Which VHF?

ghostlymoron

ghostlymoron

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I am looking to buy a VHF to replace the antiquated unit on the boat I have just bought.
Which unit do forumers recommend?
I am considering the Icom 421 but wonder whether the cheaper ones are any good. Also - is having one with a built in foghorn worthwhile. I have never been caught in fog but the thought of blowing my 'Mini trump' every 2 minutes for an extended period does not appeal.
 
navman units are also very good, and can offer great value (inc good quality) for the money.

As for the foghorn option, checkout the size of the actual speaker / sounder that comes / is rocommened for each unit, I know some of them are a large unit that may not quite be what you were expecting, I think there was even a thread on this here within the last week.

Anthony
 
I had the Silva (now the Nexus) in the old boat and it was fine. However, I've just bought a Standard Horizon GX1500E because for £125 i got the radio and the command mike - so you can operate the radio from the cockpit as well as the main radio set itself. I got mine as a deal at the Boat Show but shop around - there are deals still out there. Web site of the dealer I got mine from is www.electronics-marine.co.uk
 
I have a 'Navman 7100' GMDSS unit and now they are about £100.00/£110.00 if you shop around (were about £175.00 when they first came out) and works very well.
User friendly and simple to use with plenty of information.
Also make sure whatever you buy is compatible with your GPS/plotter as you will want to show the GPS position on any GMDSS radio set these days for emergency.
My radio works well with a 'Northstar plotter' which are identical to Navman and are made by Navman but just has differant coloured buttons 'but much' cheaper to buy.
 
Standard Horizon every time. The GX1500 is a superb piece of kit - we also run an SH plotter but it will link with just about anything.
In fact, to be accurate, we run 3 on the rib - one on Ch0, one on 16 and one on whatever we're working at the time. Stood up to some pretty nasty conditions as well, and if you do get any issues I'm sure Mr. Brooks will sort it out happily (as he did when our dustcover came off whilst towing!).
 
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and if you do get any issues I'm sure Mr. Brooks will sort it out happily (as he did when our dustcover came off whilst towing!).

[/ QUOTE ]

Only to please to help.

Big thing both the Icom and the Standard Horizon have over the Navman is a three year warranty....shows they trust the kit.

The M421 is about to be replaced by the new M411.
Niether of these can take a second station, you would need to move to the M505 for that, this unit also has fog and hailer.

All of the Standard Horizon range offer the option for a second station, the GX-3000 and VM-3500 offer loud hailer and Fog sounds. We also inc the flush mount kit and a dust cover as standard.
Also if you have our radio and our chartplotter you get other features.

Icom do not have dust covers and the flush kit is an optional extra. Depending on model this can be as much as £25!

Hope that helps a little.
 
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Also make sure whatever you buy is compatible with your GPS/plotter as you will want to show the GPS position on any GMDSS radio set these days for emergency.

[/ QUOTE ]All DSC radios use standard NMEA input for position, so there shouldn't be a compatibility issue.
 
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