The 9 Best Handheld VHF radios For boat (2023 reviews)

The radio is a must have accessory for your daily usage. Uniden's marine radios protect you from what lies ahead, as well as getting you out of dicey waters, by informing you the moment a storm starts brewing and transmitting your location should you need help. It comes with triple watch features, dsc capabilities, a range of international marine channels and a weather alert—the um385 brings everything you’ll need on the water into one compact design. It includes a distress button, position send and request.

It comes with a bracket that can be screwed into the dash and the radio sits in the bracket. The unit does not require an antenna, and yes this is a Marine band radio. It offers a lot of extra safety.

Why We Like This:

Dsc (digital selective calling) - includes distress button, position send and request
Receives all weather channels and alerts
Good investment for long term

Best For Marine VHF Radio: Standard Horizon FM broadcast band

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If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable radio, standard horizon fm broadcast band is your end point. It can be used for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore to another vhf radio. It comes with a charging base. This gives the radio a much smaller case design yet light enough to float face up if dropped in the water. It is used to call coast guard, harbor master, swing bridge operator, etc. It comes with a belt clip that works well. It does have a plug for an external mic.

Why We Like This:

Meaning you have to carry charging plugs and the cradle to charge the unit
Good choice for a handheld radio
Water resistant, easy to use, good battery life
Exists and is recommended for casual communication

Best For deer woods: Cobra VHF Marine Radio

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The cobra vhf marine radio is suitable and reliable and fits well with your daily usage. This radio provides the ability to customize your conversations when there are days you spend on the water further from shore. It features 6 watts of power for longer range communications, full access to noaa weather channels and alarm tones for emergencies, jis7/ipx7 rated submersible, tri-watch, memory channels and burp. It can be charged with the 110V AC charge cradle that is included with the model. It uses three aaa batteries that are rechargeable. It is great for asking for nav help, weather info, or hailing the marina. The connection for the speaker/mic is a screw in connection. It is easy to use and battery life is very good.

Why We Like This:

Easy to use, holds a battery charge for a long time
Good for emergency and light use
One of the new comers and featured product

Best For kayak: Uniden Great little Radio

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Uniden has been making great radio for years, thanks to a combination of clever design and appropriate materials. For small-craft and casual boaters, this is all the VHF radio you need. It comes with its compact size so it’s never far away when you need to stay in touch the most. It features to keep its profile small. It comes with the largest LCD screen in its class 25mm (h) x 40mm (w), and paper white backlight display for day time, and red backlight display for night time, so it’s the radio you won’t leave shore without.

This is a marine band radio, and it will not receive cb ( trucker bands. It is light but has a quality feel. It is great and hard to power on off.

Why We Like This:

Good battery life and very sturdy little radio
Reception is clear & conversation is clear
Works very well on the lakes
Highly recommend for offshore sailing, surfing, etc

Best For hunting: Standard Great Radio

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The standard great radio's superior materials makes sure that it ages well with use. More makers need to be doing USB charging. It is used for a wide variety of purposes, including marine navigation and traffic control, summoning rescue services and communicating with harbours, locks, bridges and marinas. The quality of the radio is less than a heavy duty Standard. It's small, tough, totally submersible, and easy to use.

The HX210’s design provides a better seal with respect to water damage and the battery capacity is higher. It has all weather channels built in. It is really easy to set up and offers several options for scanning. It does require recharging frequently.

Why We Like This:

Excellent back up to the dash mounted vfh
Lift bottom of battery door up
Perfect alternative for a vhf radio

Best For Small boats: Standard Handheld VHF Radio For boat

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We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention standard handheld vhf radio for boat for daily purpose. It is a marine band VHF radio with FM broadcast capability. It comes with an ac adaptor for the charging cradle and a dc cable with a 12v cigarette lighter plug. It has a Marine channel and FM radio band. It is easy to use, has long battery life, has great reception and is long-range for a hand-held.

The HX210 has good volume control with separate up and down buttons. The built in light can be turned on manually or is water activated. It does require recharging frequently. It is used for marine band transmission.

Why We Like This:

Great, tough, heavy, well made hand held vhf
Great simple radio for general use
Good investment for long term

Best For Marine Use: Cobra Handheld VHF Radio For boat

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Surrounded by container gantry cranes, van carriers and very big ships, this radio works alltimes better than all other brands used by colleges. It allows AAC style batteries additionally works really well as a radio. It displays the number so you don't have to answer work on the water. It's a great radio with a blue tooth feature.

This is a high frequency VHF Marine radio designed for use with boats. It's bluetooth, you can listen to music and take calls on the vhf radio. It is perfect for kayak or boating. The battery says it has a full charge and the radio is working great. It is great to hear what is happening around you so the students can be prepared.

Why We Like This:

Light, easy to use, but reading the instructions are a must
Connects to phone great, can receive calls etc
Good investment for long term

Best For long Range communications: Standard Horizon Handheld VHF Radio For boat

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Not everyone likes to purchase radio for their regular usage, but the standard horizon handheld vhf radio for boat would be an anomoly. This radio has a lot of features in a compact design. It features include two scrambler systems built in, both a 4 code cvs2500a and a 32 code fvp. It allows you to filter out signals that are at the outer range of reception. If your boat sinks or you fall overboard this radio is capable of broadcasting your GPS location to others. It has better range when communicating with rescue aircraft.

It features smooth and easy and provides excellent ergonomics. The interface is clunky and slow to navigate, and the options for transferring data and waypoints to or from the radio are abysmal. If it is for any handheld, you are limited on your range.

Why We Like This:

Submersible ipx8 construction and it floats
700 mw loud audio and noise canceling function for both tx/rx audio
Great radio for fishing and boating

Best Water resistance: Icom Handheld VHF Radio For boat

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The icom handheld vhf radio for boat's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. You are in the right place, this unit has the typical VHF weather RECEIVE channels. It features, the m94d is perfect for small boats and leisure craft looking to stay safe and informed on the ocean. It is thick, almost twice the thickness of normal vhf radios. It is being charged, and it only has a battery life of 9 hours. It is easy to program the mmsi too.

It is a loaded out hand held vhf. It includes weather bands and it is hands down a quality unit. Check with icom to see if a cigarette lighter adapter or invertor would help.

Why We Like This: