Which VHF Fixed Set to Buy

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eagxo01

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Hi, I am hoping someone can advise me on which VHF Fixed set to buy. I have a budget of £120 and a 20ft Kingfisher sailing yacht. I quite like the Icom M411 but there are a lot of others availble, Navman, Garmin, Std Horizon, Raymarine, and so on. The problem is they all have a similar spec and I guess it comes down to going with a brand you are comfortable with. If anyone can recommend a set they have bought recently, or has any additional info. it would be much appreciated. Cheers.
 
I bought a Standard Horizon in 2006 and am very happy with it. Main reason for buying was the facility to have a remote mike in the cockpit which has worked very well.

It was £300 at that time, but I believe they have cheaper models out now and would guess that you can add the mike at a later date if it's beyond budget now.

Having said that, I guess you can get remote mikes with most brands...... I think the SH was significantly cheaper with remote mike when I bought it.

Having said that, if there had been a competitive Icom at the time, I would probably have bought it..... although SH seem to be building a solid reputation.
 
I purchased one of the cheap and cheerful Cobra MRF55 Waterproof Fixed VHF / DSC Radio 2 years ago and it is excellent value. Selling now online for £99.99.
 
Another vote for the Cobra; it's now £89.99 online. Has worked faultlessly and has the benefit of zero set up hassle for GPS input to make the DSC distress element work. It has a mike socket on the front so you could wire in an extension and the mike itself is active which makes it easier to use. If I was buying again I might consider the SH with command mike, but at an extra £150 that's a lot. The cobra is also waterproof so it can be mounted in the cockpit - so at that price you could buy two and still have change!
 
Standard Horizon my choice. Bought some time ago with second command mike and pleased with the system, bit of a hassle wiring it all in but really good to have the mike in the cockpit next to the helm and picks up more traffic than my previous silva unit. I also installed a new ariel as well though. I do a lot of single handed sailing so the cockpit mike has been particularly useful. I am sure you will be happy with any new bit of kit for the boat. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Welcome to the forum
I bought an Icom M411 last year and have been very pleased with it. Instruction book takes a bit of understanding though
 
From experience ICOM seems to be excellent.
Whatever you get make sure you can get the 'command mike' for it. That's the kind of handset that you can use in the cockpit - makes a huge difference.
 
I bought a Standard Horizon in 2008 and am also very happy with it. My main reason for buying this brand was also the hard wired remote mike in the cockpit.

Once installed you'll love the setup as the remote mic operates the radio effortlessly and the set itself stays dry in the interior of the boat essentially providing two places on the boat to operate the radio.

Performance is very good. I would make the same decision again tomorrow.
 
I've just made the same decision- Standard horizon 1500 (think its £105 at the moment from jg technologies), with remote mike (another £40-45, but could be added later). Its not a chunky radio, and the idea of being able to operate it from the cockpit is the major selling point. Besides which, it seems intuitively easy to operate, and has a nice large screen. Best (budget) buy in PBO, if I recall.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I purchased one of the cheap and cheerful Cobra MRF55 Waterproof Fixed VHF / DSC Radio 2 years ago and it is excellent value. Selling now online for £99.99.

[/ QUOTE ]

For less than that on ebay ... 89 quid average
 
What's the point of a second mike on a 20 footer - I've just got a Navman 7100 which when bulkhead mounted is fully waterproof and comes with a cover for when not in use. It's going on our 21 footer in the cockpit. It cost £109.99 and appears to be good and solid.
 
I have to agree with SteveA ... why a second mike on a small boat ?
Ok we can all real of a situation where it would be advantage - but really ...

I'm going through the hassle of choosing which radio. Looked at Uniden Solara at 60 quid, Navman 7100 at 85 quid, Cobra 55 at 88 quid and the Lowrance with Buddy NMEA2000 but that fell outside my price range.
I was for the Navman 7100 from Mailspeed - but seeing as they haven't bothered to reply to numerous emails about shipping to Latvia - they've lost a sale. (Their price undercut ebay !). So it looks like a Cobra 55 will be my choice on my 25ft'r. "command mike" what for ? I have handhelds if I need to use at the tiller ...

To be honest when I've delivered or been on boats with second mic station - I usually find it crap and fall back to my handheld I always carry !
 
Another vote for the SH 1500. Yes the remote mike kit is good if you can afford it If you cant don't worry it is a simple plug in at a later dqate if required.
 
I'll second the F55 from Cobra. It's waterproof (useful on a small boat like mine!), and has channel select and channel 16 buttons on the mike. The various mounts come with it too rather than being optional extras.

Oh, and it's cheap.
 
One thing to consider in buying a radio - do you want to connect it to anything? The second hand set has been mentioned, but how about a chartplotter. I went for the SH combination of 1500 and 300i. They have a couple of neat features when connected. You can buddy with other SH users in a form of partner specific AIS - if sailing in company, you can "see" on the chart plotter where the other vessel is. An even more useful feature, when a DSC MAYDAY call is received, the plotter has the ability to display the MAYDAY position, which is a lot less work than writing it down and transferring it to a chart.

The chartplotter will also display AIS data, if a compatible AIS receiver is fitted. I just wish they would then provide the facility to select an AIS target on the plotter and have the radio make a DSC call. Typing in MMSI numbers is a pain.
 
Forgive me for saying this .....

we have a guy here with a 20ft Kingfisher Sail Sloop. He has a sensible max budget of 120 quid for a radio.
Given the type and size of boat - I wouldn't expect him to be crossing the Channel or North Sea (some do don't get me wrong). But .....

He's now had replies that a) advise him to spend more than the 120 quid, b) buy with a second mike (command mike system), c) couple it with Chartplotter to display 'buddies' on plotter, d) of course allied to plotter to have AIS as well.
This all comes down to one lovely little package ..... pity the 120 quid got forgotten.

Amazing. I never ceased to be amazed.

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