Raymarine VHF radios…..what am I missing?

[KeelsonGraham]

They seem to be about twice the price of a similarly specced item from Icom et al.

Are they really twice as good, or are you just paying for the name?

 

[Moodysailor]

I have no answer, but have wondered the same.

Their high end sets have some nice features (if you have a boat big enough to need/warrant them) and I'm sure the integration with other Raymarine kit is good, but I cannot see how, on a mid-range set they justify the price hike over Icom or Standard Horizon.

Which is why we have an ICOM VHF (and a Raymarine Axiom+ MFD)

 

[PaulRainbow]

IMO they are just overpriced. For a stand alone VHF it's hard to beat Icom or Standard Horizon. Both good quality and great support.

If you have a B&G or Garmin installation it's worth considering one of their VHF sets as they integrate nicely with the N2K network and allow VHF calls to AIS targets to be instigated from the plotter.

 

[KeelsonGraham]

Thanks both. My suspicions confirmed.

I’ve just done a Raymarine install but I can’t for the life of me see what real advantage there is in connecting a VHF radio to the SeatalkNG backbone. I’ll think I’ll go for either an Icom or a Standard Horizon.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Thanks both. My suspicions confirmed.

I’ve just done a Raymarine install but I can’t for the life of me see what real advantage there is in connecting a VHF radio to the SeatalkNG backbone. I’ll think I’ll go for either an Icom or a Standard Horizon.

Is it worth looking at one that supports a second station mic, so you can have a mic that controls the VHF set down below, in the cockpit ?

 

[KeelsonGraham]

Hi Paul, yes, that definitely on my shopping list. The current Vertex radio has a secondary on the helm so I’m hoping to repurpose that.

 

[st599]

Icom and Yaesu/StandardHorizon both cover many more markets than just marine, if you look you will see Yaesu airband and ham transceivers that look similar to Standard Horizon Trasceivers, common platforms, common R&D, minimal firmware tweaks, larger scale production lines.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Hi Paul, yes, that definitely on my shopping list. The current Vertex radio has a secondary on the helm so I’m hoping to repurpose that.

Vertex, Standard Horizon and Yaesu are all intertwined amongst various name and company changes over the years, plus some involvement with Motorola. I would be 99.99999999999999% certain that the old Vertex remote mic won't work with any new Standard Horizon VHF. You could be 100% certain by emailing Standard Horizon directly though.

 

[mrangry]

I have been watching the b&g v60b vhf and ais transceiver for ages hoping it will drop in price

 

[MikeCC]

Hi Paul, yes, that definitely on my shopping list. The current Vertex radio has a secondary on the helm so I’m hoping to repurpose that.

The RAM3 or 3+ (CMP31) will not work with current GX1800/2400 models. Needs to be new RAM4.