Standard Horizon vs Icom VHF

M

Mike...

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Hello to all.

Any thoughts on the Standard Horizon GX2000 vs the ICOM M604?

I am putting in a Garmin chartplotter, so I was thinking about going with their VHF, bit it is pricey, and I am really not fond of the "everything on the mic" approach. But, it does have a very interesting 90sec playback of the last received transmission.
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mike
 
Both Standard Horizon and Icom are excellent radios. But for the extra $135 dollars (or 50 gallons of fuel=5 hours of boating)--I would get the Standard Horizon AIS 2100, unless you are planing to put in an AIS transceiver. For the $130 you get a first class AIS receiver. You can always use the second mike if you want (will full controls, which makes sense if you have a second station).

Garmin makes great great GPS units, but Standard Horizon and Icom have very long track records in commercial grade VHF transceivers.
 
Some ICOM handsets are notorious for having the port for the microphone pickup located so the thumb covers it when holding the handset with the right hand. Many ICOM owners wonder why no one can receive their transmissions and think something is wrong with the radio. Under stress one could forget to hold the mike in an unnatural way so's the transmission can be heard by others. There is even a thread about this issue on the forum. I looked at images of the M604 handset and it did not look like my ICOM M422 with that design fault. You might want to verify the M604's design though.
 
What Dr Bob said. I would go with the the SH GX 2100. Good radio, fog/hailer capability, and has the AIS as well. Not sure where the 90 second playback came from. I thought that was only on the Cobra's.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Chester":2xfs4ss8 said:
Some ICOM handsets are notorious for having the port for the microphone pickup located so the thumb covers it when holding the handset with the right hand.
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Thanks for the heads-up on that!

At this point, I am seriously leaning toward the Standard.
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mike
 
hardee":3jstcvrh said:
Not sure where the 90 second playback came from. I thought that was only on the Cobra's.
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It came from Garmin's site. :) And the thing also allows recording a 15 second "voicemail" that will automatically play to an incoming DSC call. But I don't think I would find this feature useful.
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mike
 
hardee wrote:
Not sure where the 90 second playback came from. I thought that was only on the Cobra's.
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It came from Garmin's site. And the thing also allows recording a 15 second "voicemail" that will automatically play to an incoming DSC call. But I don't think I would find this feature useful.
Click to expand...
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mike
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Mike, Thanks, I will have to go back and look that over. It sounds like a good deal, but I think the AIS would, for me, be a higher priority.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
I have problems with the "Chenglish" in the Icom manuals. I have Icom VHF in the boat, and Icom 2 mtr hand and vehicle mounts, good radios but have trouble translating all of the manuals - this after living/working in China 6 yrs.
 
I put in a SH GX 2100 w/ AIS a couple of months ago and I really like it. The AIS is really easy, and the onboard screen is actually easier to use at-a-glance than trying to locate vessels on the chartplotter. The only drawback is the channel knob -- it is just above the volume/power knob, and as the radio is mounted overhead I am constantly turning the wrong knob. The channel knob has very little resistence, and though it ratchets between channels -- it is a bit too smooth for my taste. I spent half the day on SF Bay monitoring ch 17. Obviously, the lesson is just to take a look at the channel :roll:.
 
Dave, I hear you. I hate that.

Tortuga, it's a nit picky issue, but I really prefer volume controls with detents. Too bad the Standard radios don't have that.

I don't plan to get the AIS version of the radio because I plan to install an AIS transponder. Now if they had a radio that also was an AIS transponder, I would jump on that.
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mike
 
hardee":3pd51jzo said:
It sounds like a good deal, but I think the AIS would, for me, be a higher priority.
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I did initially consider it, because I imagine it integrates tightly with the Garmin Chartplotter I am leaning toward. But I really dislike everything on the handset. I would have to pick it up to check the status of the radio. I am also concerned about accidentally hitting something on the mic while using it -- especially when I am distracted with six-foot seas or something. :shock:
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mike
 
Larry H":20k4922t said:
Mike, I have a GX2100 and the handset only has channel up-down and a 16/9 button.

Are you talking about the optional RAM mic?
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Sorry, I wasn't clear. I was referring to the Garmin VHF.
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mike
 
Larry H or Tortuga, or anyone using the SH GX 2l00. Are you using that with Raymarine equipment on board? Somewhere on here there was a discussion mentioning the difficulty that the SH had in communicating with the Raymarine equipment, GPS I think was the culprit, and the NMEA packet or speeds or something.

Sow how is it working if you are using Raymarine C-series? And what if you did not want to have it output to the chart plotter?

Thanks for any discussion on those lines.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
I have the GX2100 but I don't have any Raymarine gear onboard.

It was Tim at Navagear that had a problem as his chartplotter only had one input.

The AIS standard requires a 38,400 baud transfer rate so the GX2100 has two outputs, one at 38,400 and one at 4800.
 
I'm using it with the SH 7" chartplotter. But, the display on the radio is actually far more functional to see at a glance the location and bearing of other vessels -- and it is easier on the VHF to scroll through the AIS info (boat ID, heading. speed). Overall I like it. I would be surprised if it didn't easily network with other systems since it just uses the NMEA standard -- but I suppose it depends on whether you have a chartplotter that can take the faster baud rate.
 
The more I look at that SH GX2l00, I am thinking that the display on the VHF might be adequate, and eliminate any more "clutter" on the chart plotter screen. I am still hoping to hear from somebody with a Raymarine C-series to see if it works OK with that. Would have been nice to have that this weekend.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
I have now gotten my GX2100 up and working. The radio displays AIS signals from up to 15 miles away, sends the AIS signal to the computer running Coastal Explorer which displays the targets along with their information.

It was somewhat complicated getting the wiring done to connect the GPS, two VHF radios, the computer and the autopilot, but it's a great feeling to see them all working.
 
It was somewhat complicated getting the wiring done to connect the GPS, two VHF radios, the computer and the autopilot, but it's a great feeling to see them all working.
_________________
Larry H
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Larry, What have you decided regarding the 2 radios and the "more than one MMSI number"? No DSC in one or turn off the alarm capability or ...?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
I have the same MMSI number programed into both radios. The DSC 'red button' feature won't work without the MMSI number.

If I have an emergency, I will concentrate on one radio and turn off the other. My new radio has a better antenna so it is number 1. But its possible for that radio to be disabled and then I would use Number 2.

If I receive a DSC emergency call, both radios will alarm. Then I push any button on both radios to silence the alarms. Not too difficult, and there will be NO sleeping thru a DSC emergency call!

I don't think you are supposed to have more than one MMSI number per boat. I have an FCC license and call sign which is issued to me and the boat, regardless of how many radios are in use.

I have contacted Standard Horizon and found out that the alarm and channel switching feature cannot be disabled. If the disabling feature is really wanted, then another brand of radio is required.
 
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