenwood style so should be cheap. Seems like it could be a good choice.	Good availability in EU only
Wouxun KG-D26	dPMR	€199	IP54 (splashproof)	Programming software freely available online, but it shows that it doesn't use common IDs as is recommended for dPMR446 equipment (so programming is more complicated). May work fine just for groups who will only use this radio out of the box and not need to reprogram to talk to other dPMR446 radios. At the price I wouldn't recommend it and would just go for the Kenwood instead if you only need IP54 rating.	Good availability in EU only
Dynascan DA-350	dPMR (AMBE+2C)	€175	IP67 (submersible)	Uses AMBE+2C vocoder (not the standard AMBE+2 that most other radios use) so will not be compatible with other radios, except in analogue mode. Looks like a rebranded cheap Chinese radio so probably not as good quality as other brands. Could not find it available in the UK so price is in euros.	Good availability in EU only
Hytera BD305LF	DMR	£97	IP54 (splashproof)	Not so good build quality and uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR. Not recommended.	Good availability
Hytera BD505LF	DMR	£153	IP54 (splashproof)	Not so good build quality and uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR. Not recommended.	Good availability
Hytera PD505LF	DMR	£178	IP54 (splashproof)	Seems better build quality than Hytera BD series. Uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR.	Good availability
Hytera BP515LF	DMR	£144	IP54 (splashproof)	Uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR.	Good availability

My recommendations

For PMR446 use, dPMR is better for most users because it uses 6.25 kHz channels rather than 12.5 kHz. DMR has to do some trickery to allow the same effective number of channels (32) which not all radios do, whereas with dPMR there are 32 channels by default. dPMR mode also gives better range. For these reasons I recommend people pick dPMR radios over DMR when choosing digital PMR446 walkie talkies.

I also don't recommend the Dynascan DA-350 because it looks like a rebranded cheap Chinese radio so the quality is dubious and it won't work with any other dPMR radios (unless they happen to use the same non-standard vocoder). I have the Kenwood TK-3701D and I can recommend it. It works very well and is much better value for money than the Icom if you don't need IP67. I haven't tried the Icom IC-F29DR3 or the Alinco DJ-PAX4 but they also look like good options especially if you need IP67 rating since the Kenwood is only IP55. Out of the Icom and Alinco I'd probably go for the Alinco because it has programming software that is free and the Icom programming cable is expensive.

If you find any radios I've missed off this page or if any information is out of date, please leave a comment (or email me using the details on my contact page) so I can update it.

This page was last updated 02/07/2023.

Chinese dPMR radios comparison

Names	Type	Vocoder / Vocoders	Availability	3.125 kHz steps	Compatibility group	Notes
Puxing PX-508D, Puxing PX-558D, Radtel RT-14D, NRC DigiA	Handheld, no display or keypad	AMBE+2C	Poor	Yes	1
Zastone ZT-9908	Handheld, display and keypad	AMBE+2C	Poor		1
TYT DM-UVF10, Retevis RT2	Handheld, display and keypad	AMBE+2C	Poor		1
Puxing MD-500	Mobile	AMBE+2C	Poor
BFDX/Belfone BF-P108	Handheld, no display or keypad	RALCWI	Poor
BFDX/Belfone BF-P118, Luiton DG-1180	Handheld, display and keypad	RALCWI	Poor
Kirisun S780, Kirisun FP460	Handheld, display and keypad	ASELP	Poor	Yes	2	Poor range - bad receiver sensitivity.
Kydera DP-550S	Handheld, display and keypad	AMBE+2C, ASELP	Poor	No. Rounds to nearest so 446.103125 becomes 446.1		Terrible audio quality - very muffled sound. Does not work with other dPMR radios.
Recent RS208D	Handheld, no display or keypad	ASELP	Good		2
Recent RS209D	Handheld, display and keypad	ASELP	Good		2
Recent RS308D	Handheld, no display or keypad	ASELP	Good		2
Recent RS309D	Handheld, display and keypad	ASELP	Good		2
Sainsonic FM-416, HYND DP320	Handheld, no display or keypad	Probably ASELP	Poor
Recent RS-619D	Handheld, display and keypad	Probably ASELP	Good
HYND DP330		ASELP, AMBE+2C	Good
HYND 500(DPMR)		?	Good			Be careful, they also sell a DMR model of the same radio with the same model number.

Vocoder
The vocoder is the part of the radio that converts your voice into very low bitrate digital data so it can be sent over the radio channel efficiently. Each vocoder will sound different because they make different sacrifices to compress the voice. I wrote a page about different dPMR vocoders here. Some radios are available with multiple vocoders so you have to make sure to get the right one. The only way to tell is usually by trying it, or sometimes the seller or manufacturer will be able to tell you. They often don't know much about their products though.

3.125 kHz steps
For a radio to work on dPMR446 channels it needs this. If not, it will be on the wrong frequency. The radios on this page are not legal to use on PMR446, however it is pretty common for people to program chinese radios to use PMR446 frequencies and as long as you fit in by using the right frequencies and bandwidth then it probably won't be noticed. Therefore, if you're planning to use one of these radios on PMR446 digital frequencies then you should get the one with 3.125 kHz steps.

Compatibility group
This is a term I just made up for this page. Radios in the same compatibility group should be able to talk to each other. This is not guaranteed as I have not tested them all and specifications (including vocoder) are sometimes changed even for the same model number.
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If you're trying to buy any of these radios, aliexpress, eBay and alibaba are usually good places to search. eBay is usually the easiest as they will post from your country but only the most popular radios usually get listed there. Aliexpress is the next best but they post from China so it may take a long time to arrive. I have linked some of the names to the product page on aliexpress.

Please leave a comment below if you have information missing from this page that I can add.