Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Pros: Covers Marine VHF, GMRS and overlaps FRS. Comes with everything you could possibly need, especially Li-rechargeable, drop-in charger, AC and DC power cords, and AA battery case. Good controls, metal frame, swivel-off belt clip, easy to read display. Detachable antenna with SMA connector and wrist strap. The documentation is better tha most.
Cons: Squelch (uncoded) and coded squelches take 1 second to unlock. FRS frequencies 1-7 are fixed to GMRS power and frquencies 8-14 are not included.
This is a very complete product especially for the money. You will not have to buy any accessories except perhaps the remote mic. Especially impressive is the inclusion of an AA battery case in addition to the rechargeable battery pack. You get both AC and DC power cords.
There are several subtle things that are "right" about this product. The audio is much stronger than most handhelds. There are actual knobs, not pushbuttons, for squelch and volume controls that are easily manipulated. The controls are logically arranged. The drop-in charger has a plate that adapts it for charging the battery alone, without the radio. The RF squelch will open the tone or DCS squelches allowing accurate, single-control setting of the RF squelch threshold or opening up of the squelch for receiving weak signals. The backlight is orange and bright enough to read easily. The LCD display is easy to read from a normal viewing angle.
I have not had enough experience with the "say again" feature to determine its usefulness but it is well implemented. The audio quality is as good as the original transmission and you get 20 seconds of stored audio. Replay is counted down on the display and you can cancel playback by merely tapping the PTT.
Weather reception has several interesting alerting features including WX alert and SAME monitoring. I did not test these as of this writing, but the WX reception is excellent.
The only negatives I could find about this radio involved the squelch and the lack of FRS power levels and FRS frquencies 8-14.
The squelch open or unlock times were annoyingly long. Uncoded squelch open time on VHF marine or GMRS bands was the better part of a second. This may not seem like much until you consider the fact that most people start speaking just a fraction of a second before they key the mic. With this radio it will lead to the guaranteed loss of up to the first two seconds of audio. For those with a long "uhhhhh" before their real message, that will work. But for most others, it will result in a lot of missed calls. The unlock time for coded squelch (tone or DCS) is almost exactly one second, making performance here slightly worse.
Given the completeness of the product, the fact that a power setting for FRS compatibility and frequencies 8-14 are missing is puzzling. Still, I believe in actual use this limitation is more than easily overcome.
After testing it looks like I'm going to be getting a few more of these. You really can't beat them especially for the price.
UPDATE: With over a year of use on many of these units I can report they are still all working well. Most notably the battery HOLDS its charge seemingly forever. We know this is NOT true but I have yet to see a case of a self-discharge over even a few months of sitting on a shelf, sometimes in heat or cold extremes. Most radio batteries are notoriously bad this way, but to my great surprise, the batteries that came with the batch I got are all still performing quite beyond expectations. Good batteries seem to be a rarity these days!
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Cobra MR HH425LI VP 15-Channel VHF/GMRS Two-Way Marine RadioThe Cobra MR HH425LI VP Marine Professional Series VHF/GMRS Radio keeps you in touch with what is going on around you, in virtually any environment. This rugged radio is a boatman's best friend, with plenty of range, features, and power to make sure that you stay aware of the weather you need to know about, and in touch with the people you need to talk to at the same time.
The MR-HH425LI-VP Marine radio utilizes the VHF band for clear operation on any of the three channel maps established in US, Canadian and International channels, with an adjustable one-, three- or five-watt output for short- and long-range communication. This unit also provides instant access to all 10 NOAA weather channels for 24-hour coverage of hazard and weather information, and includes alerts with an audible tone and visual alarm to notify you if threatening weather is nearby, as well as S.A.M.E. (Specific Area Message Encoding) to filter out non-local warnings. As an added safety feature, the MR-HH425LI-VP provides instant access to channels 16 and 9 for emergency situations, and has a Tri-Watch function that monitors three channels at once, those being channel 16 and two user-selected channels.
In addition to its regular VHF channels, the Cobra MR-HH425LI-VP lets you switch, at the touch of a single button, to its GMRS channels with ultra-clear UHF/FM reception, and 1815 combinations possible by combining the 15 channels with its 121 privacy codes. The GMRS also features a VOX function for voice-activated, hands-free radio transmission with five sensitivity levels, and advanced GMRS scanning that allows you to scan, in addition to regular channels, CTCSS privacy codes within a channel, DCS codes within a channel, or up to 10 memory locations in order to locate conversations.
This Cobra radio features illuminated function keys, and an illuminated, large LCD display that allows high visibility at a glance even at night. This unit also features an external microphone/speaker jack for hip or body-worn operation, a signal meter that shows the strength of the receiving and transmitting signal, a selectable key-tone beep that can be turned off for silent use, and a button/key lock that locks functions to eliminate accidental settings changes. Additionally the MR-HH425LI-VP allows the programming of unlimited channels for easy retrieval or scanning, and lets you scan either all channels, or just channels programmed in memory to find conversations in progress. This unit also comes with Cobra's exclusive Rewind-Say-Again function that lets you play back the last 20 seconds of audio to re-check what you heard, battery saver circuitry that switches on after 10 seconds with no transmissions, 10 selectable call tones to differentiate between incoming callers, a roger beep, and a patented VibrAlert that is ideal for both silent and noisy environments.
The MR-HH425LI-VP comes with a spring-loaded, swiveling belt clip that is removable and lets you secure your radio while on the go, as well as a wrist strap for easy carrying and use. This unit runs on a 1900mAh rechargeable, lithium-ion polymer battery that provides from 14 to 23.5 hours of stand-by time with no memory effect. What's more, this radio comes with a rapid-charge desktop charger that allows drop-in charging, with adapters for both home and vehicle use, and a battery tray that allows you to use six AA batteries to transmit in an emergency at full power. Constructed to be submersible for up to 30 minutes in up to one meter of water, the Cobra MR-HH425LI-VP Marine VHF Radio meets JIS7 standards, weighs only 8 ounces without its battery, measures 2.4 x 4.8 x 1.4 inches (W x H x D) without the antenna, and is backed by a manufacturer's three-year warranty.
What's in the Box The MR-HH425LI-VP MicroTalk radio, a 1900 mAh rechargeable battery, a battery tray, a rapid-charge desktop charger with: 12-volt vehicle adapter, AC adapter, and mounting hardware, a swiveling belt clip, a wrist strap, a user's guide and warranty information.
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