 For offshore use I would not consider a set that did not provide an additional battery pack that permitted the use of standard non rechargeable batteries.
Our grab bag for our Atlantic crossing contained a couple of 20 pack AA cells - you can't recharge in a liferaft!
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 Valid point, Martin. But different people have different priorities according to the type of sailing they do. Perhaps we should aim to explore that more when doing gear tests, because what is best for ocean crossings may not be best for coast-hopping, and what is best for inshore may not be right for offshore, either. Thank you. You have got me thinking....
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 I recently purchased a waterproof Cobra HH300 for <£90.
I was very pleased with the package - rechargeable batteries or normal AA, 12 volt charger with a shaver socket style charger (I guess you could recharge in the shower block !) plus a UK 3 pin mains converter. I suspect you could buy converters for different countries. I couldn't think of anything else I would have wanted in the package. Seems to work well too.
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 | TMS Poloshirt winner |
24/06/07 15:51
 I ve got the Icom M33 - lovely little set but you do get what you pay for.
The only down side to the set is it WILL discharge itself over time so do not rely on charging at the begining of the season and expect to have full battery power 2 months later.
W.
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I chose the Raymarine 101 and overall am very pleased with it. Choice was made mainly because I could change the batteries ( also giving the option to fit batteries of higher capacity too ) I may not cross oceans just at the moment but a radio is still very important so I keep some non rechargeable AAs too. I also think it important that you do not have to search for hours to find the type of replacement battery you want, just plain ole AA size is fine. I do have to say though that I find the sealing rings on the battery compartment to be a little on the flimsy side and are easily displaced so care is needed when changing batteries over. Guess this might affect the level of waterproofing over time.
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| TMS Poloshirt winner |
19/06/08 17:09
My Icom has a 12V charger supplied with it, I just charge it up on board- simple!
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| TMS Poloshirt winner |
19/06/08 19:59
I too bought an Icom M71 and I'm very pleased with it. But at £82.50 + postage the 5W Standard Horizon may well be the best value for money. Pity it wasn't included in the line-up.
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| TMS Poloshirt winner |
21/06/08 08:26
 I have The Standard Horizon-a very well made waterproof handheld-main rechargable battery has held its charge since end of last year-comes with both mains charger and 12v charger plus clip for throw away battery pack.. Also a secure clip on belt clip.Only concerns are that it is manufactured of hard plastic and there is no wrist lanyard. Phil
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| TMS Poloshirt winner |
08/07/08 18:09
 I always swore by my Icom M11 handheld ...old but dependable, We used them as works VHF's for ship cargo inspections etc. Not waterproof but stood up to my inspectors use ! Well after 2 replacement battery packs - I decided that it was time to retire the set. (We also used Swiftech M198 sets ... batterys went on those and also we found the chargers were overcharging ... but otherwise a very good budget set). So what to do ? I looked at various pocket vhf's used on ships visited and didn't like most as they used auto-squelch. Then one ship had obviously been on economy drive and there were Cobra cheapos in use. Autosquelch, only 2W max, but tiny ! So decision made - I bought the paired set deal for about 70 quid. Waterproof cover, 240v charger, wriststrap, belt clip .... two complete sets. Radio takes AA rechargeables or Dry cells - so owner sorted instead of daft proprietary batt packs. Only item missing being a 12V charger - but hang on a mo !! Having had a load of Nokia mobile phones ... checked through the drawer full and bingo ! 12v mobile phone charger does the job nicely ! (Worth others checking their old phone chargers ... you'd be amazed what they can be be used for !!) Verdict ? Excellent budget sets .... 2W only but so far I've used for Port Entry, inter-yacht traffic in islands, inter-crew comms, haven't met with range troubles yet other than similar to previous 5W handheld.
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| TMS Poloshirt winner |
08/07/08 18:23
Sorry forgot to add .... The Review states NiMH as a bad factor and I have to disagree with reviewers statement. The only rechargeable cell to avoid in any item nowadays is NiCD, which are prone to partial discharge problems. NIMH is near exempt these problems and are a good replacement for any item with NiCD (purists will complain that they should not be swapped over - but despite manuals saying don't use rechargeables, only NiCD or NIMH ... I have used various without trouble). LiIONis of course best, but NiMH is not normally a problem. (I flew / used Radio Control Models for many years and I would never commit expensive models to cells that I could not trust - these included NiCD and NIMH in the days I did this .... in the hobby I built up a lot of experience of differing cells and useage .....)
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| TMS Poloshirt winner |
12/07/08 02:41
 The essentail requirement for me in a handheld VHF is that it must have power in it when I really do need it. So if I am going ashore by dingy in a sloppy anchorage on a foul night I want to know that it is 100% charged. Similarly if my crew are taking the dingy for an exploration I don't want their means of calling for help to be sort of half charged, or nearly drained or somewhere in between. If I should be grabbing the handheld to step up into a liferaft with as my ships goes down I imagine also that I might be keen on having some guaranteed fresh power. For me that means a reliable handheld must accept AA batteries (in addition to the bespoke battery pack). I can carry a dozen AAs in my grab bag, I can afford to give my crew a brand new set of batteries as a spare every time they venture away from the mother ship. AA's are cheap and can be replaced almost anywhere. I don't think you can rely on the battery charge indicators on hand helds - you really don't have a reliable indication of future talk time from the little icon, neither can you tell if the battery itself is just about to become time expired and fold up for good. Leaving a set with only a built in battery pack on permanent charge does not seem like a good idea to me so if you don't go for the Raymarine or similar sets which can run on AA's I think you would need two battery packs and keep up a charge and alternate regime to be sure that you will always have a reasonable chance of power to hand.
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| TMS Poloshirt winner |
12/07/08 09:20
Robin - it seems that more and more radios now are accepting Dry-Cells as well as rechargeables. There is one aspect that must be remembered : Dry Cells will not give max power for long, they immediately start a downward slope in voltage and ability from moment they are called to work. The physical limits of Dry Cells mean that they rarely match a basic 500mA/Hr rechargeable for longevity ! At approx 1/2 discharge point the voltage could be low enough for radio to drop out from transmitting ! I only remark on this as when I did Radio Models we found sets that accepted Dry Cells were a risk for this and mainly only kept for surface models !! Cost of Dry Cells may be low compared to rechargeables, but they soon add up to large amounts of cash to continue their use ! Battery Meters are as Robin says not the best, particularly with rechargeables. A rechargeable keeps pumping out full voltage until just before it dies, also many meters are set for Dry Cells which nominal voltage is 1.5V against rechargeable's 1.25V. (Don't confuse nominal with load voltage - it is common for gear to require 1 LESS rechargeable cell than Dry Cells as they keep load voltage near nominal, unlike Dry Cells which are significantly less on load). Personally I would carry a spare set of rechargeables as well as Dry Cells. If you visit any reasonable radio Model Shop - they have excellent "Field Chargers" that run of 12v source to charge 4 / 8 rechargeables. I have one on board from Model Flight Accessories ..... In fact if you want chargers that you can control far better than average Chinese / US over counter offerings - RC Model Shops are the place. So my regimes is to carry my Nokia Charger to top up the Cobras. Spare Rechargeables pack and a pack of Dry Cells. Covers just about most eventualities !
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