Icom IC-A210 VHF Airband Transceiver

I have only used this radio for a couple of flights but so far I am very pleased with it. I have an older King KY 197a Comm radio that has been in the radio shop for weeks. I don't like flying with only one comm unit and purchased this IC-A210 while I wait for 197a to be repaired. The 210 slid directly into to the vacant radio tray and easily locked into place. There are a lot of reviews here and in Aviation forums that caution about the fragile nature of the ribbon cable that connects the display to the radio. There was no need for me to disconnect this cable. I was able to hold the display with ribbon cable attached while securing the radio to the tray and then reattach the display.The 210 integrated with my Apollo audio panel w/o any modification. This was truly a plug and play swap. In short, I unboxed the radio, slid it into the tray the King came out of, unscrewed the two screws holding the display on, secured the radio to the tray using the integrated cam lock, reattached the faceplate and went flying. Total time to retrofit < 5 minutes. The regular memory, group memory and history memory are nice features. The ability to name frequencies is a nice touch too. I do find the display easy to read, though no easier than the King unit it replaced. I have experienced no negative issues with this radio and would certainly purchase it again if I had it all to do over again. In fact, I wish I had purchased it much sooner. I have no plans to put the King radio back in once it is repaired. It can become the spare should one of the other comm units fail.

Comes with all necessary installation hardware except any needed additional wiring and terminals. Has wiring diagram and installation was fairly simple. I did have a couple of questions and received prompt reply from Icom tech support.Radio works great. Intercom function also works well.

Face plate needs to be removed to install radio in tray. The ribbon cable is fragile and did not easily retract to replace face plate.

The A210 does all I want it to do and more. It has a small panel footprint and the install manual is very straight forward and easy to use. The bigger numbers are a lot easier for the older eyes to read. The Amazon price saved me almost $100. and the shipping was also quicker than I had expected. I give it a 9 out of 10. I would recommend it to any home built owner.

I'm very pleased with this comm radio. Relatively speaking it is a lot of bang for the buck. I'm just trying to figure out all the features. The navigation of the software is complex. Dual feature buttons require some memory.

Radio work fine for about two and half years. Display went bad . $550. to get it fixed.