Suz Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Original purchase was 2003 and have had the replacement to the replacement finally bite the dust. I have had replaced both the Standard Horizon and the ICOM M88. Don't think that one brand is necessarily better than another. Whichever model I go with, I will buy at West Marine as their replacement guarantee is pretty good. If you buy the extended warranty, it will take you out to five years and surely within 5 years it will be replaced at least once. SO, the question is, any suggestions on VHF handhelds? Suz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Crouse Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Is the battery on your M88 still good? Perhaps you could sell it, at a nominal fee of course, to someone with an M88 that has a dead battery? Does this hint lack subtlety? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suz Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 Is the battery on your M88 still good? Perhaps you could sell it, at a nominal fee of course, to someone with an M88 that has a dead battery? Does this hint lack subtlety? Mike, Funny, you should ask that. One of the replacements was because the radio wouldn't charge anymore, they replaced the battery but then we determined it wasn't the battery nor the charger but something else that prevented it from charging. You give me an idea though - maybe I should try charging my battery inside Werner's M88 and then see if my radio would work. Let me try that out and I will report back in. If I find that it is the unit and the battery is OK then I will see about giving you the battery. Suz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pintail Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 <Does this hint lack subtlety?> Well...yes! (Mind you: you appear to have elicited the sort of answer for which you were hoping!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nystrom Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Suz, Charging the M88 battery has nothing to do with the radio. In fact, you can take the battery off the radio, drop it into the charger and it will charge fine on its own. I'm charging one that way as we speak. I'm not sure if all Icom models work that way, but my M1V does as well. One problem that can occur with the M88 batteries is that the charging contacts on the back can corrode, possibly even to the point that there's nothing left. All it takes is one of the four to corrode and the battery may not charge properly. If the contacts are clean and the battery still won't charge, it's damaged and probably beyond hope. However, Icom may replace it under warranty, as they did that for me with a battery that had badly corroded contacts. There is one other possibility, that being a bad charger, but if you have two radios you'll have another charger you can try. While we're on the subject of M88s, I'd just like to remind owners to periodically clean the battery contacts on the radio body and lube them and the O-ring on the connector with some silicone grease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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