TYT MD-9600 Pros and Cons

The MD-9600 is not a perfect radio, and some dismiss it entirely. I've found it to be a usable rig, but with some quirks:

Pros:

• Excellent value, especially for a dual bander. Most competitors are 150-200% of the price. I was able to buy mine ~$200. 
• Nice hardware build quality, as expected for TYT. As good or better than pretty much any of the Chinese radios
• Dual band (Need to use more DMR on VHF)
• Similar to the popular MD-380 in terms of features, menus, etc
• 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)

Cons:

• 100k Contacts limit. It will accept more in the file, but will only show 100k. This is a numeric programming thing, not a memory limit
• 100k Contact limit is a bit subtle to enable. You have to set the option in the menu. Which is not well documented. You also have to upload it using a different program than the CPS... Which leads to:
• Documentation is pretty slim. Connect Systems and Anytone both have better documentation. Which leads to:
• CPS is unpolished, barely English. Acceptable in the sub-$100 MD-380, but they should do better. 
• Reception of a DMR call/signal will cancel menu operations. This will drive you crazy if you are "fiddler". I've learned to put it on an idle channel before doing extensive menu ops. This is one of the major annoyances that make people dismiss the radio
• Not simultaneous receive on the sub-band
• Multiple HW versions, anything before 3rd gen will have some issues to sort
• Non-linear volume control. Seems like it's either too quiet or too loud
• Tones are too loud. Not a huge issue, unless you assign buttons to change zones or similar. 
• TX for some reason shows "ID not found". When clearly my own ID is in both sets of contacts
• No remote mount available. It's a pretty compact radio, so may not be an issue for some installations.