[friesen]

Exactly. I picked up a slightly more expensive baofeng (UV-5X3) for my fist radio. Sured it's far from the greatest radio in the world (although it's leaps and bounds ahead of the UV-5R), but it gave me an inexpensive path forward. My only real complaint is that the included antenna is garbage for transmitting. So I built a cheap roll-up j-pole out of some old twinlead. The radio works quite well with that. I have since bought a signalstick antenna (j-poles aren't exactly portable), but that early experience building an antenna made me comfortable with doing more DIY radio projects.

[rhombocombus]

The nagoya flexible antennas dramatically improve the functionality of the Baofeng HTs (particularly in 70cm). I have had zero trouble with the four or so I have loaned out or otherwise lost. That's the real beauty there, if you lose one it is frustrating but ultimately trivial compared to a yaesu or something.

[twothamendment]

The nagoya is often recommended for beginners with Baofengs. I got when when I was starting out and it is better than the stock antenna, but you have to worry about who is selling "real" ones and who has fakes.

Since then I've discovered these: https://signalstuff.com/product/super-elastic-signal-stick/ They are my go to antenna for HTs. I've never had one break, they perform great and they aren't too expensive. I love that I can take it off and tie it in a knot to shove into a small pocket in my backpack. Try that with a nagoya.

[Stratoscope]

And closing the loop with some other comments in this thread, sales of the Super-Elastic Signal Stick help fund https://hamstudy.org/ which several people have highly recommended.

[taborj]

Those are very similar to the Nagoya NA-717, which I have on my UV-82. I love how flexible it is; I never worry about it, and like you can bend it way over while stuffing it in the backpack.

[friesen]

Yup, that's the signalstick that I bought. Great little piece of kit.