Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

[18rabbit]

And the winner is...<br /><br />(1) Icom 302 (duhh).<br />(2) Standard Horizon Quest (close second).<br /><br />Ok. There are no real surprises with that. <br /><br />Falling overboard were (in alpha order):<br /><br />- Raymarine Ray48<br />- Uniden Oceanus<br />- Uniden Solara<br />- West Marine 500 (built by Uniden)

 

[NateCCIE]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

How does the Icom 302 compare to the Uniden Voyager? (Which I just bought today for $150 shipped before I saw this)<br /><br />I don't see the icom 302 on icomamerica.com/marine/default.asp <br /><br />-Nate

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

See it at the Icom web site:<br /><br /> icomamerica.com/products/marine/m302 <br /><br />Icom has a well deserved solid reputaion for a very high quality marine VHF product. Here's a blurb from the PBR review that is just released:<br /><br />Exceptional performance has been the hallmark of Icom radios for years, and the M302 holds up that standard. It had superior results in our performance testing. Transmitter output power and frequency varied little over the full sequence of tests. A quick look at the input power measurements indicates the Icom has the most efficient transmitter tested. In addition to an Excellent rating for receive sensitivity, the Icom ranks with the best in selectivity. Audio output ranked this radio at the top, too.

 

[NateCCIE]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

Oh I am an idot. I was thinking handhelds.<br /><br />-Nate

 

[amirm]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

ICOM radios are in a class by themselves. Even on paper, they look better than the competition. Since someone mentioned Uniden, here is a comparison with one of their stationary units:<br /><br />Sensivity: Icom=.22uv; uniden Oceanus: .25uv (lower numbers better: 10% advantage for ICOM)<br /><br />Spurrious Response: Icom=70db; Uniden=60 db (higher numbers better --every 3db means twice as good!).<br /><br />You get the idea . I have yet to find an radio that matches, let alone exceeds Icom's specs. This and the excellent reviews, make the icom a no brainer for most people although I must admit, the Uniden units do have more wizbang features (color LCDs, etc.).<br /><br />Amir

 

[Boatist]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

18Rabbit<br />Thanks For the report.<br />I personaly like the IC-402S better than the IC-302.<br />It has a little larger screen and a bigger speaker but recieve/transmit spec the same.<br />The best thing is the price of Icom is just not that much more and they last forever.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

Well, Boatist, you know some folks new to boating will show up here asking what VHF radio they should get. Now we can recommend an Icom or Std Horizon…not that we weren’t doing that anyways.<br /> <br /><br />Interesting thing about the PBR evaluation was a statement they made about DSC. PBR thought it was an important safety feature, but in doing their evaluation they felt since the primary purpose of VHF is for voice communication, they put the emphasis of their evaluation on that aspect of the radios.<br /><br />PBR publishes their mag electronically and emails notice to all the subscribers, then sends the printed copy a couple weeks later. The email notice arrived yesterday; I haven’t had a chance to read the sidebar about DSC yet. If there is anything of interest in it, I’ll post back here.<br /><br />They also covered a couple small, clean-agent, handheld fire extinguishers in this issue. Will post about that too.

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

For us non-subscribers, can you paste some more of that article here?

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

Luna-Sea – I could post the link for the article but you would need a login id and pwd. Since PBR is available as a subscription, I don’t think it would be appropriate to paste any more of the article than I already did. Usually whenever I comment about the info I find in PBR, I paraphrase what they write so I don’t bump into copyright issues.<br /><br />But you are in luck! You can go to the PBR’s website and sign up for a 7-issue subscription and get immediate access to this month’s and last month's issues online. Then you can cancel your subscription (within 14-days) and it won’t cost you anything. Also, you can cancel at anytime and get a refund on unsent issues. But after reading an issue online, you probably will not cancel. It’s $15 well spent...until the 7th issue, then it is $29/year. If you don’t immediately renew, they will drop the offer to something like $24/year.<br /> <br /><br /> https://www.belvoir.com/subscribe/powerboat-reports/subscribe.html <br /><br />If you do sign up online, be sure to click on the link at the bottom of the articles; “Value Guide”. It is a matrix comparing the features and test results of the products.<br /><br />Btw, I’ve been noticing that PBR is buying more and more stuff from iboats MegaMall for doing the product testing.<br />

 

[Boatist]

Re: Powerboat Reports Evaluates VHF Radios Under $160

The DSC has some great features on the higher cost ICom units. It has the normal function to send out your location to Coast Guard but also much more. If you and all your fishing buddies put in your buddies marine code then you can find their location with out asking them where they are. Would be great when Salmon fishing off shore. One boat could head north one south and one west. If if someone finds a hot spot can call your buddies an tell them it is red hot with out telling them where they are. If they have input your code they will have your exact location. Your buddies show up not the entire fleet. I think only the top of the line have this feature.