I was considering buying one of these as I currently have the model under your one. Have you had a chance to see how it performs yet?
As a HAM radio it's very good, as an airsoft PMR446 radio I prefer to use the Baofeng 888s, It's lighter, less complicated, smaller ariel, and the battery seems to last longer. Both have good range in low power mode and will out range a lot of dedicated pmr radios.
The programming takes a bit of getting used to but it's much easier to program the 888s with a pc than program the uv5r manually.
The uv5 has a big weak screen that would render the unit useless if it gets broken, lots of flimsy buttons and weak plastic, it wouldn't stand up to many shots and still be functioning. The 888s has two twist knobs and a light. Even if the casings get shot or broken it's just a casing the rest of the radio should work fine.
It's also very easy to end up on the wrong channel with the uv5r, inadvertently mashing the wrong buttons could land you on the wrong frequencies without the unit even beeping.
Performance between the two are identical as far as I have practically found. But the 888s is lighter. The headsets they come with are pretty good too to be honest.
If you only want to use the 8 PMR channels like most airsofters do then the 888s is better as a a dedicated airsoft radio. If you want to use it off the field or want to use more than 16 channels then the uv5r is ok. The UV5RE is supposed to be more robust, but I haven't seen or used one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BaoFeng-BF-888S-UHF-400-470-MHz-Walkie-Talkie-2-Way-Radio-Earpiece-USB-Cable-/181156424111?pt=UK_Mobile_Phones_Communication_Ham_Radio_Receivers_Transceivers&hash=item2a2dc3a9af, comes highly recommended from me.
And of course ... Blah blah blah ..... Legal issues ..... Blah blah..... Ofcom..... Blah blah blah ....... Bunnies will die at 5mw ........ Blah blah for l33t use only ...... Blah blah usual radio bullshit.