The expensive VX8 is too much radio for a new ham in my opinion. It is a handy-talky with a max power of about five watts. for not much more money you can get a FT-8800, a dual band full function 50 watt radio AND a FT-60 HT and have all of your bases covered.
The big thing on the VX8 is the built in APRS capabilities and GPS but with the limited power you must have a digi in the near vicinity since APRS/Packet is more depending on a good signal.
The Kenwood D710 has APRS capabilities (with the addition of a GPS puck) but is relatively expensive.
I recommend to the new hams coming out of my classes to get the FT-60 and then if they want to move on in amateur radio, one of the 50 watt dual banders.
DO NOT get sucked into the ICOM DSTAR trap. DSTAR has a very limited infrastructure and is too high dollar for what you get.
Yaesu also has a new radio, FTM-350 on the market to compete with the D-710. It has problems right now that is causing a lot of them to revisit Yaesu.
I also recommend a separate radio with a TinyTrack interface for APRS tracking. You need at least twenty watts to throw out a usable signal if you are outside of the metro areas. Using one side of a dual band radio poses some problems I won't go into here.
I am a resource for new hams in the area and monitor several forums on the radios mentioned. I have had hands on with all of the radios mentioned except the new Yaesu 350. I am also not a 'brand slave', I research and purchase what is best for the purpose, new or used.
I have a VX-8 and love it but I bought it for what it was designed for, a walk-about radio with APRS tracking. We have an extensive APRS network in our rural area that makes it useful in most cases. Making all of the functions work can be very frustrating to a new ham
I have a Kenwood D710 in our family car (Tahoe) because I did not have room for two ham radios. (I had to make a choice between a second ham radio for tracking or CB, CB won.)
In my older pickup with lots of room I have a Icom 2720 for voice operation and a single band Kenwood TM-271 for tracking. The 2720 is no longer available on the new market, replaced by the much more expensive 2820.
BTW, A CB radio is a MUST as far as I am concerned. The CB's have kept us out of highway trouble far more than the ham radios have. Most of the CB's have weather radio built in also.
Several of the ham radios have the WX check also but I find it an irritant to have the alerts break into a conversation and there is an audible five second check that can also get old in a hurry, like water dripping.
FWIW...
