I'm doing a lot of reading before i l consider getting my license.  But i had a question about hand held units.  Im thinking ahead incase SHTF and i need to make it home from work i want a way to communicate with home incase the cell network was down.  also once i get home i would want them for communication around the property

How good are the handheld units vs a home basestation?

Can anyone recommend some really good handheld units to look at?

im not buying anything until i get my license so just researching at this point

Thanks!

I can't comment on any others but I picked up a wouxun kg-uv9d, and it seems to work pretty good, there is a repeater tower about 5miles or so away but it hits that no problem, and I can talk to one that's 20-40 miles away easy enough. On a side note there is a free program if you buy the computer installation cable and cd so you can program more frequencies into the radio...may not be "legal" but you could potentially program public utilities (police, fire,ect) so you can receive and transmit on those frequencies...again, other than a shtf scenario you do not want to transmit on those frequencies......but you could.


You can also get a base station setup, antenna ect and use it with your handheld.

Keep in mind a couple of things:
For someone at home to hear you not only does your call have to reach there, the radio has to be powered on and someone listening.
For someone at home to respond to you there has to be a person there that is licensed as well.
(For that reason my wife also got her tech.)

If at all possible I recommend getting two moblie units, one for home one for your vehicle.
You can save on the home antenna by either making a J-pole type antenna or buying a roll up j-pole.
There are folks here that are just full of suggestions for which of either of these suggestions you can get.
My suggestions were V-71 (expensive), ft-7900 (moderate), ft-2900 (lower cost, *very* heat tolerant).
Used versions welcome.  I have been and continue to use N9TAX rollup J-Poles hung from trees near my house.

To save even more $$ without the sacrifices of a HT consider a used 2M only mobile radio to start.
I ran with a used ft-2800 for almost 2 years in my Excursion.  Bought from a local club member < $100.
And I used a fender mounted SBB-5 so I wouldn't have to drill a hole.  And the last thing an Excursion needs is something on the roof to reduce head room even more.

Hey OP, good advice so far-and welcome to the Best Ham Radio Forum on-line...so good in fact it convinced me to finally get my ticket back in 2011.  A few years later I began a podcast about Ham Radio and since then I've created a Start Here Page for guys like you.  There is a "How to become a ham" podcast episode, product links,  study helps, opinions, shopping shows and more: Here

For VHF/UHF a "base station" is nothing more than a mobile unit plus a power supply.  Just turn the mounting
bracket upside down, put some felt or plastic stick-on feet on it.

Two things differentiate the performance of a base station vs. handheld (HT, for "handie talkie")... (1) power and
more importantly, (2) antenna (and antenna height).

Even at the same power, the higher, better antenna of the base station will give much better performance.  
Connecting a handheld to your rooftop (or tower) antenna will give excellent range.  At VHF/UHF frequencies
it is all about antenna height, and how far it can "see" the other antenna.

If 10 watts gets you to the horizon, even 100 watts will not get you very much further, if at all.  Choosing a
60 watt radio over a 50 watt radio based on power alone is foolish.  Prime example, the Yaesu FT-1900R (55 watts)
and FT-2900R (75 watts).  They have exactly the same operating features, same button arrangement, all the
same.  But the 2900 is larger, heats up more when transmitting, and in the real world transmits no farther than
the tiny 1900.

It's all about antenna.

Every new amateur wants a cool handheld radio.

Virtually every experienced amateur wants decent mobile and base setups, and has an HT in a drawer somewhere that gets pulled out for hamfests or other rare occasions.

very much this!

VHF/UHF Hand radio will get you maybe 3 miles, maybe.

a 30 foot home antenna to an HT will get you maybe 6-7 miles, maybe.

40 foot home antenna to a mobile antenna on a vehicle might get you 8-10 miles, maybe

Anything outside of that you will need to use a repeater. A good solar powered battery backed up repeater could be used inside of 15-20 miles from a vehicle, and up to 40 or so miles from a 30 foot antenna.

anything outside that will need linked repeaters, repeaters using the internet to voip to each other, or HF NVIS with proper propagation and that is difficult to do from a vehicle because of antenna size and orientation.

If you live outside of 10 miles from home and don't have a local solar powered battery backed up repeater between home and work, it would probably be better to get a police scanner in your vehicle so you might know routes home to avoid due to chaos or downed infrastructure and just drive home.

Note that most of the extra distance you're getting in the above examples isn't because of power increase, it's because of antenna height.  For your situation, a nice mobile unit at home with an antenna mounted on a pole on your chimney should get you 30' up or so.  Maybe more.  Distance covered also depends on what's between you and home and which band you use.  If there are a lot of buildings you'll be going around, I'd suggest 70cm band.  Otherwise, 2m is great and you can get some nice cheap 2m mobile rigs.

Do some research on your area and the path you'll take.  Some areas have nice battery backed solar powered repeaters in case grid power fails.  Some not so much.

If you've got a repeater you can expect to be on the air, that gives you more portable and cheaper choices.

Get two base/mobile dual band radios like a Kenwood TM-V71A dual band radios (one for the house and one for the car) and a couple of handheld radios like a Yaesu FT-60.
If money is tight, a $28 Baufeng HT will work too. They are not the best but they work relatively well for an average user.
Using an HT as a base radio is not very convenient and you are limited to 5 Watts although it can have a decent coverage if you install an external antenna with a decent, low loss coax.

I have two TM-V71a rigs. One is in the car and the other one is used as a base station.
The base unit is used as a cross-band repeater 99% of a time. It's very convenient and allows me to walk around the property with my HT set to 0.05 Watts of power and talk to my buddies 20 miles away, through the cross band repeater.
Same thing with my vehicle. I leave the radio on in the cross-band mode, go to a store with my HT and talk to my buddies far away.
The cross band feature has been "God sent" to me. It's awfully convenient and very useful.

Like all the others have said, get a couple mobiles, power supplies, and good antennas.