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| Reviews Summary for Icom IC-V8000 |
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Reviews: 185
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Average rating: 4.4/5
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MSRP: $249.00
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Description: 2 meter mobile radio
75 Watts output power
RX: 136 - 174 MHz
Wide/narrow operation
Front firing speaker
Cooling fan
Dual color display
Auto repeater offset
CTCSS Encode
CTCSS Decode
CTCSS Tone scan
DCS Encode
DCS Decode
DCS Code scan
DTMF Encode
DTMF Decode (optional)
DTMF Code squelch
Dynamic Memory Scan
Weather channels
Weather alert
Weather scan
207 Memory channels (3 scan edges)
Call channel
6 Character alphanumeric display
PC programmable
Radio - radio cloning
Programmable keys
RF Attenuator
Channelized operation
Alpha only operation
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Product is in production.
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More info: http://www.icomamerica.com/amateur/2mmobile/index.html#v8000
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W4JPS
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 31, 2013 19:45
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Gets the job done
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is a great FM radio. I have had it since 2002 and it has done everything that it says. I run it on 75W for an hour 2x daily 4-5 times a week. It still works as advertised.
The cons are as follows:
The fan wears out and needs replacement sooner if you DO NOT run the fan on HIGH or OFF all the time. auto fan speed wears out the bearings faster.
The icom menu system is not intuitive. I have to use the manual even after 11 years of mobile use to do anything like update a memory or whatever.
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N0SSC
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 27, 2012 02:46
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Durable, cooks too
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The V8000 was my first rig and is still going. The 75 watts is very useful and doubles as a space heater, egg cooker, etc heheh. Very simple but not as compact as I wish.
The fan gets loud, and I've always had odd sounding birdies, most notably on 147.240MHz, and others. Otherwise it's a fine rig.
Scans fast too. Great for local snooping.
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W4AUV
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 21, 2011 21:04
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Very satisified
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I do a great deal of driving for my work and this radio gets heavy usage. It has performed 100% plus. I always get excellent audio reqports with it. If you want a solid, high power mobile radio for 2 meters, you should take a hard look at this one....W4AUV
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K8KAS
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 25, 2011 13:49
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top of the line
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Owned it for 4 or 5 years, use it as a base on simplex. Full power always and ragchew often. Never a problem, nice Rx and Tx audio.
Radio stays on 7 or more hours a day on 146.430
or146.520.. buy one again in a second..Denny K8KAS
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K1VI
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 25, 2011 11:46
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Great, except mic PTT
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have 3, at least two are 5-plus years old. Very nice overall, but I have had to replace two mics, each with PTT problems. Seems with wear, the microswitch is no longer engaged. I bought time in each case, by shimming with slivers of pencil eraser, but in the end shelled out the $89 per mic, twice. Otherwise, good radio.
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ZS1BOB
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 25, 2011 06:20
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Punchy radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had my V8000 since it was launched, feels like many years ago;
Used only as a mobile rig. I find the high output setting useful, the area I live in Cape Town is mountainous and hitting some repeaters can be problematic.
My radio in particular, can't speak for V8000's in general, was programmed via PC and the first letter of the alphanumeric is a "d" irrespective of what you type in. Mildly irritating.
The radio fan runs when the interior of the vehicle warms up in the sun, seems to be very sensitive to temp., very irritating - fan is going to wear out long before the radio does.
Otherwise a fine radio.
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KC2VOB
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 1, 2011 18:36
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A Reliable Radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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In a lot of recent reviews people are complaining of the earlier versions of the Icom IC-V8000. I’d like to add that it appears that Icom has fixed the PTT button and audio drop-out flaws. I bought mine over a year ago and installed it immediately. No problems so far. When I get a new radio, while still in warranty, I put it to severe use for a couple of months to evaluate it. I sometimes ran the V8000 in around 90 degrees in the summer of 2010 (of course not at the 75-watt level), it gave no problems. I got its review video on YouTube under my call sign. Please visit my YT channel for further info.
IC-V8000’s Kenwood competitor TM-271A is a piece of junk. I’ll post its review here soon and YouTube review is already there but it started giving problems after I did that review. It’s Yaesu competitor FT-2900R should be great for 75 watts as it is a lot bigger and twice as heavy as IC-V8000. Looking at it’s heat sink and weight, the IC-V8000 doesn’t seem to stand 75 watts often. I rarely run it at full.
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N6OSB
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 25, 2011 09:33
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Solid rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I own 3 of these, and have had to replace my mics 3 times. Rig is SOLID but the mics are known to have problems.
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N0ETR
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 1, 2011 13:46
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Some good, some not.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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My wife bought this radio for me for Christmas in 2002. The radio worked great until 2008 when it developed an intermittant audio problem. When the audio would drop out I could turn the radio off then back on and the audio would return for awhile. I got really fed up with it and put it back in the box and threw it in the closet for awhile. Later I took it to the store where it was purchased to see if they could fix it and thay couldn't. They offered to send it back to Icom, but I didn't want to spend the money for repairs when I could but a new radio for the same amount. About a month later I decided to search the web to see if there was anyone who might have experienced the same problem, and there was. Turns out that this problem has been on going for quite some time, and Icom has done nothing about it. A repairman on the web said that there is an audio IC located in the front left corner of the radio that has 5 legs on it. This IC will more than likely will have a cracked solder joint on one of the legs. Sure enough I removed the bottom cover, located the IC and there it was, a cracked solder joint on the fourth leg from the bottom. I resoldered all of the legs and as of 2/1/2011 the radio has been running flawlessly. I hope this helps others who might have a radio with no audio out of the speaker because the fix is really simple. I think the radio is great now that the problem is fixed and would probably buy another. I agree with the owners who said that the volume and squelch are placed wrong and have mine labeled on the bench where it sits. I really like the TONE SCAN feature as it makes it easy to find the tone required to access a repeater. I also like the manual speed control on the cooling fan. If I am going to run 75 watts for any amount of time I usually turn the fan on HIGH. I also like the front firing speaker. The unit has very nice sounding audio.
73
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KI4BDS
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 27, 2010 18:37
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Still great
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought it in 2003 and it finally quit Dec 2010. Not bad for being in a farm truck and getting bounced all over the US hauling horses probably close to 1/2 million miles. I think I'll buy another one. The mic is my only gripe. It quits about 1 x a year. Will try fixing this one too for an xtra radio. I think ICOM is making a mistake quitting the 8000 and the 706.
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