Handheld VHF

[J S]

Originally Posted by Chris

Is there any reason why I can't buy one of these in the US and use it over here?

Why don't they meet European stds? the idea is superb are there any drawbacks?

http://www.standardhorizon.com/index...3&isArchived=0

Chris

I think the problem is if the single unit goes you dont have anything. Much safer to have things seperated out. Especially the VHF. Also I think the US use different frequencies.

James

[TonyC]

US models dont meet European standards for electrical equipment and thus can't be licensed for use in the UK.

Here is the paragraph from the Icom Website:

Why can't American marine radios be used/fitted in the UK?

All European electronic & electrical equipment must meet stringent technical and legislative standards including Electro Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive tests and must be CE marked to show that they have done so. Products for the US do not have to meet these standards and are neither tested nor carry the CE mark. Equipment that does not meet the requirements of the above regulations can not be licensed for use on European vessels. The terms of the licence will have been broken and the consequences are likely to be a prosecution and criminal record.

on a personal note, I have an M71 and am very pleased with it, especially the battery life it has, seems to last much longer than my M31 ever did (until i dropped it ) and we use Icom Radios exclusively at work too, a mixture of the M1Euro, M71 & M33 depending on the likelyhood of you dropping it in the water

[Jon Brooks]

Originally Posted by BassBoy

The answer is in the question!
£86 v £140ish!
How much£ unleaded do you burn every year?
Maybe get some retreads for your Ferrari!

Nuff said.

Not to sure on your point as in your previous post you indicated spending more money.

You could pay £145 ish and get the Icom or pay £86 ish and get the Standard.

Standard Horizon like Icom are part of a 50 + year old radio company.
The build and reliabilty is the same, hence they both give three year warranty.
Both make radio for the same market area's.

Icom have dabbled with both chart plotters and radar over the years.

In the EU market Standard Horizon is a fairly new name to most.
They have only really been pushing their EU products for about 4 years now.
The brand is already growning very fast and proving to be a real name to go to sea with.

Cheers

[MustRib]

I have an Entel unit. It is waterproof submersible etc etc .
It feels relatively light (compared to the Motorolas I use for my day job).
Big display. Unless you hold the thing really close to your ear while doing 24 knots, its really hard to hear it! but then...I think thats the same for most handlheld vhfs.
To fix the problem I bought the plug in lapel clip speaker/mic thingy. Now its perfect...light enough to clip securely to my lifejacket, battery life is good and I can hear the thing while WOT!

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by Jon Brooks

In the EU market Standard Horizon is a fairly new name to most. They have only really been pushing their EU products for about 4 years now.
The brand is already growning very fast and proving to be a real name to go to sea with.

I would second that, having been supplying the HX range to a number of very heavy users for a while now I can report that they are out lasting both Icom and Simrad models, which are twice or three times the price.

Also, I have a handful of HX-270s at a sale price:
http://shop.malthouse-marine.com/ind...d=103&parent=0
85.00 inc vat and UK delivery.

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Jon Brooks

Not to sure on your point as in your previous post you indicated spending more money.

You could pay £145 ish and get the Icom or pay £86 ish and get the Standard.

Standard Horizon like Icom are part of a 50 + year old radio company.
The build and reliabilty is the same, hence they both give three year warranty.
Both make radio for the same market area's.

Icom have dabbled with both chart plotters and radar over the years.

In the EU market Standard Horizon is a fairly new name to most.
They have only really been pushing their EU products for about 4 years now.
The brand is already growning very fast and proving to be a real name to go to sea with.

Cheers

I'd go with what Jon said. I am perfectly happy with anything made by either Yaesu or Icom and both are leagues ahead of most of the competition. My father has an old Yaesu Memorizer 2 metre VHF base set which must be nigh on 30 years old now and apart from a slightly dodgy tuning dial (worn switch) it still works fine! There are still quite a few of them around too. Yaesu, like Icom, have been around for a while and seem to be built to last...

[codprawn]

I am sure they would sell far more if they stuck the Yaesu badge on them!!!

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I am sure they would sell far more if they stuck the Yaesu badge on them!!!

I must admit when I first starting looking for a handheld I thought "who the hell are Standard Horizon???" then when I discovered the lineage I thought "ah that's OK then"

Not really sure why they split it into three brand names, I would have thought it better to stick with just "Yaesu"...

[codprawn]

I know it would be like Sony intorducing a range of TVs called Shining Moonlight or something!!!

[Chris]

Sony... there is a brand that has gone to the dogs.

Chris

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Chris

Sony... there is a brand that has gone to the dogs.

Chris

Depends what on - their TVs are still great - as are their video cameras etc but the rest of the stuff is shite - it doesn't help that they go for all the copy protection etc which stops you doing anything!!!

[Chris]

At work we did a project with DSG to take in all their returns and process them at one of our factories before selling them by the pallet to the trade. We got something like 40,000 pieces of kit over 6 months and when we looked into repair etc it just was not worth it, its all cheaply manufactured junk that simply is not designed to come apart once the robot has stuck it together in the factory.

(can you tell the whole project was a nightmare, also DSG are a load of bankers! )

Chris

[Jon Brooks]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I am sure they would sell far more if they stuck the Yaesu badge on them!!!

Maybe and maybe not.

In the early 90's Yaesu brought the "Standard" name from its owners in the US.

Both Vertex Standard and Standard Horizon were very well known brands in the US.
The US market is huge and many companies look to the US before the rest of the world.

With this in mind the brands were split.

To give you and idea of how important the US market is look at this.
Whilst at Icom, Icom UK was the second largest distributor, second to the US.
At the time of the M1V the US sold as many of these in a month as we sold in a year!!!
So as you can see it is a very important market to all companies.

Cheers

[codprawn]

I know the UK market is tiny BUT a bit of genuine badge engineering wouldn't go amiss - they do it in the amateur radio market and those old duffers are a dying breed!!!

[RichardB]

Originally Posted by malthouse

Also, I have a handful of HX-270s at a sale price:
http://shop.malthouse-marine.com/ind...d=103&parent=0
85.00 inc vat and UK delivery.

As our spare handheld died recently I took advantage of Malthouse's offer. I must say very impressed with the service, delivery by return and a useful pouch thrown in free (for rib.net I think). Many thanks.

I'd admit, I bought this on recommendations here coupled with the low price compared with ICOM. Having just got my hands on this, it is obvious that this is a very nicely put together bit of kit. I'll try out properly on the water this weekend.

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by RichardB

Having just got my hands on this, it is obvious that this is a very nicely put together bit of kit. I'll try out properly on the water this weekend.

Thanks for that, I am delighted that you are impressed with it, they are a great radio and even commercial users have a hard time breaking them.

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I know the UK market is tiny BUT a bit of genuine badge engineering wouldn't go amiss - they do it in the amateur radio market and those old duffers are a dying breed!!!

I've still got my Yaesu, does that make me an old duffer

Seriously though, I would have thought Yaesu could have changed the name to Yaesu Horizon or something. I didn't know that Standard Horizon stuff was made by Yaesu untill John defected. Otherwise everything I bought several years ago for Kohaku would have been their kit.

[Tim M]

Standard kit does seem to be very robust. I have two of the handhelds and like them very much. They get bashed around, one even sat in a locker full of water for several days and still worked fine after! Unfortunaly my fixed set, which I installed about 6 months ago has recently stopped working. I have just removed it from the boat and will be sending it back to Standard this afternoon. I do hope their customer service is as good as they say it is!

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by Tim M

I have just removed it from the boat and will be sending it back to Standard this afternoon. I do hope their customer service is as good as they say it is!

I am sure you will be impressed, if you do have any problems give me a shout.

[Slomofo]

...just rec'd my HX270e, lightning delivery and a good price - impressed with the build quality and it works just fine, you can't beat a chunky handful!!