Hand held VHF advice

Kipper

Kipper

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Hi Guys, looking forward to my 3rd season back boating since my 4 year lay off, now have 28ft sports boat ( someone remind me how to bore you with pictures please)

It was a bit under-speced so last season added things like a compass, depth sounder and Tek-Deck to stop the dog sliding about.
now i need a good hand help VHF radio. everybody i speak to recommends Icom and i have used them on the sailing club ribs but which one would you chaps and chapesses recommend???
 
H
Kipper said:
Hi Guys, looking forward to my 3rd season back boating since my 4 year lay off, now have 28ft sports boat ( someone remind me how to bore you with pictures please)

It was a bit under-speced so last season added things like a compass, depth sounder and Tek-Deck to stop the dog sliding about.
now i need a good hand help VHF radio. everybody i speak to recommends Icom and i have used them on the sailing club ribs but which one would you chaps and chapesses recommend???
Click to expand...

I've had 3 in past years all Icom units, there good but the only reason I've always bought new is down to the batteries fading away and not accepting charge after a few years, not sure how other makes stack up in terms of battery life.
I've always got on with Icom, they even repaired a base set 411 free of charge at 4 years old.
 
I bought this last year .
http://www.gaelforcemarine.co.uk/en/Icom-M23-Handheld-VHF-Radio/m-1526.aspx

Dead simple and seems robust.
The battery lasts ages. We had a weeks holiday, having the radio on when travelling most days and using the radio several times and the battery still had plenty of power left. I had been worried about only having a mains charger but it seems not to be an issue. A DC charger is available as an extra if wanted.
The performance has been very good.
It floats !
It doesn't have DSC or GPS. I think this must help with the good battery life.

.
 
Got a basic Cobra handheld VHF last year after giving up the unequal fight with the ICOM battery eater. Very pleased with the Cobra, great battery life and meets all the requirements.
 
I have used handheld VHF for many years, mostly on sea kayaks. After trying lots of different manufacturers over the years I settled on ICOM as providing the most robust handheld for my needs.

I now have an ICOM M91D and have had no problems whatsoever with battery life etc.

This is a very good deal:- http://www.cactusnav.com/icom-m91d-buoyant-vhfdsc-handheld-with-p-12476.html
 
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+ on the Cobra - bright orange, floats, long battery life, great sound clarity. As a general point get one with Li batteries. The NiMH and NiCad handhelds always seem to be flat when you need them most
 
I have a couple of Standard Horizon handhelds. They do what they say on the tin: reasonable range, robust and waterproof. However, one of them has a battery which takes a set of AA batteries which means that you can rely on it all the time without worrying about the state of charge of the rechargeable battery: simply swop out the discharged battery and replace with a fresh one. I think Icom do the same with their radios. Worth having.
 
Personally wouldn't touch ICOM again, had a M35 that got wet (waterproof though) and the battery corroded inside and no longer accepted a charge. This was not just down to my own one either as I used them in the Navy and despite being boyant waterproof models we learnt the hard way that many, if submerged, suffered the same battery fate. New replacement batteries are so exspensive to! ICOM - rubbish!
 
A year or so ago, PBO did a test on some of the Waterproof VHF radio's. Many failed the simple submersion test!!! Following that I would only treat them as water-resistant.
If you need waterproof, buy a bag thingy and keep it in that.
 
I bought a Cobra for the replay function, but took it back as I felt the quality e.g. switches were not up to what I had on my Icom before. Got another Icom instead.
 
duncan99210 said:
I have a couple of Standard Horizon handhelds. They do what they say on the tin: reasonable range, robust and waterproof. However, one of them has a battery which takes a set of AA batteries which means that you can rely on it all the time without worrying about the state of charge of the rechargeable battery: simply swop out the discharged battery and replace with a fresh one. I think Icom do the same with their radios. Worth having.
Click to expand...

+1
I have an old Standard Horizon that I bought years ago with a cassette for dry cell batteries which can replace the chargable ones.
The cassette lives in the grab bag with a few boxes of new AA batteries.
The VHF unit itself is built like a brick ?hit house.
It goes on and on and on and on and on........
Unlike a couple of Icoms thfaI bought which, literally, fell apart after a cou[le of seasons.
I'm not a fan of Icom

Last summer, our fixed Simrad VHF packed up.
We had to rely on our okd Standard Horizon - it didn't let us down.
So, at SIBS, we bought 2 new Standard Horizon DSC handhelds - not expensive and work well.
I also bought a dry cell battery pack (to go in yhe grab bag) for them which was not included these days - was before.
The new ones now sit next to the old ones all charged and ready to use.
BTW - i've not noticed any battery degridation with the old set - after about 10 years.
 
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volvopaul said:
H

I've had 3 in past years all Icom units, there good but the only reason I've always bought new is down to the batteries fading away and not accepting charge after a few years, not sure how other makes stack up in terms of battery life.
I've always got on with Icom, they even repaired a base set 411 free of charge at 4 years old.
Click to expand...
I have a Raymarine HH bought from a forumite. it is very good with the advantage of the detachable battery pack has 6 x AA batteries in it, so easily & cheap to replace & it you do get stuck AA Duracells will work
 
I bought a new DSC handheld earlier this winter. Did some research, and having a pretty solid Icom fixed set, I thought I'd go with the Icom M91D. The alternative was a Standard Horizon HX851. However, on closer inspection, the SH has both a higher capacity battery and a higher power rating (6W vs 5W). It was also over £50 cheaper at Marine Superstore.

Not disappointed with it. Don't know whether the Icom unit does this, but the charging base for the SH also has NMEA out so you can use the VHF's built-in GPS with other devices via NMEA-0183.
 
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