Hand held waterproof VHF radios. Ideas?
 

I want to get my dad a handheld VHF radio that he can clip onto his life vest when he's fishing. Sometimes he fishes alone quite a ways from shore off the Florida Keys . He's gotten caught in heavy weather a few times .

And thoughts from the Pelican braintrust?

I have no specific brands in mind go to a local West Marine or similar so you can see them in person. Does he have a VHF radio on his boat ? Good to have both as a boat mounted radio with an antenna will generally have much better range. But a handheld on his vest as a back up is a good plan.

I have a Standard Horizon, and an Icom. Both are excellent radios. One I keep in my ditch bag on the boat.

Icom or Standard Horizon. Get one with GPS built in so it can automatically send the message for help (DSC). Also if he is fishing alone consider an Autotether.

Mine floats. I keep it on me when fishing the ocean alone.

Also get him a personal locator beacon. More important than a vhf that only operates on line of sight. ACR makes good ones. They use satellite to transmit your location. A handheld vhf won't reach out very far when you're swimming at water level.

The mounted vhf should also either be connected to his GPS or have standalone. Boat starts sinking just hit the button. But even a boat mounted vhf won't do you much good if you're all alone 60 miles out. PLB will.

Here's what I have. There are other models as well. BOE Marine is the best place to buy these things. West Marine is generally MUCH more expensive.

Safety - EPIRBS - Liferafts - Personal Locator Beacons - BOE Marine

Thank you for the input all. I bought him a Standard Horizon HX870. It has GPS.

He has a good VHF unit mounted in the boat (along with a ton of other gear). I wanted something he could clip to his jacket.