The FT270R is not your atypical handheld, it's definitely designed as more of a "Vertex Standard" radio. The battery life blows the VX5/6/8/8 out of the water, and it's not excessively complex to operator. It's not fragile either, I've dropped mine a fair share of times.
It can receive 136-174 mhz.
70cm band just is not really used by hams in Michigan. We're too spread out up here, and UHF just doesn't have the punch that's needed to travel large distances. The most common thing I hear of UHF being used for around here, is to crossband repeat onto our local VHF simplex frequency. 
In short, VHF is where the action is...in Michigan anyways.
If you live in a rural area, most Police/Fire/EMS will use high-band VHF which the FT270R can receive. With most departments making the switch to digital modes such as APCO P25, and most departments ALREADY using trunked systems, they cannot be received without a $400+ scanner. You might luck out though, I have local fire / PD / MDOT programmed into my handheld. If you press and hold the "1" key, it'll automatically bring up the NOAA WX receive, and you press to PTT to scan through them to find the strongest one.
Yes, the FT270R is waterproof. Protection from dust and water upto IPX57 specifications. Aka, 3 ft for 30 minutes. I bring my handheld out to the hottub at night occasionally, and Echolink-link my repeater to ones in Australia occasionally.
Suggested upgrades for the FT270R in order of usefulness:
Spare battery
AA battery conversion
Jumper of SMA-F to SO239 (SMA-to-SO239 direct puts stress on the tiny SMA connector...buy one that has a small jumper of coax!)
Rollup J-Pole antenna
Submersible Speaker-Mic
