ICOM also
What kind of failures? Sound quality?
Always good to hear from someone who’s had both. How does the sound quality compare on them?
On failures:
Icom - just quite working?
SH - battery falure. What was the other several failures?
Thanks,
Paul
uniden voyager
Sure–it’s the Uniden voyager, bought last year at West Marine. I check the NOAA forecast with it pretty much every day, and take it out kayaking 4 or 5 days a week. I roll with it (not in a bag) and it always seems to work fine afterwards (fresh water, not salt). I haven’t needed to use it yet in emergency situations, and hopefully I never will! My usual kayakiing partner also has one, and we practice over fair distances every once in a while, making sure we can communicate with each other.
"no hassle warranty"
I have no way to quantify - but I’ve heard a lot of stories about how good SH is about warranty issues. Why? because there were a lot of warranty issues!
I would consider sending units in and being without while awaiting repair/replacement to be somewhat of a hassle. If your local retailer (assuming you buy locally) will swap it out for you - great. West marine seems particularly good about this stuff - but often the retailers policy is usually only good for a year at best, and then you have to do the round trip ship dance.
All mentioned here are OK units. Note the lack of irate customers with bad stories. All electronics in a marine environment have a fair potential for failure, and if it fails after three years - it was time to replace it anyway!
The ones I’ve seen the least failure reports on, and most owner satisfaction with, over the past 4 years or so have been ICOM - but as I said, I have no way to quantify this, so take it FWIW.
Detail on the failures
Standard Horizon - numerous times I’ve had the speaker grill get wet. Then for periods of time ranging from 30 - 60 minutes, you can’t understand what is being said, and the person you are calling can’t understand you. When the speaker finally dries, it’s ok again. Latest failure was the battery dying of old age.
Icom - Battery showed it needed a charge after paddling. It worked until I charged it and then after charging, wouldn’t turn on.
Sound quality - hands down winner is the Icom.I still recommend the M72 as my radio of choice. Much better quality than the SH IMHO
Real newbie question …
Sounds like many of you have these when paddling … I can see where having a radio is a good idea … not only to listen to weather updates, but to use in an emergency. I paddle alone so I’m thinking of getting one of these.
What are the rules around licenses? Are they easy to get? Do you all have radio station licenes? Do you not have to have one if you were going to transmit in an emergency?
Don’t need one
http://wireless.fcc.gov/marine/fctsht14.html
“You do not need a license to operate a marine VHF radio, radar, or EPIRBs aboard voluntary ships operating domestically. The terms “voluntary” and “domestic” are defined below. Although a license is no longer required for these ships, you may still obtain a license (and call sign) by following the procedures outlined in Section IV.”
VHF radio choices
Your careful and informed answers have been of great help to me, and a credit to this website. Thank you.
I just got one
I just started yakking this summer, and my instructor strongly recommended getting a radio. I hadn’t done anything about it yet, but this past Tuesday some friends of mine and I were out paddling in the Susquehanna, and I discovered I had no cell coverage. I’ve never had a problem anywhere in this area before, so that was eye-opening. I ordered a radio Tuesday night and got it today. I’ll feel better just having it.
In addition to your own safety…
… having a VHF is part being a responsible boater. There are a lot of other folks on the water, so odds are much higher you’ll use it to help someone else.
OK, leaning back toward M72
Sound quality has been my biggest question. The speaker purge seems good too, if going without the dry pack. Money aside, I’m thinking M72.
If I can look at them at West Marine, good! Otherwise I need to just order one. I’ve been procrastinating for too long.
Thanks again everyone for the good conversation and sharing the great information.
Paul