Quote:
Originally Posted by ShinyShoe
Simrad and Lowrance aren't well known for being big handheld makers. Or even big radio makers really - they do boat electronics. SH and Icom do radio.
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Simrad, it’s founders and it’s predecessor companies (including Navico) have been involved in VHF radios since before you were born. They were also apparently the producers of the first ever H/held DSC radio and a mainstay of the European yachting market before the Japanese manufacturers began to dominate.
Lowrance, whilst a relative newcomer to the h/held DSC game are typically at the more affordable end and no stranger to consumer, portable, marine electronics so you might infer have a handle on what matters - like robustness, water tight integrity etc.
I believe (but anyone wishing to use it should investigate) that the Cobra “app” you mention will allow you to use the radio as a Bluetooth headset for your phone allowing you to keep your phone in the dry and still operate it. My experience of Bluetooth is this will deplete the power on the radio and phone significantly faster. Given I can barely hear the vhf over the engine when underway and that one of the joys of being afloat is disconnecting it wouldn’t swing me that way.
As for the icom self selecting mob when wet - that may be nice but is it really going to make much difference? An unspecified DSC alert from a T station (it will need its own license) with no follow up voice comms is going to get a very similar response to an MOB DSC alert with no voice comms.
John’s advice makes sense to me, battery life in real use would matter to me, and I’ve never used any marine electronics which were intuitive by today’s interface standards - going the same brand as your existing fixed station may save some frustration. If you do long days on the kayak though, especially if you camp, battery life would be more important perhaps unless you left it switched off (which will delay gps position time, mean you miss weather alerts etc).
SR6M
