VHF Radios which brand is best feature wise

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    Posted: 25 Apr 2017 at 8:10am
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OK after a few trips out to kawhia harbour and coast guard reporting back that they can hardly hear me on my uniden MH050 handheld when calling in or closing a trip report I have decided to get a better VHF to mount into the boat (FC390) my options so far are the following

Icom IC- M304
Uniden solara UM380
Cobra MRF57

Not a great fan of GME radios after owning one of their CB radios many years back. are there any other brands you guys can recommend I am going to be running this off a 12 volt 7Ah dry cell battery that I also run my sounder and plotter off , also looking at using the pacific branded 1 meter antenna and base

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Bertram Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2017 at 10:47am
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Icom that's what a lot of commercial boys use very good quality
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Kevin.S Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2017 at 11:20am
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Any of those will give much more range than your MH050, which is only 2.5watts.  Icom have a very good reputation.  As there isn't anywhere high up on your boat to mount an aerial I'd maybe consider a longer aerial as ultimately range is dependent on how high your aerial is as vhf is line of sight.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Surf_fisher Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2017 at 12:01pm
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Originally posted by Kevin.S Kevin.S wrote:

Any of those will give much more range than your MH050, which is only 2.5watts.  Icom have a very good reputation.  As there isn't anywhere high up on your boat to mount an aerial I'd maybe consider a longer aerial as ultimately range is dependent on how high your aerial is as vhf is line of sight.

That is a good point regarding the aerial I have actually thought twice about that and decided that a 1.8 to 2.4 meter antenna might be a better length to go with without it looking too ridiculous (even though I wanted to put a fold down rocket launcher at the front of the boat but can't find one to suit the width of the bow, would have looked stupid anyway lol)

also another radio I have been looking at is the lowrance link 5 

So at the moment I am tossing up between that and the icom (but leaning more towards the icom) as those are the two that seem to have the least current draw on transmit at 25W and on standby as this will be sharing the same dry cell battery as my lowrance hook 7 due to where my battery is kept which is in limited space (dry storage compartment) so can only run one battery at a time and always keep a spare in my bag. One battery lasts me a day and a half with just the hook 7 running off it so I can not see it draining out in a hurry running both VHF and sounder/plotter.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote otdrmn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2017 at 1:26pm
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Pointless to spend the extra money on the ones that integrate to your chart plotter for GPS coordinates etc unless your going to utilize those features.
Get something that has large numbers so you can see it when scrolling through the channels, some models have small numbers when in channel select mode.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Surf_fisher Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2017 at 1:53pm
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Originally posted by otdrmn otdrmn wrote:

Pointless to spend the extra money on the ones that integrate to your chart plotter for GPS coordinates etc unless your going to utilize those features.
Get something that has large numbers so you can see it when scrolling through the channels, some models have small numbers when in channel select mode.

Fully understand that was looking at those due to price especially the link 5 as that is under $250 at smart marine at the moment and like I said I hate GME radios with a passion due to problems I have had in the past with their CB radios. I will just keep looking for now and see what I can find been mostly looking on trade me and other marine supply sites trying to find the best deal as my work hours don't give me time to go and look in stores unless I get a rain off or a saturday off
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Surf_fisher Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Apr 2017 at 4:57pm
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I ended up with the Lowrance link 7 FC did a price match on smart marines clearance price for it and ended up getting a 1.5 meter antenna, it is now all hooked up and tested I was picking up the boats calling in their bar crossings at Raglan and Kawhia and did a successful radio check from my driveway here in Te Awamutu to Raglan coast guard and I am located in a bit of a dip. The change went on the home study courses for VHF operators and day skippers.
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