Handheld VHF advice

davethedog

davethedog

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Hello all, we are soon due back in the UK and looking forward to using our newly purchased Moody 376.

As part of all the preparations I am looking to upgrade the relatively old handheld VHF radio we have had for a few years and his a little intermittent to say the least. Although we have a fixed VHF radio in the newly purchased Moody we are after a handheld one also (as a spare).

Now the criteria is quire simple:
Handheld (of course)
Decent range
Powered by both rechargeable and normal batteries ideally (sods law dictates if only rechargeable then the batteries will no doubt be dead when needed).

So, been looking about and what about something like this:

http://www.force4.co.uk/department/...ra-hh125-handheld-vhf-radio.html#.V3p0GFfoveQ

or
http://www.force4.co.uk/department/...standard-horizon-hx300e-vhf.html#.V3p0X1foveQ

Or spend a bit more for something like this:

http://www.marinesuperstore.com/mar...f-radio/standard-horizon-hx870e-vhf-radio-dsc
Any other ideas?

Regards
 
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We have the Standard Horizon HX870 and are very impressed with it. The build quality seems excellent and the functionality is good. Obviously, both the others that you list are in a different league - they are not DSC radios. Having had both Cobra and SH radios in the past, I am not particularly fond of Cobra and would always tend towards SH, or ICOM. Cobra have their roots firmly in the old CB market and just don't seem to be in the same class as the big boys from the wider communications market.
 
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The tiny and cheap Cobra is not very good. The larger Cobras are fine, and some include an alkaline AA battery adaptor back in the package. SH and Icom also good, but more expensive.
 
I like my icom. It is very simple so no gps to drain the battery. The built in battery is very long lasting. It goes months between charges with regular use but obviously that depends how much and how long it is used .
 
I'm tempted to suggest a couple of Baofeng UV5Rs for £40 the pair off ebay - they will do a perfectly fine job as marine radios and will also double up as long range PMR446 radios to keep in touch with your crew when they are on shore. But, since they are not legal to use for either purpose, I could not possibly make that recommendation ! :-)
 
I've got a cheapy Cobra, OK for very short range stuff and a handy thing to carry around in my tool bag. Also useful for stuffing in a bag or a pocket if going ashore and needing to call a trot boat or ferry operator to get back to the boat or vice versa (and cheap enough that I would be little more than mildly miffed if it got nicked or lost)

However, the Cobra lacks range (or to put it another way it's only a little better than shouting :D ) and functionality so when I bought Pagan I finally bought an HX870. Been wanting one ever since they came out :) and I have to say it's a quality piece of kit

It's only drawback is it's not exactly pocket size but it's DSC capability makes it both a very good general purpose hand held and a very useful addition to the safety / emergency kit. And it adds to the array of GPS sources available (and in fact can be used for navigation as waypoints etc. can be entered and so on). Albeit the price is shorter battery life than would otherwise be the case (memo to self, investigate whether the GPS can be turned off to extend battery life)

Anyway, when you get right down to it you cannot have too many toys. Buy both :D
 
maby said:
I'm tempted to suggest a couple of Baofeng UV5Rs for £40 the pair off ebay - they will do a perfectly fine job as marine radios and will also double up as long range PMR446 radios to keep in touch with your crew when they are on shore. But, since they are not legal to use for either purpose, I could not possibly make that recommendation ! :-)
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Correct me if I'm wrong but, apart from being illegal :o , they're not waterproof and don't float. And you need to be a bit of a nerd to programme the correct frequencies (or get a tame nerd to do it for you!)
 
Bru said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but, apart from being illegal :o , they're not waterproof and don't float. And you need to be a bit of a nerd to programme the correct frequencies (or get a tame nerd to do it for you!)
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All true, but when you can get a bulk deal of half a dozen of them for the same price as a functionally equivalent SH or ICOM, the lack of water resistance or buoyancy does rather lose importance!
 
Don't mess about with cheap non-waterproof handhelds, your life may depend on it one day. The SH 870e is a very nice radio, and probably the best value around today.
 
I would add waterproof as a basic necessity. It will be non-functional when you most need it if it isn't. A short trip in the bottom of a rubber dinghy killed my first (non-waterproof) handheld. I now have a Standard Horizon that's been underwater loads of times and still works fine. Mine doesn't float though. If I were buying it again I'd get the floating one.
 
maby said:
All true, but when you can get a bulk deal of half a dozen of them for the same price as a functionally equivalent SH or ICOM, the lack of water resistance or buoyancy does rather lose importance!
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I somehow doubt you'll be thinking that when you're doggy paddling in the middle of the North Sea (or wherever) and your handheld is your only hope of survival!

And any kit that can't stand getting wet has no place on a boat IMO anyway (although I might buy myself one of those wotsits as a toy)

PaulRainbow said:
Wise man say "he who dies with the most toys wins" :)
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Working on it :D
 
rotrax said:
+1 for Icom.
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+1 for Standard Horizon for good measure :). I have three of them and very happy with all. Just as good quality as Icom, and personally I prefer them though not for any rational reason.

I also have a Cobra HH325, and honestly it's not at all bad. Metal frame, and survived being dropped unnoticed to the floor of a RIB in rough conditions and then washed and kicked up and down the (abrasive) deck for about half an hour before being spotted and fished out of the engine bilge at the stern. No water ingress even though the battery had been knocked off, and only cosmetic damage.

I agree Cobra aren't quite up there with SH / Icom quality, but I think they've damaged their reputation a bit with the very cheap radios at the budget end of their ranges. The midrange ones are perfectly competent, have some nifty features like "rewind" to listen again to something you missed, and tend to be good value with accessories included that others make you pay for.

Agree that the Baofengs, while having excellent geek value, are inappropriate for the OP's need. I also tend to think that DSC is an unnecessary complication on the handheld of a yacht that already has a fixed DSC set. More suited to simple trailer-sailers or basic motorboats where the handheld is the main radio.

Pete
 
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Cobra 3watt power. So not the best option.
Cobra not waterproof as already mentioned.
Cobra might not have M1 and M2 on it. The time you might want you handheld other than an emergency would be thinks like Marina Locks. M's are handy then!
LiIon Batteries can't be replaced by AA's. But the USB chargable units could have a USB "Phone emergency charger" attached. That said the LiIon ones have a life of a year or more switched off. The NiMH you will be lucky to get a month.

If you have £200 to spend on kit like that - there is some logic to DSC handheld. But I'd spend £100 on the VHF and keep my eyes peeled for a cheap PLB (I got mine for £100 as an end of line with 5 year battery life instead of 6). Gives the assurance that out of range I can always get a message out for help... But I do also have a Buefong for the hell of it!
 
As others have said - ignore the Cobra.
I've got the HX280E which is less than £30 more than the Cobra and therefore good value now (http://www.force4.co.uk/standard-horizon-hx-280e-vhf-radio.html?sqr=HX280&#.V3q--fkrKUk). It doesn't float, but an appropriate float can be attached to it (or just clip it onto your lifejacket). If floating is really important to you, go for the HX290E.

ICOM make good stuff, but it tends to be a bit more expensive than Standard Horizon. I've owned a few Standard Horizon VHF over the last few years and haven't been disappointed.
 
prv said:
I also tend to think that DSC is an unnecessary complication on the handheld of a yacht that already has a fixed DSC set.
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Redundancy

I don't like single points of failure and having the DSC handheld gives me a second DSC option if the fixed DSC set fails for any reason. Plus, the DSC handheld goes in the grab bag as part of the "oh shit, abandon ship" procedure giving us DSC mayday capability in the liferaft if we haven't had time to hit the panic button, or it was u/s, on the fixed set

We also have a PLB but PLBs/EPIRBS and DSC emergency functionality are complimentary rather than functionally equivalent (e.g. in coastal waters, where we mainly sail, a DSC mayday will invoke a response much more quickly, potentially, than activating the PLB. Conversely, the PLB will work for longer and at far greater ranges. Both is better than one or t'other unless the pennies are really tight)
 
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