Standard Horizon HX850S, VHF/GPS is here
I’ve been looking forward to the two VHF/GPS/DSC handhelds I heard about last Fall, but was a bit surprised to find this Standard Horizon HX850S in a magazine and also available for preorders at Landfall (Standard is great at making radios, but press releases …not so much). The 850S looks very capable if maybe a bit clunky. The built-in 12 channel GPS is not only used for a full set of DSC functions but is also output, along with DSC messages, via a NMEA 0183 cable from the radio’s cradle.
The unit also both floats and can 
transmit at 6 watts, two features that I think contribute to the popularity of Icom’s floating M34 and power packed M72 (also a pro favorite). I’ve been told that power management was one bugaboo of combo GPS/VHF, but Standard claims 9 hours out of a 1,150 mAh li-ion battery (by comparison, Icom claims 9 hours from the M34’s 980 mAh li-ion and 15–16 hours from the M72’s monster 2,000 mAh li-Ion, both without GPS). The HX850S also claims 700mW of audio power, versus the M72’s 600mW, and the M72 sounds good. At any rate, I’m keen to see and test the HX850S, and the coming Lowrance combo, as I think handheld VHF/DSC could be a real life saver. These radios might also work great with the Sea Smart ship-to-shore and tracking service (which hasn’t rolled out as fast as planned, but is rolling out). In fact, one of these VHF/GPS combos might make this year’s most innovative marine electronics lists.
PS There’s also an HX750S which has a temp sensor instead of a GPS, and both radios have nifty (below) onscreen volume and squelch indicators, but note that neither is yet FCC approved. (My press release crack got me more information ;-)
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at January 8, 2008 11:28 PM
Sounds interesting, but for distress, I still would rather go with the personal 406 EPRIB for $500, about twice the price of the SH radio. (I like SH radios, and own 4 of them) You can then still pick up a good water proof hand held VHF for another $170K (Icom 34M).
If you pull the SH 850S out of its cradle you loose the NMEA 0183 output--so what would you use it for? (Consider that even the smallest boats seem of have a chart plotter with output today).
I guess that the dinghy would be the best use for this radio--but again, the EPRIB, plus a vhf radio are a good combination.