Disclaimer: I don’t know that much about the transmitting side of portable radios, I just turn them into police/fire/emergency services scanners.
But for that purpose (and for the price) I like the Quansheng UV-K5. The firmware is easily flashable and customizable. I like the NOAA alerts and the fact it will pick up FM radio in emergencies. It also apparently has some digital radio decryption features but I haven’t had the time to test that in my area.
The TD-H3 also looks interesting, I’m just waiting for an aliexpress sale to pick one up to play with.