ICOM IC-M93D Marine VHF Handheld Radio with GPS & DSC, 5W

I just purchased a kayak and learned that having a VHF radio is a very good idea in order to optimize safety. Keep in mind that you must register for an MMSI Number in order to use this radio. It is easy to get that number from BoatUS.com. They do charge $25 for though. Given that I'm only learning how to use this radio it is hard to comment. But so far it seems to work great and have really great build quality. I'm looking forward to learning more and getting into some of the advanced features. This is one of the few radios that has built-in GPS and the DSC feature in a portable, waterproof, format. Basically it's between this one and the standard horizon. Given that this one is smaller and it was recommended by a knowledgeable neighbor I chose it over the standard horizon. You can learn a lot about marine VHF radio's on the Coast Guard website as well as the NOAA website. YouTube has great educational resources too.

Nice radio, a few significant issues: the soft buttons require many clicks (left-right) to associate the soft button with the function you are looking for. The first group of 3 buttons: DTRS | Other DSC | LOG. The MOB option is placed on the 4th group (after WX, SCAN etc), which is nonsensical since it is an emergency protocol. One will not have time to scroll through the radio screen, give 4-5 clicks, press for 1 sec to activate positioning. This means about 8-10sec with your eyes on the radio, losing sight of the man in the water, just to get a positioning point, by that time vessel is already too far (unless we are considering large water ocean pickup/ large vessel with limited maneuverability - but handhelds are not meant for those situations). In our cruising (night sailing) this feature might be very useful, since every second counts - this button should been on the first screen. Or make soft buttons adaptable, so you can move around as one sees fit.Being a one-piece flat button assembly, it's hard to distinguish between buttons. If you have full gear/ gloves on, you may accidentally press the button next to intended.Please make soft button order customizable. Thx!

I've only had this radio for a month, so take this review with a grain of salt, but this is by far the best portable marine VHF that I've used. I can confirm that it floats at least long enough to turn the boat around to go pick it up. I would encourage anyone looking for a handheld VHF to get one that floats if you plan to really use it. I love the tri watch feature, which allows you to monitor 3 channels at once, although when you receive a call it's impossible to know which channel it came in on if you're not looking at the display. Usually it's easy enough to guess right the first time, but not always. It's light enough that I can clip it to my boardshorts and run around the boat without really knowing it's there. I haven't measured battery life, but It'll last pretty much all day on one charge. I've yet to have any complaints about signal quality. If I can hear them, they can hear me. The menu system is fairly intuitive, you won't need to get out the manual every time you want to change something.ICOM, if you're listening, I wish the time displayed seconds as well. For sailing races where you need to record your own finish time it's nice to know the GPS time with seconds resolution.

This sleek modern radio is super functional, easy to use and built to last. I’ve had this radio for about a month now and it really performs well. The audio is crystal clear and it has great battery life too. I’m Canadian and I like that this radio supports both USA and CDN channels and that it can switch with a simple menu click. You should plan to use this radio with an MMSI or MI number because it will prompt you to enter it every time you turn this unit on. Just hit “clear” twice if you don’t have the number and the DSC features are disabled. Once you enter it you are good to go! I love this radio and you will too!

Awesome device, user friendly and very useful for my work as harbor pilot. Voice rx/tx loud and clear and while I was in the bridge wing I have a gos speed in a glance not necessary to shout the captain to ask for the ship’s speed. Easy to navigate using waypoints. Long battery life as the unit automatically screen save in a few seconds.

Never worked. Took me three attempts to charge the battery. It would only charge on the car charger. AC charger did not work at all. Once charged had a hard time programming my MMSI number as the battery died twice in the middle of the process. Used it one day after an overnight charge and it worked fine. Tried to recharge it and it would not take a charge. I finally gave up and put it away for a return. I never got to find out if the radio worked well.

Battery was dead and after charging for 24 hours will only last 30 minutes until it's completely dead.

I have not been a power user but it performs appropriately. Comfortable design and simple belt clip for easy handling and quick access.