( 10 reviews )
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Posted: Mar 24 2009
The unit works well (sensitivity, power) under different conditions on land and sea and the different battery and charging options come handy. The 4 starts are for the lack of promised lapel mike/speaker.
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Posted: Jan 29 2009
I purchased this radio for use on a bare boat charter in St Martin. Initial tests in the US showed limited range of 1-2 miles when communicating with Talkabout or Marine VHF radios in a suburban environment. The 425 worked well in the Caribbean allowing me contact with my boat and other crew members ashore. It survived being dunked in the salt water on several occasions when loading the dingy at remote islands, but audio quality degraded until the speaker dried. Sensitivity specs will show that this is not amoung the best in class for VHF and I believe the Talkabouts had less background noise. It's easy to forget that the light button is also the keyboard lock and a couple of crew members kept pressing the light button instead of the PTT. While this is not a perfect radio, it offers acceptable performance as a waterproof dual band radio and should be considered for trips where both bands need to be used or as a general purpose backup radio for a boater/hiker. It is quite a bit heavier than a Talkabout, so use while hiking depends upon trade-offs between battery life/weight and any need for its waterproof capabilities
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Posted: Nov 25 2008
This is a very useful radio for the few of us who are licensed for GMRS, and who also live near or work or play on the water. I like everything about it, except for one thing. It is not very stable standing upright on a table or desk unless it is in its charging cradle. It rocks fore and aft. One might be inclined to lay it down so it will not topple over. That would affect reception. The best price on the internet is here at Amazon.
