The real "rip off" (and I guilty of it too) is the Baofeng / Wouxon Chinese programming cable, which rips off the real chip set for the cable in favor of Chinese a counterfeits chipset.  My Baofeng is my new favorite for sure.  At $30 for the radio and about $10-$12 for virtually any accessory, I have my radio, programming cable, second battery, battery eliminator, and whip antenna, all for about the same amount as I paid for my Wouxon, which I thought was an inexpensive radio (which it was) and about 1/5th of what I paid for my VX7-R. I just checked the VX-7R on Amazon, it is up over $400 on Amazon, so the Baofeng radio  alone is less than 1/10th of a Yaesu radio alone. How they can manufacture it, ship it here, and retail it is min-boggling.  Other than slave labor, I just don't see how they can do it.