Squad is expensive, I will vouch for that, however it is well worth the price. I'm planning on doing some sort of a review video in the (hopefully) not so distant future. I'll post it somewhere on here if and when I do.
If you've ever played project reality (a BF 2 mod), this is the "spiritual successor" to that. They retained a few of the developers from that mod from what I understand. The game plays out with fantastic realism and while its only early on in the alpha, the track for the game looks fantastic. It currently only features light armor in the latest patch as of this past week (Humvee's for the US forces, BTR's for the Russians, Technicals for the Militia and Insurgent forces, as well as transport trucks and logistics trucks), however the developers have stated that they do plan on implementing MBT's, indirect fire assets, as well as some helicopters and they have even alluded to the possibility of fixed wing aircraft being implemented as well. The maps at this point have been around 2x2 kms in size however the release of the vehicles patch has come with a much larger map as well (not sure of the size but I would estimate 3x3 or 4x4 ish in size).
When you play the game with competent people in your squad, its a good time. When it comes to realism, its hard to beat anything ARMA has to offer, but this comes close. The biggest weakness that I think ARMA has is that you have to almost memorize an entirely mapped keyboard of bindings. Squad simplifies everything but retains a lot of the realism that we all enjoy from that game. Check out some videos and see for yourself. One youtuber who regularly uploads squad videos is bluedrake (though I find him a bit obnoxious at times), but there are many others as well.
If anyone has the game and is looking for a squaddie to join up with, add me on steam ripper02.