ExGMan Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 A West Marine flyer showed up in my mailbox today, and shows an ICOM M88, equipped with a 1700mAh Li-Ion battery on sale for $249.99, after a $50 mail-in rebate. Since this seems to be the most popular VHF these days, I thought I'd post this. Perhaps it's cheaper online, but the best I saw in a quick search was about $258.FULL DISCLOSURE: I have absolutely no financial, familial or sympathetic interest in West Marine, or ICOM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcoons Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 I sure am not a equipment guru, but after reading about radio's here a few years ago I got the M88 and have not had any troubles so far. It certainly has not been as wet as those radios carried by paddlers who spend half of their time rolling and in the surf, but it has served me very well.AlAl CoonsEddyline NighthawkRed/White Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyork Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 If you can find a cheaper price online, it's likely that WM and most other retailers will match the cheaper price. Being frugal (now in vogue!), that's how I usually shop for major purchases. They will likely ask you for the other retailer's Web address, and immediately surf to verify the sale price. Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin B (RPS Coach) Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Definitely true, but at least WM (not sure of the others) will add any shipping charges that you would incur if you bought from the online source, so take that into account when you look for the lowest price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suz Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 West Marine will match advertised prices. For the web ones, you need to print out the advert - they will take into account shipping costs so if they are free, print that too. I bought my M88 at WM and bought the additional warranty insurance for it. Had problems w/ it immediately and they swapped the unit for a new one within the 10 day period. Then this spring, it wasn't working again and so they took it back for me and sent it in to Icom. Turned out that there were no problems with the unit but in fact the charger was bad. Probably that was the same problem with the first unit. WM goes out of their way to help and instead of making me go through Icom on the charger, they just swapped my old charger for a new one and hopefully no more problems. You don't get that kind of service from an online store. Suz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suz Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 Ben's post about his Epic paddle reminded me that I needed to give praise to West Marine yet again. See my prior post about my M88 - replaced twice and then after Icom reviewed it, they determined that it was my charger. West Marine was kind enough to give me the charger off their floor model when my M88 was returned to me. Over this past summer, I used the returned radio infrequently. Checked it for weather updates and never had call to use it. 2 weeks ago I was paddling and had reason to announce a securite call and the D*** thing kept shutting off on me. On the Monday, I went back to the West Marine and the manager who was familiar with my saga replaced my unit on the spot with a brand new Icom M88 and my warranty begins again...All I can say is that West Marine really stands by the products they sell. I will never buy electronics anywhere else.Suz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djlewis Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 > All I can say is that West Marine really stands by the products they > sell. I will never buy electronics anywhere else.Sorry to sound like a wet blanket, but we do pay for West Marine's very liberal return policies. We pay in everyday high prices, sometimes significantly higher than elsewhere.When West Marine bought out BoatUS a couple of years ago, I got a glimpse of how expensive WM is. I used to buy more from BoatUS, not only because they were cheaper, but because they had a store near me in Waltham (since closed by WM, BTW). Anyway, as BoatUS was merging its catalog with WM's, I noted that several items I wanted were actually on the order of 10-100% more expensive at WM -- yes, up to double. The guys at BoatUS kept giving me their own much more reasonable prices instead, but warned me that they wouldn't be able to for long.Maybe the right strategy is to buy the expensive electronics from WM, especially after researching the low price. Then buy other stuff from another marine store. Trouble is, I believe WM has by far the majority of marine stores in the area -- and they've bought out at least one competitor. That is, of course, one reason they can maintain their high prices. --David. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djlewis Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 Froogle it, sorted by price. That should yield the lowest or close, but don't forget to add shipping costs before picking the one to show to WM.Or, just check Defender.com, which is usually pretty close to the lowest and, if I recall correctly, reasonable on shipping.The beauty of the Froogle strategy is that the lowest price is often from a retailer you would prefer not to deal with (which does not apply to Defender, a good outfit).--David. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shewhorn Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 defender.com had the M88 for $259 with the $50 rebate. It would have ended up being about $215 after shipping. Anyhow... I looked at both the M88 and the M72. I ended up buying the M72. It fits in the hand better, is JIC8 rated and is waterproof to 1.5 meters (vs. 1 meter for the M88) which is a not a huge difference but could prove to be significant in resisting pressure (big wave, etc.). The M72's high power mode is 6 watts vs. 5 watts (not a huge difference in actual range... maybe 6 miles vs. 5). The M72 is not shock rated like the M88 so that may be a consideration. The M88 can be programmed by the manufacturer to operate on other frequencies but you'd need a license. This might be something of interest to you if you're a Ham Radio operator. I have no use for that feature. I paid $185 at West Marine (they matched Defender's price).Cheers, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nystrom Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 ...not only has good prices and inexpensive shipping, but since they're in CT, delivery is typically next day, 2 days at most to MA and NH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nystrom Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 While the actual specs for JIS-8 can vary somewhat, the main difference is that it's a rating for continuous immersion, where JIS-7 is for 30 minutes. That doesn't mean that a JIS-7 radio can't exceed that spec (I suspect that the M88 will), but there's no guarantee that it will. As we've seen with some Standard Horizon models, some radios appear to be designed to barely meet the spec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishHawk Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 I own the M2A Icom radio which I dropped in a parking lot and got a few small dings but the radio is still ok. Built like a tank. Icom was recommended to me by West Marine which also sells Standard Horizon radios so they have no axe to grind. FishHawk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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