I've used this radio on a weekly basis for nearly 2 years now, and have meant to leave a review of this unit a long time ago.

I bought this radio after reading a review in one of the sailing magazines. I've owned several Garmin GPS units (I have reviewed those) and was impressed with the quality of them and this radio is very well built.

Everything that is important in the actual operation of a marine handheld radio works flawlessly:

* Speaker is clear and loud, buttons are positive feeling and are also illuminated for nightime use. The microphone transmits voice very clearly.

* The LCD display is large and displays pertinent info intelligently.

* Switching from 1 watt to the maximum of 5 watts of transmission power is done with a single button below the PTT button.

* The keypad can be easily locked so that the channel/volume settings can be protected while in a coat pocket or from bumps.

* The included belt clip is functional and also has a loop to install a lanyard (lanyard not included).

* It is quite compact in size and weighs a little less than comparable NiCad/NiMH powered units. (The newer Li-Ion battery powered units are a bit smaller/lighter)

* The range of both transmission and receiving of signals is at least as good, if not better, than any handheld I'm aware of.

Now for the chink in the armor: the battery/charging system. This unit comes with a Nicad battery pack and a cradle that can be charged via either the AC adaptor or the included 12V cigarette lighter cord. It also comes with a spare battery holder that can use 6 conventional AA cells that can quickly be inserted should your Nicad pack become depleted. The problem is that, #1, there is no charging indicator light when using the AC adaptor (although the 12V adaptor cord does have a charging indicator), so there really is no convenient way to confirm that indeed recharging is in process, and #2, the charger is NOT intelligent. In other words, you MUST be sure you don't leave the battery pack in the charging cradle for more than 16 hours (according to the manual) otherwise overcharging WILL occur and subsequent damage to the Nicad battery pack which results in severely shortened service life. As you can see, this is really inconvenient and in my opinion is a major drawback to this otherwise excellent radio package.

Bottom line: Garmin, shame on you for not including an over-charging protection circuit! Because of this I would have to recommend not buying this unit.

Recommended: No