I would say they are the same. In the manual of the 8800 it says that the receive maybe be weaker when running both sides of the radio. I don't know how to turn off a side, not sure you can, but most of my use is one side at a time. Left might be regular TX and RX with the right side muted or monitoring something else. If there is interference with the, say right side, I'll tune it to something that is quiet.
There are quite a few differences between the 2800/2900 and the 8800 so I'd look through the features and go from there.
There are quite a few differences between the 2800/2900 and the 8800 so I'd look through the features and go from there.