july 2012
7
practical sailor
T
he high-end, fixed-mount marine
VHF radios that
Practical Sailor
recently tested go way beyond the
basic capabilities offered by many of
the moderately priced VHF units in
our June 2012 review. Standard fea-
tures for this group include integral
high-wattage hailers, multiple remote
microphone connections, and the ca-
pability to store more Maritime Mo-
bile Service Identity (MMSI) numbers
and inbound Digital Selective Calling
(DSC) data. Bonus capabilities in these
top-of-the-line radios include the abil-
ity to act as part of an intercom system,
to display vast amounts of navigation
data, and to produce automated fog
signals at the touch of a button. (See
"Features 411" for a glossary of features
and functions.)
Taking advantage of all the features
found in these top-of-the-line units
often requires purchasing additional
equipment—navigation data must be
supplied by a compatible, onboard
GPS/chartplotter; external horns must
be installed to use hailer and foghorn
options; and so on. The radio itself ends
up being the base for building a com-
munications system, and buyers could
spend hundreds more to fully capitalize
on the capabilities of one of these multi-
function marine VHF radios.
Sailors who rarely use the bells-and-
whistles may be better served with one
of the mid-priced radios we reviewed
in the June article, and bluewater cruis-
ers might want to consider buying two
budget-friendly VHFs (one to wire to
a mast-top antenna and the other to
a stern-rail antenna) to add redun-
dancy and a layer of security for about
the same price as one of the high-end
VHFs. However, if you’re in the market
for a primary VHF and have the budget
for the added features, you will be well
served with one of the seven following
high-end radios.
What We tested
During our last look at high-end VHFs
(
PS
, October 2009), the Standard Hori-
zon GX5500S took Best Choice honors
and the company’s GX5000S was named
Budget Buy. For our 2012 evaluation, we
tested seven fixed marine VHFs priced
above $300. Testers evaluated one radio
from industry leader Standard Horizon,
the Matrix AIS+ GX2150, and two (VHF
200 and VHF 300) from Garmin, a
worldwide provider of navigation, com-
munication, and information devices.
Icom, a global manufacturer of marine
and avionics communications products,
provided three units for our test: the IC-
M424, IC-M504A, and IC-M604A. We
also tested the Ray 218 from Raymarine,
a world leader in marine electronics for
recreational boating.
All of the units in our test group are
NMEA 0183 network compatible, and
the two Garmin radios are also NMEA
2000 compatible. Each of the test prod-
ucts also featured microphones with
various control options (from channel
changing to channel scanning); some
featured removable primary mics,
which can be handy when troubleshoot-
Testers put seven top-of-the-line VHFs through bench testing to determine which ones offer the most value for sailors.
Feature Loaded High-end VHFs
Fixed marine radios priced at $300-plus offer plenty of extras.
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