Its time for a new handheld VHF

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

My current Standard Horizon handheld VHF is almost 14 years old and it has been great. But it is getting old and I now need to purchase a new generation handheld VHF; I will keep the old SH as well.
I have been looking at the Standard Horizon HX890E Floating Handheld VHF With Built In GPS and DSC. Any comments on this SH model? Any other suggestions with similar specifications? Thank you in advance.

 

[TomK]

I have the HX890E. Bought it last year ahead of a round UK trip. It’s good and served me well on the trip. I believe you will find lots of people singing its praises on here.

Be aware though, if you have the GPS turned on all the time it will rinse through the battery much quicker than the quoted standby time.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Thanks, that's interesting to know about the battery when the GPS is on.

 

[lustyd]

You didn't say what you have now or what you use it for. I have the older SH one with DSS and it is MASSIVE for a handheld. The new version is slightly smaller but not enough that I'd buy one. For a handheld that's going to be portable I'd go for a smaller one without bells and whistles. In situations where it's just in place of a main radio, or in place of a cockpit mike then yes it's a great choice.
In either case I'd buy another SH radio in a heartbeat. Support is great, radio works perfectly, easy to use.

 

[Slowtack]

Another vote for SH... Mine came free with a chart plotter in 2008 and is still going strong with battery capacity and charge holding undiminished as far as I can tell...

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I have the 890 and it's been good. I also have the older 870 and did have a couple of problems with that one. Unexpected shutdowns and other strange behaviour coupled with very poor battery life. I'd moaned about the battery and not got anywhere, but once they finally realised that I wasn't making up the odd behaviour they took it back and I'd imagine replaced it. Thereafter it worked properly and the battery life was a lot better.

On the 870 at least there's a submenu which is supposed to reduce the gps fix frequency, and I did a lot of charged to flat testing to find that it seemed to make no difference to battery life... The worst bit is that I've chucked the results and can't be sure what life it was getting, although certainly less than 24 hours and I'd guess at 12 with good gps coverage but no vhf activity (in mid Surrey).

 

[ctva]

Whilst I’m an Icom user, I’d go for the DSC SH hand held as the interface is what you like but the DSC is good feature. I have the Icom DSC unit and the battery has never been an issue, Replaced it after7 years, not that I had to, just to be sure and give me a spare.

 

[LiftyK]

My current Standard Horizon handheld VHF is almost 14 years old and it has been great. But it is getting old and I now need to purchase a new generation handheld VHF; I will keep the old SH as well.
I have been looking at the Standard Horizon HX890E Floating Handheld VHF With Built In GPS and DSC. Any comments on this SH model? Any other suggestions with similar specifications? Thank you in advance.

It’s an excellent radio. It fixes its GPS position rapidly and is easy to set up and operate. I keep mine in the cockpit, knowing I can grab it if unthinkable should happen. Search past forum posts for extensive reviews.