Which Fixed VHF?

[Rannsachair]

My Navico Axis RT1400 VHF has packed in.. so I have started to look for a replacement.

Must be waterproof - The Navico was ok except for corrosion of the terminals between the radio and the handset: I should have packed them with petroleum jelly before the saltwater got in.

Ideally: It would be nice if the replacement was not smaller as will be easier to fit in the console - space is not an issue.

As these things only seem to last 3 years, I would rather not spend too much.

In the recent past it has been said Simrad and Icom are the only true watrproof sets - is this still the case, there appear to be lots of new options.

Any advice appreciated.

[simmons0]

I and many others on this forum are having a Silva S10 DSC set.
Its cheap and waterproof, maybe not so bombproof as an icom but we'll see how it holds up.

Have a look at the new Navman set too, heard good things about that too.

[Steve Care]

I'm having the new Navman fitted to my new rib hopefully a good choice Seems good value for money

[marknj]

A Simrad RD68 uses the same case as the RT1400 but has built in DSC and they have sorted the water ingress into the mic socket. We sell them for around £350.00 I prefer the Icom 601 but is much larger and over £200 more.

[stevetheboat]

have a look, it may be of interest ??

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ESSE%3AIT&rd=1

[Jon Brooks]

I know of one of my dealers that still has the M601 on the London Boat Show offer.

I.E. free dual station mic (worth £99 + Vat)

As you wont need this on a Rib am sure he may haggle and you could get a bit more of the set.
Make the price a bit closer to that of the RD68.
That is if you want DSC.

You also get a built in loud hailer and foghorn with the M601.
If you were to by say the Raymarine Loud Hailer Foghorn it will set you back around £400.
It aslo is big, so big display, big buttons, speaker mic ( audio comes out of fist mic as well as the front speaker)

If you don't want DSC then the M401 is a good bet.

All our kit is waterproof (flush mount or deck mount)
We also give 3 year warranty.
So if it lets in water in the first 3 years and you have not abused the unit you will get a new one!

But if you want DSC on a budget there are some good sets around at the moment.
Have heard good and bad about most.
Navman seems to be the one at the moment I hear the most good about.
Am sure the Raymarine will be good, when it is finally gets here!!!
Although the guy's at Silva are good mates and drinking buddies I have to say theirs are the one I hear the most grumbles about.
That is from end users and boat builders.

If it was me and I had the room I would fit the M601 ( and thats speaking as an engineer and a boater not as an Icom man! honest)

The down side of some of the compact DSC units is that it can be almost impossible to use them in a Rib at good speed.
You have to throttle back to do even the simplest things like change channel.

Just some points from my experience.
I do make it part of my job to test all the competition both on the bench and in the field.
Find it easy to be objective that way

Hope that helps

Best regards

[Andy Gee]

Originally posted by Rannsachair
My Navico Axis RT1400 VHF has packed in.. so I have started to look for a replacement.
Any advice appreciated.

My Navico did exactly the same last week scarey, however it did let me buy an Icom 601 that I allways wanted adn after having Icoms for over 10 years I find them hard to beat. The 601 is quite a sexy looking radio adn with it being a all in one unit I just had to open out the hole for the Navico a bit.
Go for an Icom, either the 601 or one of the units that you can connect a DSC unit to at a later date.
Andy

PS I have a DSC controller for the Navico for sale. It has never been programed adn it basically a plug and play installation. Any offers??

[Rannsachair]

Thanks all.

I think I will give the Navman a try.

The Icom is tempting, but I dont think I can quite justify the price relative to the other options.