The Yaesu ft-2980 is a great radio, this is my second one. That said, when i purchased this radio, it was listed as new and that was a lie! The radio I received was used! Scratches on the bottom and scratches on each side, where the mounting bracket had been previously installed and even dust in the heat sink. Like I said the Yaesu FT-2980 is rock solid, just beware who you buy it from.
Update- I should have posted this sooner but Amazon/Ham City made this issue right. I was able to return the radio and the refund was in my account before I had a chance to ship the radio back.

For two years I have tried to reach a 2 meter repeater that is roughly 16 miles away, over hill (mountains) over dale through the woods and across lakes with my little 8 watt handheld radio. During the summer it would work for me about a month. I could usually hear them but my end would have a lot of static and unable to reach my Net. No matter how high I'd raise the Comet antenna, that old little handheld would not go through most of the year. So... I bought this YAESU 2980R 2M radio which goes up to 80 watts. I put it on 30 W and they hear me loud and clear. I am so happy that I can reach the net with this 2 meter radio. The frequencies were downloaded into it and it works like a charm.
It has different memory lists that you can set up. I haven't done this yet. The manual talks about if you drive through a city you can scan local 2 meter frequencies, and somehow most of the repeaters should go onto a list,; the radio listens for the tones? . And then hide that list till you drive through that town again in the future. So if you travel a lot this might be something to look at. Now it doesn't have 70 cm or any other bands on it, this is the only downside. But this is my base station only and I'm happy with this 2 meter only radio.

The same radio directly from Giga Parts is currently $189.95 (ditto for Ham Radio Outlet). For the extra $25 on Amazon, you have 30 days to return it but only 10 days with GP and HRO. Returns are accepted only if defective, whereas Amazon's return policy is more liberal (and in our opinion worth the extra $25).

For newbies like us, the Pros are (page numbers refer to the included Operating Manual):

-the unit is ideal for base station use as well as mobile installations. Operation from an AC line is easily accomplished with Yaesu's FP-1023, which provides at least 15A continuously at 13.8 V DC (page 12)

-for operation in a noisy environment an optional MLS-100 external speaker, which includes its own swivel-type mounting bracket, is available from Yaesu (page 12)

-the Automatic Repeater Shift feature allows easy and convenient repeater operation by automatically activating the repeater shift function whenever you tune to a standard repeater subband. The ARS function is Present at the factory to conform to the standards for the country to which it is exported (page 20)

--easy to change the Home Channel from the factory default (146.520) (page 37)

-Smart Search Operation allows for easy loading of frequencies automatically according to where activity is encountered by your radio. When Smart Search is engaged, the transceiver will search above and below your current frequency, storing active frequencies as it goes (without stopping on them even momentarily); these frequencies are stored into a special Smart Search memory band, consisting of 31 memories (15 above the current frequency, 15 below the current frequency, plus the current frequency itself).\Smart Search is a great tool when visiting a city for the first time. You don't need to spend hours looking up repeater frequencies from a reference guide book; just ask your transceiver where the action is! (Page 44)

-The transceiver includes a convenient "Clone" feature, which allows the memory and configuration data from one transceiver to be transferred to another. This can be particularly useful when configuring a number of transceivers (page 60).*

*For example, one can have two identical transceivers, one for use in a base station, the other for mobile use and keep the two synchronized using the cloning feature.

Yet another use of the cloning feature is that, if one performs regular clones, and one of the units fails, the other is immediately available as a backup without the necessity of replacing and reconfiguring it.

Cons

None that we are aware of.

I'm sure the radio is fine, it is a Yaesu. I'm just kicking myself because I pulled the trigger on the spur of the moment and didn't shop around. This price is about $70 too much. That's nearly 50% higher than I should have paid.

I got this 2 meter last June of this year. I have a base and am down in a low spot and wanted the extra watts this radio offers. I tried without success to program this radio using the buttons and built in menus. I finally broke down and ordered the programming disc and cable. I am aware of the free CHIRP program but chose to try the disc. I was using an older Yaseu FT-2500M. I dont have a watt meter, but it was keying about 8 amps on my power supply meter. I set this radio for 80 watts on all frequencies I entered. It is keying about 13 amps. I was able hit several repeaters about 30 miles away and talk to several licensed amateur radio users with good signal and reception. I was also able to set alphanumeric channel labels which was nice. Will update as I learn more about this radio's capabilities. This radio also has built in weather frequencies which is nice. Lots of bells and whistles to explore. The disc and usb cable cost an extra 60 dollars.