Thursday, January 08, 2009

Radio,radio...


I've been going over a list of things that continue to earn their keep here on "So It Goes" and one product that comes to the front of the list is our elderly handheld Uniden Atlantis 250 VHF radio which as I recall cost all of $89 ( it might have been on sale) and despite being used every single day it has always worked, picked up and broadcast signals further than any hand held could be expected to while amazingly frugal on the energy front and still going stong on its rechargeable battery. As it happens Amazon still has the Atlantis 250 for sale at right around $90!

In short AWESOME...and considering the much more expensive ICOM hand held we had before never held a charge long enough for us to even know how well it broadcast or received and as ICOM or their dealers had no interest whatever in honoring their warranty makes one think about why anyone goes for the high priced stuff as time and time again I notice the more you pay the worse the customer service is.

Of course our handheld is getting on in years and we are very close to buying another to use as a back up and having such good luck with the Uniden we will most likely wind up with another. Meanwhile Scott over at Scott's Boat Blog has been trying to drown VHF radios including the neat Uniden MHS550 in a test of the new crop of VHF's and as usual doing a great job in the process...Good stuff and a must read for anyone looking to purchase a new VHF!