In the end, the attractive price drove me to try out the Chinese Wouxun (pronounced Oh-Sheng). It came with a 2 week no questions asked return policy plus 2 years of local warranty so why not?

The device itself comes in a black plastic housing. Does not look flimsy but then again, I would not drop it on the ground (you could do that with the VX-6 :-)

The 2 line alphanumeric display is backlit in white and is very easy to read. All keys have a bright backlight. Ah, and it talks! Not sure if this is critical for its function but I could imagine this is a real plus for a blind operator. Good stuff!

Output power is 1W/5W only, I would have preferred an additional 2.5 setting. During long transmission periods it can get a bit warm. Not much different from the VX-6.

Reception is very sensitive, loud and clear! Its squelch works like a charm, nothing fancy here though. So far I have not seen it open erratically, not even in the presence of strong HF signals (the VX-6 did that a lot). Transmission works as expected, no problem with deviation, it opens all repeaters that I tried. Other operators have given me positive feedback on my audio (that is something that I would have liked to get with the much more expensive VX-6 with its internal microphone).

Battery capacity is good, it comes with a Lithium block attached which can be charged within the device or standalone. On standby with the occasional QSO the battery lasts around 48 hours in my case.

It works! It is affordable. Not too heavy but still sturdy. The mike and speaker connectors are standard plugs (!) not that special design 4 connector plug that I had on the VX-6 which you could not purchase anywhere. A USB cable can be made in no time - I made mine out of an old Samsung USB cable for a phone. Everything that delivers TTL should work. Audio is pleasant on TX and RX. Programming software works and is easy to use.

What I thought of as a useless gadget really comes in handy: The builtin LED flashlight. I have used it now on multiple occasions and it was extremely useful.

The voice function. I like that people do not assume all of us can see.

The antenna connector is reversed? Come on people, this is a joke, right? Every Antenna in the world expects the radio to have the female side, not the other way around.

If you have not placed the radio into the charger cradle before, it is possible to do that in a wrong way, so that the battery does not get charged. This should be easy to fix, right?

In order to send a 1750HZ tone, one needs to push two buttons. It would be nicer to have this with one button only.

User upgradeable firmware. Ok, this admittedly is not offered by other vendors either.