Seems my wife is finally on board with ham radio! She's started nagging me about getting her and our son involved.

So I downloaded and printed 2 copies of the "No Nonsense Technician Class" course!

I also promised them that I'd get them some HTs. I was thinking of the Baofengs but they seem to get bad press for reliability.

Any other ideas?

(I've been largely inactive for several years; I'd love to get them involved, if only for the emergency commms aspect!)

Awesome!!!!

I have the Baofeng Bf-F8HP and it is a solid unit. Good starter radio. Get a Nayoga antenna for it.

I can hit a repeater 25-30 miles away when set to 8w.

Based on Miklor's review and information here I bought a pair of Baofeng UV-82HP in 2016.  
They get used a couple of times a year for as spotters for the town parades.  A few other activities.
They work.  
One of the important issues for me was that this model seemed at the time the "Best of Baofeng"

I'm somewhat concerned about the reports of spurious emissions.
I wouldn't want to program them without a good cable & CHIRP.
Downside is that the display is not the easiest to read with aging eyes.
You can see the freq/channel well enough.

If I had to do it over again this month?  I would probably get a pair of these again at < $70 each if I didn't choose to splurge for
either a Yaesu VX-6R or an Anytone D868UV.
Why none of the other of the big 3?  Because I'm not into paying $350+ for a HT.
Especially when I have to buy them in pairs.  That's one of the two downsides to having a licensed XYL.
The only other downside?  She has a better idea of what radios really cost when I'm looking at buying one.

Hey FS!

Start Here

and if you don't like that Baofeng recommendation...look for the UVB5 (it's the BEST Cheapie-if you can find one under $45/)

Great news!

Ft60r is my recommendation

I second what @Harlikwin said. Ft60r!

That's cool they are interested. Whatever the baofeng model is called today is probably what I would start the family out with.

I like my Ft60r a lot, but I'd want to make sure the family is still going to be interested in three months before I went out and spent $300-400 on HTs and antennas.

Good point, I'll stick with the Bao-feng for now.