VHF Radio Reviews, Recommendations, and (another good word that starts with R)

I know this has been talked about before... search button, etc.  However, as we seem to have many newbies and we are growing ever closer to ORC, it seemed appropriate to resurrect an old favorite.  Some of what you loved a year ago may now be garbage, or you may be even more in love with it.  A VHF has moved up my own list so that I can be told over my radio to paddle toward the "big yellow thing in the sky" when I get lost in the fog.  It actually has moved up my list... my wheelz cart may forever be out of reach.  A radio just seems more important.

Please share what you love... what you hate... what features are important... what would you suggest to your good friend to buy... throw in your thoughts on pricing as well - let's not do that, "how much is your life worth" thing... cause the answer to that is always the same... "50 bucks is too much but 49.99 would be ok". 

I was chatting a bit with lingbanger... he seemed enamored with the icom, if he were to get  a new one today.  What say the rest of you?

I love my ICOM 72 small powerful and long lasting batteries!

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Standard horizon HX280 or 290. Good value for around 100 bucks and very reliable. I've beaten mine pretty well and it keeps going. If you plan to use it on a regular basis it's a great way to go. If had a few extra dollars I'd pick up the HX851 or another radio with the DSC feature.

If I only fished the salt a couple of times a year I'd pick up a Cobra MR HH125. They're about 40 bucks on amazon and work pretty well.

I don't have GPS on my ff so I got the Standard Horizon HX851 with GPS.  It's probably overkill, but it also has the DMS button which is nice.  If I'm in real trouble it can send out my coordinates and other info at full 6W power.  Batteries have lasted two long days in a row.

Oh, right DSC not DMS.  Thanks Noah.

I still need to get a VHF before ORC, with plans to follow Noah's suggestion on the HX290.  While reading RR's thread on the Elite-5 deal yesterday at West Marine, I see that they have an approaching special on their VHF160 (July 2 only - $99.99):



Anybody know anything about this radio?  A quick look around, I don't see any/many reviews...

With price matching and the Standard Horizon rebate, I could probably get the HX290 for a bit cheaper, but would like to see if anybody has actually used this particular West Marine model.

Thanks,
Sam

No idea, but does it float? 290 does.  I've also never seen a bad report on the 290.

Edit, I see it floats.  Why try that if you can get a tried and true model cheaper?

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Thanks Lee - just weighing the options.  I've seen enough on the 290 to go in that direction - figured it wouldn't hurt to see if anybody has experience with the WM radio. 

-Sam

I'm still waiting to catch a fish (or a crab, a couple of dozens of crayfish, or at least something) to be allowed by The Mistress to continue spend money on the kayak. But, once I will get more budget I will buy Standard Horizon HX851. It has built in DSC and GPS, so in case of distress, you push the button, your MMSI code along with coordinates are sent to the Costal Guard. Just imagine, you are in distress, in water, with very limited visibility, cold, with a very poor level of concentration, you have a radio contact with Costal Guard, but how will you tell them exactly where you are? At night (let's call it late evening)? In fog? Or both?

A radio with DSC and GPS is a really valuable safety device. Especially keeping in mind that MMSI is free for within USA use. And! (Ta-Da!) You can get one for a kayak (which is pretty much impossible in the rest of the world, where handheld radios operate under MMSI of boat's main, stationary radio - no main radio, no MMSI).

You can get an MMSI for free at http://www.boatus.com/MMSI/

If I had enough dough and was choosing between comparable ICOM and Standard Horizon, I would go with an ICOM, which I used to use and are awesome radios. But Standard Horizon should do "the trick" too.


Bottom line. I, personally, see practically no reason to buy a radio without DSC. And if you can get one with built-in GPS, it is even better.


Alex.

The DSC had been known to set off an alarm on its own. Personally I don't see the need for that feature. I find a GPS with chart plotter to be a lot more helpful.

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I agree that a GPS is very important. A Garmin GPSMAP78S is on my wish list at Amazon. It is #2 on my list, right after the radio.

For now I decided to use my Samsung Galaxy S3 + Marine Navigator + Free NOAA Raster Charts as temporary substitution for a GPS. It is not as good and reliable as Garmin (I used Garmin GPSMAP 72 and was very happy with it), but should work OK for a couple of months.


Alex.

To be clear, doesn't DSC require having GPS capability? I don't think you will find a DSC capable radio without GPS. I think that a large part of the reason for setting up that system is that it doesn't rely on voice contact to establish that somebody is in distress, or their location.

I don't think that a DSC capable radio requires GPS. I am not 100% positive if DSC call (itself) requires GPS coordinates. I think MMSI is a mean of identification. But on this "DSC call" thing I'm not 100% sure.

As for the radios, I'm pretty sure you can buy a DSC capable radio with no GPS like this one. Until of a couple of years ago, DSC capable handled marine radios with GPS just didn't exist. And I don't remember of a model of recreational marine stationary radio with built-in GPS, stationary radios were usually connected to boat's main GPS antenna.

One thing to consider. I don't know yet (I have no opinion yet, until I own a such radio) if a built-in GPS is a 100% good thing or not. The reason is very simple - position calculations are quite resource intensive and drain battery. So a radio with GPS should discharge faster than a one with no GPS, but the difference can be really marginal, like 8 hours with GPS and 8 hours 15 minutes with no GPS.


Alex.

I have the HX290. I'm just going to lay it out there and look like an uber noob...I don't know how to use it. It's just sitting there in the box. I guess I could read the instructions. Learning the functions isn't my problem. I just don't know any radio etiquette. I'm.just.totally.green.

It looks awesome haha. It wasn't too expensive either. I guess I should figure it out before ORC...

I have the HX290. I'm just going to lay it out there and look like an uber noob...I don't know how to use it. It's just sitting there in the box. I guess I could read the instructions. Learning the functions isn't my problem. I just don't know any radio etiquette. I'm.just.totally.green.

It looks awesome haha. It wasn't too expensive either. I guess I should figure it out before ORC...

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