Handheld VHF reccommendation (or admonition)?

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Thu May 18, 2006 8:37 pm

I owe someone a handheld VHF. Yeah, you know why.

Anyone have a unit that they love or hate?

Apologies if this has been beaten to death. It seems like it has been, but the closest thing my search turned up was this fun little thread

Post by **dasein668** » Thu May 18, 2006 10:36 pm

My favorite is an older (like 7-8 years) standard horizon which had just brilliant ergonomics for one handed use. I think the model was the HX260S.

I am not a fan of any of the newer handhelds because they are all so small as to be uncomfortable to use one-handed, imo. I know people like everything lighter and smaller, but... at some point things get too small.

I know this isn't particularly helpful for you Mike, but its something that bugs me and you just opened the can. So here are the worms!

Post by **Tim** » Fri May 19, 2006 4:57 am

I haven't been in the market for a while, but I think I generally like ICOM handhelds.

mishnish · Post by **mishnish** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:30 am

I can personally vouch for this excellent unit. I use this one for my flottilla work during the summer and I found it to be great. It comes with a belt clip and lanyard which was perfect for having it close to hand. Battery wise it would last a whole week for intermittent use and would charge quickly on return to base. I like the fact that there is no analogue squelch or volume control as I found on the older unit I might have accidentally adjusted them and missed transmissions. This one allows a keylock on the volume and squelch which in my mind is a great thing. I can also personally attest to its waterproofing! I dropped it in 5m of water and it was 25 mins before I found it again! Recovered it with snorkel, rinsed it and dried it and it was back in service with no noticable detriment. I also like the fairly compact size. It is quite rugged as for 4 months it lived on my belt clip and i never managed to break the antenna in any way. Its housing is also very scratch proof as is the case on the older one that we have had 3 years. Its been thrown around quite heavily in charter work on to docks and so on and it still keeps its good ICOM looks.

http://www.icomamerica.com/products/marine/m32/

I dont think you could go wrong with just about any of the ICOM units but I have to say that digital volume and squelch controls are a good thing in my opinion!

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Fri May 19, 2006 3:16 pm

Well, so far I agree with everthing.

Gadget Idea (are you listening, Westmarine??) of the Year:
A SOSpenders-like cover for the handheld VHF. When you drop it in the water, a mini CO2 cartridge fires and inflates a little yellow balloon so you can recover the radio with a boathook.

I don't care if it doubled the size of the unit, it'd still be worth $100 in my world.

Summersdawn · Post by **Summersdawn** » Fri May 19, 2006 4:18 pm

My handheld (I think it is a horizon) claims to not only be waterproof but to float.

I don't have the guts to try it though...

A30_John · Post by **A30_John** » Mon May 22, 2006 8:59 am

Yesterday I bought a Uniden Atlantis 250 from Hamilton Marine for $99.00. It met my requirements of being waterproof, and being able to accommodate AA size batteries in addition to the built-in battery. At that price, I figured I couldn't go wrong.