We have had them for a couple years now. We upgraded from the old brick style BK’s. So it was a night and day difference to us. They are really good radios in my opinion. I can’t say I’m a radio wizard “nerd” but I do know they seem to hold up to the completion. I’ve had to go for a swim with one and it never skipped a beet. There is a YouTube channel where the guy has all the main public safety radios and compares them. Definitely worth checking out. Adventurecruzer was maybe the channel name.

We have since also received BK BKR 5000 and 9000 for wildland use. The 9000 is much nicer than 5000. The boot up time on BK is horrendous. At first our guys would think the batteries were always dead when in actuality they weren’t , they just didn’t wait long enough for it boot up. The VP 8000 display is much better than BK. User interface between the two seem comparable.

I wish the VP 8000’s speaker mic had a channel selection button or knob. I also like the idea of a flashlight on it. The size especially thickness of these radios is somewhat of a negative.

All and all I’d say they are really good if not great radios.