>The icom m-15 is said by icom to be their best handheld..and is very >durable as far as I can tell...and submersion resistant. >Problem: No alkaline battery pack is available. The Icom M1-V, I think, is their top-of-the-line. Submersible to JIS-7 standard. It has a Lithium Ion battery pack rather than the NiCad pack most handhelds have. My LiIon pack came fully charged, no idea how long it might have been sitting on a distributor's shelf. I checked the weather forecasts daily for a month and used it on one day paddle before even thinking about a charge--and the battery indicator was only halfway down. You couldn't do this with NiCad's. They lose 1-2% of their charge _every_ day. The M1-V is just a little bigger than my Nokia 252 cell phone. (Not tiny like the new flip phones, but much smaller than the average handheld VHF) The Standard Horizon HX-460S has a similar LiIon pack. It is about the same width and thickness as the average VHF, but is about 1/2 the height. It has an aluminum chassis--very, very tough! It also has separate squelch and volume knobs, which are easier to operate with gloved hands than the Icom M1-V. Both of these radios fit very well in a normal sized PFD pocket. Both have very high reviews. It's like the Canon vs. Nikon debate--pick the one whose ergonomics and features fit you best. The battery life of these radios is so great that alkalines are all but unnecessary. The only drawback to not having an alkaline tray available is for a long expedition where it would be preferable to have several changes of alkalines along. For day or weeklong use, they're unbeatable. Shawn Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! http://auctions.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I would be sure and double-check with Icom, or any manufacturer for that matter. I purchased one of Icom's JIS-7 handhelds (I forget which as I am not at home right now but I think the original M1) and it failed. They fixed it, but then claimed that it was not waterproof even though all their advertising and literature stated, and still does I believe, otherwise. The radio now stays in a drybag but it is very annoying to learn this the hard way. Had I been on an extended trip when I discovered this I would have been quite angry. After getting any piece of gear that claims waterproofness, do the bathtub drop test at home and see if it holds up. -Patrick At Tuesday, 29 January 2002, Shawn Baker <shawnkayak_at_yahoo.com> wrote: >The Icom M1-V, I think, is their top-of-the-line. Submersible to JIS-7 >standard. [SNIP] *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> After getting any piece of gear that claims waterproofness, do the > bathtub drop test at home and see if it holds up. Waterprrofness sounds so nice, but all Iīve learned is - donīt trust it. Most things canīt swim, so I place all the important things in waterproof and floatable bags, so they swim. And if the bag will have a failure someday, I will notice it quite fast and got time enough to react, before water will do more heavily damage. OK, sounds impossible put all the stuff in bags. But itīs "only" the cell phone, VHF, camera, some flat unfocussed lamp, GPS and VHF-station (25W) (placed in Curver-Box), ah - and the both handhelds for the VHF Station I will put in Whanganui-small bags from AQ next time. Nothing more, sounds enough I think... :-) bye Jochen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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