Cobra MR HH600WFLTBTGPS Handheld Floating VHF Radio 6 Watt, GPS, Bluetooth, Submersible, Noise Cancelling Mic, Backlit LCD Display, MemoryScan, White

Volume could be little louder or hook up Bluetooth speaker

If you boat off shore or in major intercostal waterways a VHF radio is must have safety equipment. This handheld VHF radio is ideal for recreational boaters and as a backup radio for large commercial vessels. When the electrical power goes out on your boat, most mounted and hardwired radios become unusable. This handheld is the answer.Must Have and Does Have:- Has both modes that boaters need: VHF and Weather.- Has built in GPS receiver.- Has Digital Selective Calling (DSC) with a Distress Button.Let me expound on the Distress Button a little. Once set up, all a boater or passenger has to do is press and hold the Distress Button to send a distress call out to the maximum range of the radio in all directions. The built-in Distress Button automatically and digitally will transmit: the boat’s Name, boat’s Registration Number, boat’s Description, and most importantly the boat’s GPS coordinates/location to all ships, boats and stations equipped with DSC including the Coast Guard. What that means is that Anyone aboard the boat can send this life saving information without having to speak into the radio or without having any radio knowledge or experience.The boat captain only needs to ensure that the radio is preprogramed (thoroughly explained in the included instructions) and that everyone aboard is briefed on how and when to “Press The Little Red Emergency Button.” This Distress Button gives my “non-radio people” friends and family the ability to save all of our lives in an emergency without my help. This feature alone is worth the price of admission for me.Nice to Have:- Bluetooth connection to your cell phone. I easily linked my iPhone to my HH600W and it works. I put my iPhone in a water proof box a couple of feet away from my HH600W and I received a test phone call just fine. It does not do text messages.- Floats, High Visibility colors, and Water Resistant. NOTE: the manual is very clear about two things. One- it only floats with the Lithium Ion battery pack (included). It does not float with the five AA Alkaline battery adapter (included). Alkaline batteries are heavier. Two- it is only waterproof to the advertised depth IF IT IS SEALED PROPERLY. That means you must secure the battery compartment, antenna connection, and optional microphone connector port correctly or water will get in and ruin the radio.- Rewind Say Again. Might be useful in some situations. I can take or leave this feature.Summary: This radio is a safety device on my boat. I’ve tested every advertised feature and they all worked. It has the main modes boaters need at an affordable price. Set-up is menu driven and easy - I recommend that you take the time to read the manual. You will get more out of the radio if you do. Spend the 10 minutes online that it takes to register your boat/radio for the required Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number. You can get your MMSI for free on: BoatUS, SeaTow, or United States Power Squadrons. IMPORTANT Safety Tip: A MMSI is Required for the Distress Button feature to work on this radio.I gave this radio a five-star review even though it is not a perfect solution for all users. It has been my experience that some folks have unrealistic expectations when it comes to electronic equipment. This radio will serve most boaters very well.

I noticed some reviews complaining about the lanyard attachment - I agree, poor design. I solved it by drilling a very small hole in the boss that receives the belt clip and looping the lanyard through the hole. This has likely saved the radio about twice since I bought it in 2018-Jun.As far as the battery is concerned, I've used the radio a lot since buying it and I get a good 10-15 hrs of use from the original 5-year old battery depending on how much I transmit. I've never used the AA battery tray/pack, but I do keep it around in case it's needed.The only real complaint I have is that the volume doesn't go high enough to be heard over a loud environment.I managed to break the lower battery screw (it got corroded in place and the head broke off). Still, the radio has gone underwater with one screw and lives on to transmit.Pretty good longevity and quality considering all else. I will be buying another one soon and relegating my existing one to back duty.

I've had this unit for over a year now and use it a lot. I love that you can program in a MMSI since I do a lot of small boating off the coast. The blue tooth capability is a bit cumbersome but I don't that feature so not a big deal for me. You can enter waypoints, but it's time consuming and requires a lot of button pushing. Since it has BT, it's be nice if there was an app or PC interface allowing one to enter waypoints in that and downloading to the radio. And vice versa, if you mark a waypoint while out on the water, you could upload it to the app to easily maintain them. Having waypoints is nice when I'm fishing on my small boat or kayak where I don't have nav computer. But on my 36' Sea Ray, it's much easier to do waypoints on the nav console. But WHAT I REALLY LOVE about the unit is its' toughness, floatability, and waterproof features. The other day I was fishing off a jetty and, as luck would have it, I dropped the radio into a narrow crevice that was about 5' deep. It was low tide and this crevice fills up on high tide. No matter what I tried, I couldn't retrieve it. A day later I went back out with a pair of 3' trash grappers and crossed my fingers that the radio would still be there. There it was! It survived being smacked around through 2 high tides in a bunch of rocks with just a few dings (the screen got a couple of dings too but did not crack), the battery took a charge like normal, and there was no sign of water intrusion into the battery pack. It's not often these days when a product actually works, and is as tough, as advertised! Well worth the money!

I use for kayaking in groups to communicate with others and for safety.My radio didn't work from day one. Radio messages were garbled. Nobody could hear or understand my communications even in close range. Clock didn't work. GPS feature didn't work. Obviously, I received a defective radio. Fortunately, Amazon returns are convenient. Be sure to test yours before you need to use it.That said, I thought the features on the device are a bit overwhelming and it made the radio cluttered and complicated with unneeded features, buttons, and screen changes. This makes the radio very difficult to use while wearing gloves.I spent over an hour going over the manual and entering data, learning how to use the device, registering the device, etc.Note that there is no way to put a tether on the radio itself. You can only tether to the belt clip which is detachable and is not really secure to the radio. The belt clip also makes the unit more bulky.All in all, I would say this radio is a "meh": Unreliable. Complicated to use. Complicated to learn. No tether = easy to lose.

The media could not be loaded. Nice little radio with additional back plate to insert AA batteries

Top of the line. Very good investment.