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Anyone using a Standard HX460S real small handheld radio,,Give me your feedback on its qulaity and reception,,i'm thinking about using one as a back up for my mounted vhf.
We have sold at least 100 of these to both commercial and private boaters, and have had no complaints. In fact the commercial boaters keep coming back for more. It's a real good rugged handheld and I'm sure you'll be satisfied with it's quality and performance.
nick...I almost bought the 460 as my backup, but having the ability to use regular AA's like the 260 or 350 outweighed the size advantage of the 460. In my situation, I boat about every other weekend and the boat is 150 miles away in dry stack...so keeping the radio battery charged with this deal was going to be a problem. If you have a routine that you can keep a check on th charge, it looks like a good radio.
I'll second Cliff's comments. The HX460S and it's larger cousin the venerable workhouse HX360S are both are twice the radio of any of the Icoms or any other brand handheld.
Whats wrong with a regular cigarette lighter charger for your handheld radio? I charge my Icom M1 handheld in the cigarette ligher to full charge in less than one hour. And as for how long the charge lasts, I can't even tell you, cause I've had the radio three seasons so far, and I have yet to be able to kill it. I'd guess it would last a month, left on, no kidding.
AA batteries should be illeagal. Get yourself a unit that uses Litium Ion rechargable batteries. They have amazing capacity and are lighter than any other batteries avaible, and have not memory problems, so charge away!!
Birdman....sorry, but I think you're just flat wrong here.
For those of us that keep an emergency radio in our ditch bag, AA's are a must. They do not lose any charge while sitting in the radio so they have a very long idle life...far longer than Li-ions....and there is no worry about "did I recharge it". I wouldn't allow a rechargeable anything in my ditch bag.
For those that want rechargeable batteries, which frankly, I don't understand because of the risk of being out on the water and losing power with an uncharged radio, Li-on batteries are much better than NiCads. However, my advice is to either always carry the AA pack and spare batteries...or throw away the rechargeable battery before it gets you into serious trouble.
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I have the same radio as Birdman..Icom IC-M1V. We both are equeally amazed at the capacity of this battery. I keep it in my ditch bag. When heading offshore, I can charge it (while in the ditch bag) by plugging in the cig lighter adapter which I installed next to the bag for this purpose. I use the radio as a backup to the 2 VHF's on the boat and to listen to the weather sometimes at home. Honestly I have NEVER turned the radio on and seen the battery indidcator at anything but 3 bars. If I listen to it for a while, it stays at 3 bars. The Li Ion battery is amazing is all I can say. If I was using it as my main radio on the boat, I would definately want one that took AA's since I would always be unsure as to its state of charge. I'm hoping to never have to use the handheld, but if I have to, hopefully I will be located with the GPS EPIRB long before the battery runs out.
The ICM-1V was 225.00 last year. I think its the best bargain in a handheld around now for 169 which is what I paid. If your that paranoid, get a backup Litium Ion battery. I don't have one as I see no use for it. Sometimes I wonder if the battery meter is broken as it never moves from full charge.
it's not paranoia....if you are disciplined and make sure that your radio battery is being charged..(no one has knocked against the plug and loosened it, the battery is still taking a full charge, ect), then you will be ok with li-on....but with the li-on you must keep it charged or it will die just by itself, even if you don't use the radio. AA's don't discharge this way...they don't self discharge.
I don't believe there is a single rechargeable EPIRB, and there's a reason for this....
Nothing rechargeable goes in my ditch bag...when I need it, I want to be sure it's working....
Everyone can make their own choice.
The views and/or opinions stated by the author in this post are the views and opinions of the author
Can't respond to Birdy any better than Think Tweiss already has, but I did want to add a comment...
Why not go with three-way power redundancy? My HX260S handheld has a rechargeable pack (NiCad, not li-ion, but for a backup it's good enough) and a cigarette lighter plug. And if I forget to charge it at the house or plug it in on the boat, I've got the AA battery backup. And all the the gear in my ditch bag uses AA's...handheld GPS, flashlight, etc. So if I ever find myself in the drink I've got a bunch of AA's in my ditch bag that can be used for a variety of devices.
Think Tweiss,
The arguments you make mean nothing. And for sevaral reasons. Heres why:
1. My Icom Lion battery radio will hold it's charge for 6 months, not being used or charged. After 6 months, it has aboyt 75% charge left. Which means about 1 or 2 weeks of constant usage. My offshore boating season does not even last 6 months. So if I charge my Icom radio, in March, put it in my ditch bag, and never touch it until November when I pull my boat. I will still have over a week of charge on the radio. Now, if I don't get rescued in Long Island water in less than a week, I'm dead about 4 times from hypothermia. I know it keeps that much of a charge, because last winter, I left the radio sealed on my boat, winterized from November to the end of April. Turned it on, and bam, it worked fine for a few days before re-launching my boat and then dropping it in the charger.
2. Paranoid about forgetting to charge your handheld? Ok, ever forget to bring extra AA batteries? Better yet, every open your wet/damp(from condensation) AA batteries that have been stored in a plastic baggy for 2 months going from 40 degree's up to 110 degrees every day? Yea, they are leaking arent they!! That's real good for the radio. Oh, don't forget the leaky batteries that are IN the radio, and rouining the contacts in the radio, so the extra set of AA's wont work either. Gee, how long have those AA's been sitting on the shelf at 7-11 anyway? Hope they work when I open them? There's just a few thing to think about....
3. I use my handheld almost every time I'm on my boat. I take it on the dingy sometimes, I use it so I don't have to have anything on my boat turned on when anchored for a while (weekending...). Sometimes when fishing to monitor a second VHF channel (main radio on ch. 78, handheld on ch 68....) instead of using the scanning feature. So the moral of this story is, I'm NEVER worried about it being charged, cause it always is charged. As I've mentioned beofore, in three years, I've yet to see it be drained, EVER. Again, I can't even tell you how long it lasts, cuase it has never gone out on me. And I've purposely tried to drain it by leaving it on for a week. Ever try that with 2 or 3 AA's? Yea, didn't think so because they won't even last the first night.
4. If your that paranoid, as above mentioned, get a second battery pack. Keep that one in the ditch bag charged.
5. I go offshore a couple times a year. So for me, the night before I leave, I always go down to the boat, load up the things I can the night before like safety equipment.., charge the handhel, test the GPIRB, make sure there is a few bottles of water in the ditch... I'd suggest for you to do the same. Do you test somehow those AA batteries that are in a baggie? I would.
So to sum up the thread, the moral of the story is, AA batteris should be outlawed and do nothing but cause problems generally. I've had all kind of things go dead using regular AA type batteries (flashlights, radios, VH's, toys, wireless phones, PDA's...), where I didn't have another AA to install, so I was screwed. BUT, I've NEVER had a rechargable item of any kind, go dead on me when I couldn't recharge it. You make the call!!
I'm in Florida and we boat all year round. The Li-on's will last far longer than nicads, but will lose charge faster than aa's. And I don't use the handheld radio at all...it stays in the ditch bag except for radio checks. we don't have the type of temperature swings you have....and my ditch bag is stored just inside the cabin door so it's out of sunlight and all that. AA alkiline's are marked these days with expiration dates...so you know when they expire.
I also go offshore (10 miles plus) at least once every two weeks...and always carry a cellphone as well. Cellphones work to about 12 miles out where I am. Not sure how far the handheld will carry...CG has pretty high antennas and I'm not at all shy about standing on my hardtop to get my signal just a little higher.
Finally, I've had to replace a number of rechargeable batteries that would no longer hold a charge...even though the device would work for a short while after the battery was charged...just no reserve capacity... that includes Li-on's which do have a cycle life.
I guess either solution works....depends on how religiously you recharge your rechargeables and check your AA's.
The views and/or opinions stated by the author in this post are the views and opinions of the author
i have the hx460SS, and wud recommend. use for backup and for weather alerts on the boat, and as my primary when canoing in the heart of darkness (everglades nat'l park).
works great (for a handheld), is waterproof, have dropped several times. but also occassionaly use it sted of fixed vhf, which makes my garmin 188c FF go blank when i broadcast (i'll fix that one day, maybe soon).
it has proprietary lith-ion pack, which can last about 4-5 days constantly on. AND i carry a backup set of AAs, which i vacuum sealed, in the converter thingy i had to buy.
while we're at it....I HATE ALL PROPRIETARY BATTERY PACKS. whether for digital nikon or hand-held vhf. they are ridicicuously expensive.
plz give me regular sized batteries i can buy myself at costco, with no need for any special holders.
landlubber....nice to know the 460 now has a battery tray (pretty sure it wasn't an option when I was looking at it a couple years ago)...anyway, nice size radio...
landlubber, then I'm glad I didn't buy the 460. Considering that the 460 is already $50-$75 more than the 260 or 350, then add the $30 for the battery tray...for a backup radio the small size isn't worth that much to me.
Handheld VHF Radio
