CS-800 Pros and Cons

While initially I was a bit underwhelmed with CS's offering, I've come to appreciate this radio. It just works well, has a clean menu and user interface, and does not seem to have some of the quirks other Chinese DMR radios have. 

Mine has the keypad mic, and I can pretty much run the radio from the mic including all the menu actions, etc. 

The strength of this radio is you do not have to fiddle with it... once you get zones and channels setup to your liking it just works. 

Pros:

• Remote mountable, no extra hardware needed. Just a cat 5 cable. You can buy an extra bezel for the head to snap into for $15.
• Excellent value used, ~$150 
• Nice hardware build quality
• Very readable display in the shack and mobile
• Can configure buttons for Zone Up and Zone Down (Requirement for me)
• Can operate the menu from the mic (Again, a requirement for mobile ops)
• Front facing speaker with reasonable audio level for mobile usage
• Ignition Sense for power up and a timer based power down (DB-15 accessory port)
• Giant mega display available. You have to see it, but it adds a touch screen, color display. Which apparently can also talk to an FT-857.
• Clean and usable CPS. Much better than TYT, and with built in documentation. You can tell they studied and mimic'd the motorola CPS.  

Cons:

• 64k Contacts limit. This is a hard limit. The dual band CS-800D has 130k, so they know it's a need. 
• Have to buy or make the programming cable
• Separate main unit and head programming cable
• Some wish it had a color display. Personally, I prefer a readable monochrome display over the crowded multi-color display some of the competitors now have (Anytone 578, etc)
• Has GPS data input/output, but no settings in CPS to enable APRS nor any firmware aupport in the radio