The few differences that there are between the Baofeng Mini 5R and Mini 5 can make a big difference if you’re someone who’s into airband. The main difference with the updated Mini 5 is that aviation [AM] reception has been improved and sounds much better on the Mini 5 than it does on 5R. Although do note that the airband step size is fixed at 8.33kHz. Other changes / upgrades in the Mini 5 include a bigger capacity battery [2200mAh Vs 1600mAh] and a slightly better, richer sounding speaker.

The two models can be instantly told apart by their keypad layout. These few but somewhat important changes have steered more people to go for the newer and revamped Mini 5. And rightly so. Even though I’m not into aviation, the better battery life and upgraded speaker has also made me buy the Mini 5. But both are great little radios for the price. Each has 999 channels, the same frequency range, Bluetooth programming and type-C charging.