# Best Hand Held Radio



## Serve (Jun 22, 2008)

Which is the best hand held radio? I sail in Barnegat Bay, NJ.


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## merlin2375 (Jul 12, 2007)

I've had good luck with the Standard Horizon HX370. It has all the normal features you'd expect and it came with a lot of accessories, and it was relatively inexpensive.

My only complaints are it's a little bit big, heavy and they omitted a place for a lanyard (pretty key to me). I've seen a lot of the West Marine units around, they are fine as well.

Some of the more expensive units float or have built in GPS for DSC capability. How much do you want to spend? Is this a backup radio, a primary radio?


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## Serve (Jun 22, 2008)

This will be my only radio. I heard I can get a decent one for around 100 bucks. I do like the GPS capability for safety.


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## sck5 (Aug 20, 2007)

One good thing about the HX370 is that it also takes AA batteries. The kind with only rechargable are smaller and lighter but if you run out of juice and cant charge easily you are out of luck. But you can get AA's anywhere.


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## jerryrlitton (Oct 14, 2002)

I do not have much marine hand experience, aviation is my thing. With that said, since it will be your only radio I would spend a bit more. It is cheap insurance in the long run. I use an Icom.

Jerry


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

Icom m72 6 watt radio, 20 hour battery, it also has a all aluminum case (not plastic) you can bang this one around all day and it still works. I owned one for 2 years with no problems.


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## jjablonowski (Aug 13, 2007)

*Magazine's 'consumer test'*

In Oct 2006 _Practical Sailor_ magazine article, "The buzz on inexpensive VHFs," they rated 8 handhelds.

Editors tested transmitting, receiving, display, audio, durability, and battery life.

Best choice: Uniden MHS350, $150. 
Budget buy: Standard HX 270 S, $100.
Recommended: Uniden Atlantis 250G, $100

Others tested included the West Marine VHF50 and the VHF150, the Icom IC-M32 and the IC -M2A, and Uniden Voyager.

None were equipped with GPS.


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

The only handheld marine VHF radio I know of with GPS is the Standard Horizon HX850. It does have DSC as well. The best price I found was around $210 at Defender.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

SVAuspicious—

Uniden makes one as well IIRC.


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## sailortjk1 (Dec 20, 2005)

bubb2 said:


> Icom m72 6 watt radio, 20 hour battery, it also has a all aluminum case (not plastic) you can bang this one around all day and it still works. I owned one for 2 years with no problems.


Being as this will be his only radio, the original poster might want to look at this recomendation. At 6watts, thats pretty good for a handheld. I thought most of them were 2 - 3 watts.???

_Edit: After a quick search I see that most nowadays are 5 watt. I swear my old hand held is only 3 watts. Bought it probaly over 10 years ago._


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## T37SOLARE (Feb 1, 2008)

I was given a Worst Marine handheld, and it's a piece of junk.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

tj, an older handheld might have been lower power, so the batteries would have a longer life. It is still enough for calling the dock/dink, traditional jobs. A little cheaper to build, cheaper to sell, better battery life...not a bad set of criteria, all in all.


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

I don't ever sound like a know it all however, I want to share my reasoning why I have 2 hand held on board. I own a Atlantis 250 made by Uniden. $99. It is in the cup holder at the helm. I use it all the time works well and does what I want it to do. On my belt ( by way of the belt clip on the radio) I have my Icom M72 turned off. It is also tied around my belt by a piece of line.

I want a radio with me if I wind up in the water. I want a strong radio (6 watts) with me. I want a long battery life. The radio is fully charged before it's goes on my hip. If I go over unconscious turning it on does not matter. But I have fresh radio if I am in the water as I was using the other for and not depleting the battery on the one on my hip.

any other thoughts are most appreciated.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

I agree with Bubb2 on this. I have a Standard Horizon 260S which is about the size of an elongated butter brick. It's pretty basic...but it has a rechargeable NiCad "pack" that seems to last ages and a supplementary six AA pack you can swap in, effectively doubling your "off-charger" time.

I also have a snazzy Standard Horizon 471S multi-band DSC model that can Tx on family band and can receive AM/FM and even airport frequencies. It's about the size of a deck of playing cards. It sits at the helm in its charging caddy, and clips on my PFD when I'm in one of our tenders, as it's small and light.

But frankly, for transmitting, it's not as powerful as the older unit, even if it has more "tricks". So I use the heavier, older, less "versatile" 260S in the cockpit...in fact, I used it yesterday to talk to the marine cops about four miles away to report a large log in the water. It's fallen over and across the cockpit dozens of times, but remains undamaged. It's the one I would like to have in a crisis, because the newer model seems a little toy-like by comparison.


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## chuck5499 (Aug 31, 2003)

just a suggestion - if you are going to get it wet take a hard look at the icom 32 (i think) as it floats - nice - i am on a 40' sail boat and have 3 spare hand helds - a uniden atlantis that i think was $99 a few years ago and it works great - i also have 2 standard horizon hx270s and have major issues with them as i use them for bridge openings and talking to marina while my main radio stays on 16. the sh have a ton of static and i think it is coming from my solar panels - it is very annoying - the uniden has none of it and yes i have adjusted the sq. with no affect 
just mythoughts
chuck and svoulmates 
ki4sry
in new bern leaving july 7 headed northbound to the cheaspeake


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

I don't have panels installed so can't comment on the SH's static issues, but I always thought I would grab a Uniden as a "sacrificial" handheld because they are cheap but seemingly well-made...they seem to be everyone's second or third choice, which could reflect marketing more than performance. I have an ICOM nav station unit and will buy an ICOM SSB soon, but that's just because on some things I'll follow the herd.

Knowing that the Uniden suppresses noise is good info, however, as in real life I use the handheld to a far greater degree than the base unit.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I have a dirt cheap one right now (Midland). It works OK, keeps a charge well and will use AAs and came with a 12V adapter. I initially got it mostly for a specific weekend last year and I figured it would be my backup when I got a better one if it lasted that long. A year isn't long, except that I forgot and left it in the boat with the cabin poorly vented when it was parked at my wife's office for a while. It was in the pouch (I wouldn't count on it being completely waterproof) and stuff around it didn't fare as well.

I am not recommending it as a primary, but suggesting that if you are going to go with a handheld only you might look into it as a backup. I paid about $50 delivered for it with charger, ni-cad, 12V adapter, pouch, earpiece and a 2 year warranty.


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## roline (Apr 7, 2000)

I have had a basic standard horizion with thumb wheel channel selector, worked great, just large and not waterproof, My favorite was/is an Icom M1 of which I have 2. Great receive sensitivity! and 5 or 1 watt to transmitt. The battery pacs are still available but are NiCad and around $65. Water resistant to a meter.... Safe to use in a storm, you can store it in a pocket of water if your on deck .........


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## Maine Sail (Jan 6, 2003)

Serve said:


> This will be my only radio. I heard I can get a decent one for around 100 bucks. I do like the GPS capability for safety.


Not a good idea!! DSC only works as well as the range of your VHF. The bast hand held is as a BACK UP not your primary radio... On high output, which is a paltry 5 watts, the batteries also won't last very long so be sure to have plenty of spare batteries and or a way to chage the unit off 12v.

If you insist on using a hand held as your primary be sure to install a mast head antenna that you can connect to the hand held in case of an emergency. This will increase your effective range..


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

sailingdog said:


> SVAuspicious said:
> 
> 
> > The only handheld marine VHF radio I know of with GPS is the Standard Horizon HX850. It does have DSC as well. The best price I found was around $210 at Defender.
> ...


To the best of my knowledge the Uniden w/ built-in GPS (and charting I think) is out of production. There was a Panbo review at some point. You can find them on eBay.

I bought one of the SH HX-850s and have used it several times over the last month or so. It's a pretty nice radio. I like my Icom M32 also.

sail fast, dave


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## marineelectronicsreviews (Oct 12, 2008)

I have tested and reviewed all the handheld marine VHF radios mentioned in this series of posts. 

I have recently tested another batch of radios and have begun to post them too. 

The power output differences in all the handheld VHF radios I've tested have been minimal and unlikely to have any effect on range.

Al


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

I would concur from my far more informal experience that most handhelds output as strongly as advertised and close to each other in performance.

I have been surprised, however, at the variable ability of base units to _receive_ handheld output. I was recently hailed, faintly, on my handheld by a Niagara 35 (antenna height, maybe 44 feet) at a line-of-sight distance to _more than nine miles_, with a low island intervening. I responded at five watts (this was my SH 260SX) and they heard me 4 x 5, or so they said. I could barely pick them up from the background noise.

They heard me calling on 16 and just took it to another channel to confirm their radio range. They had a new ICOM base unit.


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## speciald (Mar 27, 2007)

I like the Standard Horizon HX471S. Its small, has DSC, brodcasts on VHF and FRS frquencies. Also recieves on AIR, MURS, AM, and FM frequencies. FRS is useful for speaking with someone on the bow when anchoring or docking, You can listen to air traffic control if that's your thing as well as Local broadcast radio stations for news and weather.5 or 2.5 watt power.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Valiente-
"I have been surprised, however, at the variable ability of base units to receive handheld output."
Are you being surprised by the base _units or the base installatations?. I would susepct that the base radios are built to the same standards as the HTs, but because an HT is equipped with an antenna, and the base station must have cabling and antenna added--often by random choice and untrained user--that the antenna is the big issue with base installations. Chose the wrong cable, install the wrong fitting (or the right one improperly), do a bad solder joint, run a cable that is too long...there are many ways to kill the output from a radio. Like running it from a 12-volt nominal power supply, when it is desigend for 13.8 Volts. (The HT's will be runing off whatever they were designed for.)

Icom, a generally top name in consumer grade radios, designs radios for 13.8V for boats and cars. Many users have complained that they just don't work well on 12V, and that's been confirmed in labs. They're just not designed to work off that low voltage, and some of them go nutso. (IIRC the spec is generally 13.8 +-10%, which makes 12.42V the bare mininum acceptable voltage.)

VHF also is affected by terrain, it can be bent, reflected, skipped...so that the signal path from you to them, and them to you, is not always the same. And that's without counting the number of seagulls on youtr antenna.[g]_


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## JohnRPollard (Mar 26, 2007)

West MArine was selling the Standard Horizon 850S (internal GPS receiver interfaced with DSC, floats, 6 Watts, etc) for US$179.99 at the Annapolis Boatshow this weekend. I was shopping for one, and didn't snatch it up because I figured Defender or Consumers Marine would have a better price. 

Nope. 

Then I ran out of time and couldn't get back to the WM booth. They don't show that price anywhere on their website, so I guess it was just a boatshow special deal.


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## CaptainForce (Jan 1, 2006)

I purchased an ICOM-M32Li for $139,- it has the plastic case, but I don't bang it around during any part of the day anyway. I'm pleased with it because it functions well wether I give it the full 8-10 hr. charge or just a 2 or 3 hr. intervals when I run my generator on the hook & it also has the aa battery option.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

hellosailor said:


> Valiente-
> "I have been surprised, however, at the variable ability of base units to receive handheld output."
> Are you being surprised by the base _units or the base installatations?. _


_

Well, to be truthful, the guy who heard my handheld is an amateur radio guy of many decades' vintage, plus he fixed electronics for a university for 40 years or so, so I think he does crimps that Halekai would have sent out for framing...<G>

But he himself would know ICOMs want every volt, but he said that he was quite happy with it. Perhaps he should be happy with his wiring...it's exceptionally cleanly done._


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