Buying US VHF

Most should be switchable to do international channels but if they don't they are useless in European waters. Check first.
 
As sailorman says, you have to pay import duty and vat on things you buy from outside the EU - make sure you've factored that into the price, together with up to about a tenner for fees charged by the courier for dealing with customs on your behalf. For things sent by ordinary post it's a lottery whether they'll be picked up or not, but couriers like FedEx seem to hand in every single applicable parcel. Chinese sellers will cheerfully lie on the customs form about goods values so you pay no tax, but US companies generally won't (not surprisingly).

Pete
 
Good point about import dues - I'm guessing they'll come to less than the £60 price difference though.

snowleopard said:
Most should be switchable to do international channels but if they don't they are useless in European waters. Check first.
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It says it has international channels - is that the Uk ones?
 
sighmoon said:
A handheld waterproof VHF is about a third the price from the USA. Is there any significant difference?
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To start with, they're not "a third the price"; they're cheaper but not that cheap. Shipping from the States tends to be quite expensive and, as others have said, you might get caught with a bill for duty and VAT. The International channels argument is a red herring - I don't know of any handheld VHF sold in the US which doesn't have International channels fitted (the ones we use in the UK and Europe). If a mains charger is supplied, this may be 110v, but 12v charging will still work. If you have warranty issues, they may be tricky to resolve, as the manufacturers go out of their way to protect the price premium they charge here. And, as the radio won't be CE marked, it'll be illegal for you to own it in Europe, although the likelihood of this being a problem is infinitesimal. On balance, it isn't worth it generally.

However, having said that, if there's a radio available in the States or elsewhere which isn't marketed here, it might then be attractive to buy from abroad if you really want one. About 5 years ago, I bought a Standard Horizon HX471 from Hong Kong. It's a beautiful little handheld VHF with DSC distress call facility, and it also picks up aircraft and ordinary entertainment radio too. It was never marketed here.
 
pvb said:
To start with, they're not "a third the price"; they're cheaper but not that cheap. Shipping from the States tends to be quite expensive and, as others have said, you might get caught with a bill for duty and VAT. The International channels argument is a red herring - I don't know of any handheld VHF sold in the US which doesn't have International channels fitted (the ones we use in the UK and Europe). If a mains charger is supplied, this may be 110v, but 12v charging will still work. If you have warranty issues, they may be tricky to resolve, as the manufacturers go out of their way to protect the price premium they charge here. And, as the radio won't be CE marked, it'll be illegal for you to own it in Europe, although the likelihood of this being a problem is infinitesimal. On balance, it isn't worth it generally.
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I found the same radio in the UK for less than three times the price, so when it comes down to it, I think yes, you're right.
 
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One point on the channels - yes, anything remotely modern should have "international" channels - what they really mean is "not American", and yes these are the ones we use. However, there are also two UK-specific channels, M and M2, and generally only radios officially sold here will have those. My new Standard Horizon lists them outside the "International" series as "EXP" - presumably standing for "Expansion", the space in the radio usually used for privately-licensed special channels added by a service centre for specific users. You used to find some marinas on channel M, but I think this is becoming less common in favour of having them all on 80, so the main use now is sailing club events, particularly safety boats for dinghies and race control. Maybe this doesn't matter to you, but it's something to be aware of.

Pete
 
pvb said:
I wonder how many cruising yachtsmen ever use M or M2? I never have in 40 years.
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Neither have I, but I don't know what Sighmoon does on his boat. He might be an avid round-the-cans racer who will want to hear the race instructions, or since this is a handheld, it might be he wants it for when it's his turn driving the club safety boat. He would be pretty disappointed in that case if he bought a non-UK radio without those channels, which is why I thought it worth mentioning.

Pete
 
prv said:
Neither have I, but I don't know what Sighmoon does on his boat. He might be an avid round-the-cans racer who will want to hear the race instructions, or since this is a handheld, it might be he wants it for when it's his turn driving the club safety boat. He would be pretty disappointed in that case if he bought a non-UK radio without those channels, which is why I thought it worth mentioning.
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True, but channels can always be programmed in by dealers.
 
sailorman said:
VAT & duty when the parcel is intercepted
some might not work on int stations only usa ones
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I bought an Icom from the US, it is identical to the same unit sold in Europe - it was substantially cheaper than in Switzerland, even after all courier costs, VAT (only 7% here) and import taxes.

Of course they work in Europe ... is it logical that American sailors are unable to communicate on VHF as soon as they leave their own waters?

The only difference is that switching to "International" won't give M and M2 bands, peculiar only to the UK.
 
As said they have different frequencies and thus a waste of money. Some UK VHF's have a setting change that goes to US frequencies, our Icom did, and it may be the same in the US but check before buying. My bet is if it's cheap it won't have UK frequencies.
 
KellysEye said:
As said they have different frequencies and thus a waste of money. Some UK VHF's have a setting change that goes to US frequencies, our Icom did, and it may be the same in the US but check before buying. My bet is if it's cheap it won't have UK frequencies.
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If you read some of the earlier posts in the thread, you'll see that US-sold radios have the International channel set, as we use here in the UK and Europe. The only channels they may not have are the rather specialised UK-only M and M2 channels.
 
pvb said:
If you read some of the earlier posts in the thread, you'll see that US-sold radios have the International channel set, as we use here in the UK and Europe. The only channels they may not have are the rather specialised UK-only M and M2 channels.
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And probably some extra channels not on UK certified radios. Channel 31(Dutch Marina channel) and channel 0, both Illegal to use in UK waters.
 
KellysEye said:
My bet is if it's cheap it won't have UK frequencies.
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If it's cheap it will have been knocked out in China and sold all over the world, hence it will have the proper channels. If anything has only the parochial US version, it will be some classic old box still turned out to the original design by an old man in a shed somewhere, at a premium price for "hand-built old-fashioned quality".

Pete
 
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