Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the 504 and 505 vhf radios?
It looks like 505 is sold outside the U.S. and 504 within the U.S.
A quick examination of the Icom spec sheets reveals no apparent differences and both radios can be operated in International channel mode.
Quite a price difference, best price I can find for a 505 in Australia is $648 (approx $570 us) while the 504 can be purchased for about $410 US including freight.
Correction, 504 from Defender approx $370 US including fright
The M505 can also be bought with integrated AIS. I'm sure that required changes to the M504 hence the M505. I don't see an add-on module to add AIS to the M505. Only an integrated M505 W\ AIS.
http://www.icomuk.co.uk/categoryRender.asp?categoryID=3780
I guess the M505 w/ AIS will come out in the US eventually. I searched for a bit and didn't find any FCC filings for the M505. But I didn't try that hard.
-p
-p
The 505 is a Euro - ROW spec radio and the 504 is a USA specced radar.
Use of the 504 in the UK specifically would be deemed illegal unless fitted to a USA registered vessel.
I know australia has some strict VHF laws as well there could also be issues with some channels.
This has been happening for ages USA had the 502 UK / ROW had the 503 etc
Intelligent european people have for years purchased ICOM models from USA and saved themselves from being ripped off by so called euro models. The CE cert is not worth double the money. They all have international channels so they work perfectly in UK, Ireland and Euland. The only minor effective difference is UK models have the two marina channels programmed in which nobody uses anyway. Friendly dealers can programme these in anyway to US sourced models. The "legal technicallity" is used by local distributors to bash the heads of the meek into being ripped of by UK prices for what is in effect the same product despite a few really minor firmware changes. The AIS feature was an optional "extra" on the 505 and 603