Recommendations wanted for HT

[Richard Barth]

My son is finally displaying interest in getting a ham license. He is
signed up for a class and for the exam given by Laurel ARC a few weeks
later.

Following the presentation given recently concerning a certain BaoFeng
HT, another model of which also supported MURS, he was thinking of getting
one of those. The miserable performance of BaoFeng rigs reported in the
latest issue of QST, however, with similar comments he found on line,
made him re-think the matter.

What types of 144/440 MHz HTs has any of you used and found reliable?
Nothing really elaborate, just a dependable rig at a reasonable price.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Dick