Below is a list of VHF radios, and they have more in common than just the functionality. With exception of the last one, they are identical in every way except the logo and the startup screen.
- Zodiac Seacom 150
- Recent RS-38M
- 1852 VT-39M
- Retevis RM40
- MariQuip MRQ-HHFLT20D
- TX SEA6720
- Icom IC-M91D
The last one, the Icom, I would guess is the original one, and the rest are copies that have been white labeled; In other words, sold under different brand names.
I have collected some images of the various “brands” that you can see at the end of this post.
Summary
I would not recommend any of the 6 first on the list. They are fairly cheap and easy to use, but the quality is not exactly the best. I do not know about the IC-M91D, but since it has a different body, it might be of a better quality.
My Experience with Zodiac Seacom 150
My experience is with the one branded as Zodiac. It was a gift. Actually, I have some experience with four of them. Two of them had issues with the GPS and had to be replaced, while my own copy had issues with water. Even light rain could make it stop responding, and it had to be shaken to make it respond again. It just said “water detected”, and no matter what button I pressed it did not go away.
I had the Zodiac until I lost the antenna. I bought a new antenna (1/6th of the price of the radio itself), and then it stopped working all togheter. A repair would probably cost at least half of the price of a new one, so I started looking at something else.
Icom IC-M94D
After the Zodiac failed on me, I bought an Icom IC-M94D. It pride itself as the wolds first handheld VHF radio with AIS receiver. This is not important to me, but GPS and DSC is, and the other Icom models I found did not have either. In retrospect I should probably have done some more research online first.
IC-M94D is slightly bigger than the Zodiac, and thus also IC-M91D. I do not yet have any real experience with it, but I have noticed one thing that bugs me a little; dual watch.
When receiving on the selected channel, and having dual watch on, the sound is stuttering. This is likely because it is switching back and forth between the selected channel and channel 16. And it makes sense; but on the other hand, this was never an issue with the Zodiac.
Images
Below are pictures of the different branded radios.
