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Wanting to purchase handheld marine radio as back-up. Any experience would be appreciated.
I'm looking toward the new ICOM M-72. It has the highest waterproof rating and has a Li-on battery rather than a Ni-cad. Been told the Ni-cads don't hold a charge well when not in use. The Li-ons do.
Any feedback on experience with brands and model numbers would be appreciated.
I always look for a handheld that takes a charge and regular batteries. That way you can keep a fresh pack of AAA or AA batteries on hand just in case. But comparing Li-On to Ni-Cad I would go Li-on in a heart beat.
Ni-Cad are old technology and are generally crap. Li-Ion is much better, but I too like the idea of having the ability to put in simple AA or AAA batteries.
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Li ion: No memory effect, little (relative term here) self-discharge, expensive. single cell = 3V, I think. Typically not available in standard battery packages (i.e. AA, C, D, etc.) Often custom shaped: square, flat, etc.
NiCad: Cheap, memory effect (loses capacity if not fully discharged before recharging), fairly high self-discharge. Single cell is about 1.2V Available in std pkgs
NiMH: cost between the other two, fairly high self disharge rate, no memory. Cell voltage= 1.2V Available in std pkgs
jky
Any of the 3, in a standard package (say AA, for instance) will have about 3 times the capacity as an alkaline disposable battery.
i got the icom m 1v recently. li-ion batt. they are dropping in price. paid 139 at boat show. great little radio. at boat show icom had all their waterproof in a bucket of water........working
I just bought the icom M-72 and it is a great radio! I use it for backup and it even receives better than my installed boat radio (I have to get that checked out).
West Marine matches internet prices (shipping included), I think I paid $184.00 give or take a buck or two.
A handheld unit should be able to use standard store-bought batteries AA or AAA, whatever. I have a pda type handheld and they have no value as a carry with you handheld or makeshift marine unit. I have grown to hate internal and/or proprietary batteries, simply stupid!!
sorry guys thought you were talking about gps, but the same holds even more true for radios, a dead battery when you need the sucker is BAD news, the ability to throw some Duracells in and keep rolling could be priceless.
Yeah li-ion is great for cell phones but they aren't very versatile with regards to battery type.
this is a great site. i recently registered. and i just joined the captain's circle to help support the site and encourage all to do so. i have saved ten times the 30 bucks to join, already, in the information and wealth of experience provided by the generous members herein.
whichever way you go, make sure that you have normal alkaline batteries on board and that they will fit in the radio. I don't care if you buy LiON, NImH, NiCad's, the risk in all of them is that when you need to use that radio, the battery will be dead.
If a radio does not accept alkaline batteries, just discard it from the list if the intended use is during an emergency.
__________________ The views and/or opinions stated by the author in this post are only the views and opinions of the author
Li-on vs. Ni-cad batteries on handheld vhf 
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