Best Brand and Type Hand-Held Marine Radio

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Art

Art

Guru
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
12,569
Location
USA
Vessel Make
Tollycraft 34' Tri Cabin
Howdy All Boaters!

I've two fairly large, stanchion-affixed marine radios on our Tolly; both very dated... to be sure.

Time to upgrade!

Please advise the best brand, type, and style of hand-held marine radio.

Must be waterproof.

Much Thanks! - Art
 
We have a Standard Horizon HX370S and it works well. Long battery life and advertised to be submersible. My only complaint is the squelch control is by a button on the side and the channel select buttons. I prefer the handhelds with 2 knobs; volume and squelch.
 
My preference is Icom. If you can find one that has an optional battery pack for disposable batteries, that would be my preference. While I would use the rechargeable pack that came with it, when it comes to battery powered devices, options are always good.

Ted
 
Thanks responders. I am keeping all mentions in mind. Hope to ask for a specific radio as "maybe" a Christmas gift! :dance: :D

In process of reviewing. Plan in near future to post my radio choice!
 
Icom. Use it more than my fixed VHF. It is in use a lot as I take it home to listen to shipping traffic and rescue coordination.

And yes, they really do float. It has been bounce tested many times as well.
 
The first and foremost is how blessed I am to boat in a location where there are tons of bite,harbors,coves,inlets, and hidy-holes galore!!
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Not all of them, unless so specified. Don't ask me how I know this....
 
Oh Art me Irish Bro.

My first choice would be A: Furuno Class D VHF/DSC Radio Telephone. However big bucks!:rofl:

So lets get real.

Second choice: Icom VHF

Third Choice: Icom VHF

It all comes down to what you want and knowing how you play and roll, Icom would do you just fine I am guessing. But it is hard to say about us Irish.

Just my 2 cent Mate.

Cheers and happy cruising to you and yours me wise Irish Brother.:thumb:

H. Foster
 
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Based on their excellent customer service, I would go with Standard Horizon.
 
WesK said:
Based on their excellent customer service, I would go with Standard Horizon.
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Owned by Yaesu, a well respected Japanese electronics manufacturer. Can't go wrong with them or Icom...

I just bought a SH HX300 which is available for $80 or so after current discounts and rebates. It is a VERY nice radio for the money. It's a floater too. I particularly like the USB charging as I've put USB charge ports around the boat. No cradles or adapters to worry about. Very convenient.
 
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I think it's hard to go wrong with either Icom or Standard Horizon. Pick the features and price you like. I'd get one with 5W of transmit power. I had a 2W cheapo that never worked well.
 
Regardless of manufacturer, I'll suggest two controls that I find makes a big difference in how convenient the radio is to operate. They are separate and dedicated volume and channel controls. One model that I have uses a knob on the top for on/off and volume. Its always quick and easy to find and adjust the volume. And it has up/down button on the face that control the channel selection, so its also easy to quickly change channels. With the press of another button, the channel up/down temporarily becomes a squelch adjustment, but that rarely needs adjustment once set the first time.

In contrast I have another model that uses the same up/down buttons for volume, channel selection, and squelch. Another button selects which mode the up/don buttons are in. I am forever changing channel when I was to adjust volume, and adjusting volume when I want to change channel. You need to look closely as the display to see which mode you are in, so you have to take your eyes off what ever else you are doing to operate the radio. The other model can be operated 100% by feel.

To me, it's worth every penny to have the easier to operate model.
 
Think about the features you most want and go from there. Rechargable vs. replaceable batteries. (For my ditch bag, I prefer replaceable batteries.) DSC -- very handy if you want to call your dinghy, etc. and vice versa, without having to maintain a radio watch (at either end). Size -- the small ones are really convenient (like the ICOM m88). You may end up concluding that you need several. But if I had to choose one, it would be the Standard Horizon 870.
 
Furuno Class D VHF/DSC Radio Telephone

hfoster said:
Oh Art me Irish Bro.

My first choice would be A: Furuno Class D VHF/DSC Radio Telephone. However big bucks!:rofl:

So lets get real.

Second choice: Icom VHF

Third Choice: Icom VHF

It all comes down to what you want and knowing how you play and roll, Icom would do you just fine I am guessing. But it is hard to say about us Irish.

Just my 2 cent Mate.

Cheers and happy cruising to you and yours me wise Irish Brother.:thumb:

H. Foster
Click to expand...

Yo... You big 4 leaf clover you; wit dem flattened knuckles!

Great to hear from you... Luck on proceeding toward your Fleming?

Have older Furuno Radar. Still works well. Blasted the blue Furuno insignia right off its globe first month I owned the Tolly. Pressure washer safe it was not... nice, clean white globe surface since! Funny thing was that small flecks of blue laminated Furuno name scattered onto the bridge and were instantly adhered so well I needed razor to get them loose. Found tiny flecks for couple years in the strangest places where they attached to FRP - like under seat cushions??? Don't ask me how the pieces got into those places!

Thanks for marine phone suggestions. I'm carefully taking all of everyone's input into my search... suggestions appreciated, guys! Plan to really get looking tomorrow (Sunday) via web search - so I can have family members place it on my Christmas wish list.

Currently have masonry and concrete construction projects ongoing as well as another business while also directing a const co I'm close with having their carpenters rebuild our house portions that were devastated by 40K lbs of a total 80K lb 200 yr old white oak tree on eve of July 26th 2015. Linda could have died - but she didn't - Thankkkk God, and, my booming voice from lower property area that got her off the 3rd story 30' x 10' redwood deck in nick of time. Tree utterly removed that and other house portions within the next 30 seconds from when I realized (suddenly heard sounds during a clear-sky, windless evening) what was about to occur. CA years of drought is/was the cause (long story I learned from arborist and FD Chief). We loved that tree; at least it respected us enough to give me sound warnings for Linda's sake as well as to not come down during holiday season parties we always have when many family and friend would have been on that same deck. These items and other reasons are why 4:30 AM is my normal eyes-popping-open schedule and 9:30 standard nite-nite time. Keeps me in really good shape and thinken/acten young! Also, gives me chance to play-email with TF members during first couple coffees. Does interfere with boat schedule though! - LOL


Cheers me Irish bro - keep the clover in your hat brim... for all to see!

Art
 
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Art said:
Yo... You big 4 leaf clover you; wit dem flattened knuckles!

LOL. To funny Art me Irish Bro.:rofl:

Furuno makes some good stuff that is for sure. Not that other do not, but I look at Furuno first.

In thinking about your choices of handhelds VHF. There are a number of choices out there. If you feel like getting Froggy or is you had to much of the Irish Wild Rose, have a look at the

Icom GM1500 VHF GMDSS Radio/Telephone. That is what I have now.

A bit pricy, I paid about $440.00 for it, however it does the job every well for me. I know you can get something cheaper but to me, I like the back up of be able to make a phone call as well. I know you, I know. We all have cell phones now, however I hate to carry one now days. :banghead:

Anyways I thought I would pass that along to you Art. Good luck on your project, and from the photos of that tree. I'm glad your wonderful Lady was not harmed!

Thanks for your best wishes on the hunt for our Fleming which I hope will be continuing soon. The wife is getting strong every day.

Keep us post Art on what you end up getting on the VHF.

Happy cruising to you and yours me Irish Bro.


Cheers

H. Foster
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Reading back to the OP, Art, are you contemplating having only hand helds on board ?

If so, I strongly disagree, but that's for another thread. Also if so, then I urge you to have one of them, if not both be something like this Standard Horizon, which I have seen and discussed with happy owners:

Welcome to StandardHorizon.com
 
Heron said:
Owned by Yaesu, a well respected Japanese electronics manufacturer. Can't go wrong with them or Icom...

I just bought a SH HX300 which is available for $80 or so after current discounts and rebates. It is a VERY nice radio for the money. It's a floater too. I particularly like the USB charging as I've put USB charge ports around the boat. No cradles or adapters to worry about. Very convenient.
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Can you point us in the right direction. Best I've seen is $120.
 
Heron said:
I just bought a SH HX300 which is available for $80 or so after current discounts and rebates.
Click to expand...

mbevins said:
Can you point us in the right direction. Best I've seen is $120.
Click to expand...

$99 minus the $20 rebate (I've gotten my check) here:

Standard Horizon HX300 Floating VHF

I've bought all my electronics from these guys. Very competitive and a pleasure to deal with..

I've seen a few places tack another $10 discount onto these as well.. No link, sorry.

GetImage.ashx
 
OK Guys - Santa made my choice! Simple and efficient with battery back up pack if internal batt runs out. And, it floats... so I can have my friends dog play fetch! lol

Parks Masterson (TF avatar: HopCar) of Hopkins Carter Marine store in FL is the guy to deal with for marine goodies. :thumb:

I thank you all for your suggestions!! Happy 2016... Art
 

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Cant tell you the best but I installed a standard horizon and was surprised bu the much improved range over my previous set.
 
These hand held units last a long time , it might pay to find out what the battery replacement cost is.

A generic batt will be far easier to come by than a brand specific special.
 
FF said:
These hand held units last a long time , it might pay to find out what the battery replacement cost is.

A generic batt will be far easier to come by than a brand specific special.
Click to expand...

I'll stop at Batteries Plus. Owner is good fellow. I get all my batts from there. In seven years since he opened the franchise I've had not one batt fail... well maybe a couple watch batts - LOL
 
I bought two Cobra radios frm Bass Pro -- waterproof & float. $100 each. they work great.
 
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I have used them all including West Marine's brand. They have all worked pretty decent except the low power ones. The controls must be what you find the easiest. I can almost guarantee you will be multi-tasking 75% of the time it is being used. This may be in limited light conditions. Consider warranty, ease of getting replacement battery pack/charger, 12V charger, float (or not) and how it attaches to your belt if you need both hands. Waterproof is a must; other features are "just nice". Around marinas and while docking the handheld is the only thing I use from the fly bridge. If you buy the right one for you you will be living with it for quite awhile.
 
I have a hands free earphone and speaker for my SH handheld VHF. It is the type that starts transmitting when I start talking, very useful when maneuvering and my hands are busy.


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