Baofeng UV-3R or UV-5R. They aren't the most user friendly radios in the world, but they're cheap and put out decently clean signals. They're actually commercial radios, but they can transmit on the amateur bands. Note that they can also transmit and receive out of those bands, too.
There is no difference other than looks in all the variants that are out there (UV-5RA, UV-5R+, etc.)
