Icom marine VHF radios have been at the top of the marine electronics industry for years, and with good reason as they have generally set the standard for marine VHF radio performance.
Icom tends to keep a limited number of models in their marine VHF fleet at any one time. Right now they have four fixed mount marine VHF radios in production. A few of these units are relatively new models so you’ll likely still find the older model designations available new from a few sources and, of course, around on the used market.
Icom builds a wide variety of other radio products for the boater including marine radar, an AIS black box, a full lineup of handheld VHFs, several models of Single Side Band radios, as well as their full line of fixed mount marine VHF radios.
Entry Level Marine VHF Radios
Icom has introduced numbers of boaters and sailors to their product line with one of the entry-level 300-series radios. The current model, the Icom M304, features SC-101 DSC capabilities and has an automatic system to get water out of the speaker. One generation back you’ll find the Icom M302.
Mid-Priced VHFs
The latest radio in this category to be released is the Icom M424. This radio has basic VHF functions, hailer capability, and introduces Icom’s newest radio user interface which features good use of soft keys.
Another mid-priced unit still on the market is the Icom M412. This one features Class D DSC capabilities in addition to all the basic VHF functions you would expect to find in an Icom VHF radio for marine use.
Icom’s original mid-level unit is the Icom M422. This marine VHF is also SC-101 DSC capable and can store up 100 MMSI numbers. It can connect to a remote microphone that controls most radio functions.
Top-of-the-Line Marine VHFs
Two Icom marine VHF radios sit at the top of the lineup today, the Icom M504 and the alpha-numeric keypad equipped Icom M604. The former features a large dot-matrix display screen and a 25-watt hailer while the latter touts a 10-key data entry keypad and a 30-watt hailer system. Both of these radios are Class D DSC equipped with dual receivers. This pair replaced an earlier generation Icom M502 and Icom M602 a few years ago.