Icom ic-m71 on test

[ZEBRA]

First Impressions
Firstly I would like to thank Icom for sending me the new ic-m71 hand held vhf radio
To test and review.
my first impressions of the radio are as follows I will add to this post after I have used it on the water and again in about 4/5 weeks when I give my final verdict on this radio I have used the Icom euro v as a comparison radio the euro v has served me well .
The m71 has a much better ergonomic shape than the euro-v which makes the m71 a nicer fit in the hand which in turn makes it a lot harder to drop while using or adjusting it while out in the kayak .the physical size of the m71 is smaller than the euro-v so its easier to fit it in to a pocket the Ariel on the m71 is a lot smaller than we have become used to so if fitting this new radio to your pfd the Ariel wont poke your eyes out every time you look around .



The m71 shown on the left (photo above) is 6watts which makes this the most powerful handheld radio available which make quite a difference when using it the coastguard will hear you from a approximately 1 mile further away than any of the 5 watt radios we have all become used to from my house with the m71 I can hear very clearly Liverpool coastguard which is about 25miles away from me although he can not hear me which is expected on a handheld .
I had both radios on but could not hear the coastguard on my euro-v so the extra watt showed its worth .
The display is very easy to read and shows clear Settings with a much nicer amber backlight than the euro-v’s green one.
the buttons on the unit are larger which is a real plus if you are wearing paddle gloves the m71 has many features inc very easy to set squelch which was a bit fiddly on the euro-v and a great feature for vibrating any water ingress in the speaker grill and a great volume test button for when the squelch is set. i found the very easy to navigate around .
The belt clip is also a much improved feature with a much longer tong and a very positive spring grip which would make attaching the m71 to anything much safer less chance of it falling off.



m71 shown on the left (photo above)
the design of the battery locking mechanism is vastly superior to the euro-v and all the other handhelds I have seen and I have seen many .the battery connection to the radio is now housed at the top side of the unit the battery fits in to a grove and locks very positively then there is a small additional locking arm which makes the whole thing very secure and makes the seal around the connection pins watertight.


the charging unit has also been re-designed and is much better .when the radio is inserted there is almost a click when it is in position and the radio is held very positively you don’t have to juggle it around to get a good charging position .
So my first impressions on the m71 are it’s a very stylish easy to use powerful radio it’s a sure winner and so far it gets a big thumbs-up on my first impresions .
it will be good to try it on the water and i will add to this review when i have .
It is a shame a few of the other radio manufacturers that I phoned could not find the time to talk to me or call me back and maybe allow a review of their radio’s it would have been nice to have had a different manufacturer as a comparison .

[glow=red,2,300]This review is also on the main website north Wales kayak fishing[/glow]www.northwaleskayakfishing.co.uk/id31.html

[thedrifter]

i will order it tomorow great review made my mind up

[martinw]

Nice one, good report terry, so by the sounds of things first impressions are good, lets see how she fares on and in the water eh!!, i will have a good look on sunday.

Martin

[george]

Excellent report terry- nice to see that first impressions were good especially in view of the fact that you well aware of certain weaknesses with EURO V model.
Like martin says - its time for the road test now.
Will be good to see the final report in 6 weeks or so- so as give members a Yeh or a Nay on it.

This radio being at the higher end of the market which is fine - it may also be good if we could review a budget model in future.

From an Icom customer service point of view. Some will know i have had problems with my EuroV model. However, it was returned to Icom about a week ago and it came back today essentially fixed (on its main problem) no quetions asked , although it will still ocassionally disconnect and turn itself back-on again because the battery pack fixing design is flawed. This seems to have been solved in the new model.

[ZEBRA]

Following on to my first impressions report on the icom mc-71 vhf radio .
The unit has now been out on the water a few times and quite a few of the guys have had chance to try it out (thanks to icom for allowing us the opportunity) the radio preformed really well on all the tests we have tried on it the buttons are a real breeze to use and the functions took only a few minutes to get used to the difference in speech quality is amazing (maybe it’s the extra watt of power ) one of the first things that struck me was that the Ariel is much shorter than all the other handheld radios we have tried making it a lot better when being clipped to the pfd pockets or loops it does not get in the way at all.
the fastening clip is another very positive improvement the grip it offers is much superior to anything else we have tried making it easy to unclip but very difficult to accidentally unclip meaning less chance of accidentally dropping your radio over the side while fishing .
I tested the radio for distance with a friend he lives 9 miles from my home we could communicate without any problems at all using a euro-v and the m71 .yet on my euro-v and a silva he has we could not hear each other at all so the extra watt really came in to play .
Off the water after the each outing I found the m71 very easy to maintain just a quick dip in fresh water then by using the unique feature of the m71 I vibrated all the surplus water from inside the unit gave it a quick dry then re-charged it .
The charger is a big improvement from the previous models it has a very positive click when seating the radio in it and easy to understand led lay-out .
I know a few people who have bought the m71 after testing out the unit icom allowed us to test and they are all of the same opinion as myself this is the best handheld radio on the market by far .
The retail of the mc-71 radio is £209.00 it is not the cheapest unit about but it is well worth the money .
My advice is if you are in the market for a radio wait until you have saved enough to buy the m71 you will not get better .

[martinw]

As some of you may know my radio conked out on me at the last meet, although i have sent it away to be looked at i went to Victoria pier and got the new M71.

At first, i thought its to expensive and for what use i would get out of it, about once a month, i didn't think it was worth paying that much, however I'm a great believer that if you buy good quality kit and look after it, its going to last you years. Also after using the radio on some of the meets and getting a feel for it you can see that it is worth the money, and the best thing is that its really easy to use, the instruction manual isn't like the yellow pages ;D ;D

I'm no spotter ;D but after buying it i have it sat on my windowsill monitoring channel 16 and the clarity is brilliant, scares the living s$%t out of you when your sat there all quiet and someone comes on and transmits, like terry says it may be the extra watt that gives better sound quality.

satisfied customer ;D ;D

[rzaskar]

Im also a beliver in buy cheap buy twice so im saving the pennies to buy this radio ;D

[george]

Having had 3 seperate radios all so-called waterproof handhelds one costing less than £80.00 the other two around £150 or so. The cheaper one developed faults and failed after 7 months it is now back with the maker, the more expensive ones well its a mixed story- one of them also failed and then i have one that has so far been good and reliable. I dont want to mention brands because thats not the point i wanted to make. The point is that even though the top range radios are expensive and not always solidly reliable it is generally i think, a case of get what you pay for.
I was on a surf beach in pembrokeshire last week-just playing with the kids- there was a big surf running - i looked at it and thought if anyone of us was ever in a sea like this or even similar and came off the boat you would have to be one fit and very skilled individual to get back on your boat-thats if your boat was anywhere near you- it took all my energy just to stabilise my situation and swim a tiny distance against all this swirling water and conflicting currents. In my opinion most of us average folks would not make it back in the boat. Look at these pictures of little old me in the water in about 5' of water.I admit i wasn't wearing a pfd to aid my bouyancy.







Imagine i cant get back in my boat in this lot or are even parted from it- all my flares are still on the boat along with other things that could attract attention. The only things i have left is a mobile phone and radio. Try and make a mobile call in these conditions- i think you would be lucky to achieve that - thats if your phone survives even in an aquapak and you have a signal and you can see the screen in the sunlight and surf.There is no time for delay my body temperature is falling . Last stop is my radio - all i need to do is press one button for Ch16 and one button to talk to someone and make my mayday call. The only thing that matters at this stage is that the thing in my hand does the job i need it to do. Radios are not the same - transmission power, battery power and capacity , waterproofing and build quality and simplicity of use are vitally important and different on each handset. Not all radios can be relied upon in these conditions- if you cant afford the radio you really do want then wait until you get the money together- dont go for second best on this issue.
If you cant decide on a model- read reviews on this and other forums and ask members for their advice on the matter there is a lot of combined experience here.

[Kevin]

I am not trying to be clever in anyway but I have a lot of experience in the field of radio communication and I thought I would just mention that the wattage of the radio will only make a difference on transmit and not recieve. the difference in reception between two radio's is usually down to the quality of the antennae or the reciever quality itself.

[martinw]

Hi Kevin,
In no way do we think you'r trying to be clever, we value your comments, and if you have experience in the world of radios and the like, all the advice and know how will come in handy.

i must admit if it said this radio had 3 watts or 33 watts i wouldnt know what it meant ;D ;D, ive bought one and im still trying to figure it out!!

Martin