VHF hand held Marine Radios ?

[jsharlin]

My Icom isn’t showing displays though it still works.
Looking at various radios in the budget friendly area ( 5 & 6 Watt )
Standard Horizon,Uniden, Cobra and I Com.
A factor when buying is the warranty. 
Does anybody have positive / negative experiences with different brands ?
As sea kayakers we always have them but we don’t often use them. In case of an emergency or issue
we need them to work.

[jon_zwarg]

My Icom isn’t showing displays though it still works.
Looking at various radios in the budget friendly area ( 5 & 6 Watt )
Standard Horizon,Uniden, Cobra and I Com.
A factor when buying is the warranty. 
Does anybody have positive / negative experiences with different brands ?
As sea kayakers we always have them but we don’t often use them. In case of an emergency or issue
we need them to work.

I've paddled with a Standard Horizon HX210 (6W) for the last five years and been happy with it.

https://standardhorizon.com/product-deta...held%20VHF

This model floats, is compact enough to fit in a PFD pocket, and has been reliable through multiple salt water immersions.

JZ

[jsharlin]

My Icom isn’t showing displays though it still works.
Looking at various radios in the budget friendly area ( 5 & 6 Watt )
Standard Horizon,Uniden, Cobra and I Com.
A factor when buying is the warranty. 
Does anybody have positive / negative experiences with different brands ?
As sea kayakers we always have them but we don’t often use them. In case of an emergency or issue
we need them to work.

I've paddled with a Standard Horizon HX210 (6W) for the last five years and been happy with it.

https://standardhorizon.com/product-deta...held%20VHF

This model floats, is compact enough to fit in a PFD pocket, and has been reliable through multiple salt water immersions.

JZ

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Thanks Jon. I figured out what kills my radios. They don't like body pressure on it. Every time I do back deck re-entry on stomach to re-enter the cockpit they break . Seems like the body weight against them throws it off. My old one was working fine until I laid out on my dock after getting out of my kayak. Perhaps keeping the radio higher up on the PFD so as not to get squeezed during rescue practice is also something that I need to look into.
I will check out the Standard Horizon. I had one of those a few radios back in time.