important VHF features

[Southerly]

i never used one, even when i had one one but Santa's shopping for a VHF for mounting on the boat.

what features are important, reasonable amount to pay, specific suggestion if you have something in mind?

i notice they start out pretty cheap and go up to what i consider to be substantial amount of cash. i feel like anything is better than nothing, but have bought junk in past that i regretted. don't want to learn the hard way.

thanks for any help.

[Skip]

Give BOE a call - they have a lot of VHF's to choose from.
Waiting until after New Year might save you a few dollars.

VHF is a great safety item to have on a boat. IMHO - should be required.

A decent unit will run about $150.00 to $250.00 and very important to buy a quality antenna as well. Figure around $90.00 for that.

You can go as high as $700.00 for a VHF with all the bells / whistles.

FWIW: I prefer a very simple one - nothing fancy. Standard and Icom are both tough models.

I'd stay away from the ones with a mike that changes the channels - no need for that and easy to accidentally switch channel.

[hippie]

FWIW, I hang on channel 68 or 72. When I go to talk the thing is always on channel 16. Get a radio that will over ride 16. Nothing worse that talking to some one on a channel and then 16 blurts out what that person is saying.