I think you said the key word - Looks!

It looks cool - who gives a crap!

When I buy radios - I want a radio that works - period!

The old saying - you get what you pay for!
If all you buy is junk, that is all that you are going to have!

That cheap Chinese crap caters to the cheap ham - if that is what you want to call them.. Actually a little more like a CB radio - since that is all that these new hams can relate to.

The kicker is when even the FCC and the ARRL calls the FM repeater frequencies - Channels!
With the exception of 60 meters - nothing we do as amateurs is channelized!