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Reviews For: Icom ID-5100A

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : Icom ID-5100A
Reviews: 54MSRP: 899
Description:
Innovative 2m/70cm transceiver with touch screen and internal GPS
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/dstar/id5100a/default.aspx
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00544
M0ZOL Rating: 2014-05-20
Needed brackets Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great radio , better than the 2820 which had a superb receive but the 5100 has better ears again.
ICOM where are the head brackets , What next a radio with no microphone or no power lead ???
WHAT are you supposed to do with the head unit when you buy one.
I would have given a 5 but lack of head brackets a 2
G7VAE Rating: 2014-05-19
easy to use Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My first dstar radio. I have found it easy to set up and use. Good audio reports.
UK version comes with body mount bracket and magnets can be bought on eBay for £8 to mount the head.
So far very pleased.
PD1ABK Rating: 2014-05-19
Something new but poor ICOM package Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Already in the shop i became aware of the lack of brackets! This is a very negative move of ICOM. No bracket(s) supplied to mount the panel or the mainbody! They can be ordered as additional parts...! If ICOM continues like this they will lose ground to the Chinese competition who deliver complete packages including brackets and programming cables.

The radio itself is something new and exciting in the dualband range. Touchscreen and the same menu software as the ID 51.
Easy to change settings and program new frequencies.
The supplied reflector list does not apply to the Netherlands because it is not up to date so you have to program your own repeaters and hotspots.
Very big display of which you have to get used to. Compared to other radio's it's very big and bright.
Transmitted audio reports were good. A bit loud so maybe reducing the mike gain to setting 3 instead of 4.
Receiver sensitivity is good to sometimes too good...

Programming can be done by cable or SD card same as the ID 51 (same cable).

Many other features on this radio to explore the coming weeks.
Apart from the bracket problem (which has to be solved by ICOM) this is something new and maybe a new trend in VHF/UHF radio's.
NG0M Rating: 2014-05-14
Nice Radio - Poor Buy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've owned and/or used just about every D-Star radio. I consider myself an experienced D-Star user. I was excited that the introductory price was $749. I wondered how Icom could do that. Much to my surprise - I found out after opening the box. Icom opted to NOT include ANY mounting brackets (except for the microphone). The body bracket retails for $35 and is currently back-ordered. The two head-unit mounts are around $35 each. So - the actual "sale" price of the id-5100a is $819 after you buy the mounting brackets.

Don't bother calling Icom - I did, and they simply don't care.

I like some of the new features.
-Touch Screen is nice
-on-screen keyboard makes things easy
-Crossband Repeater is easy to access
-The head cable appears to be a standard 6-pin RJ11 cable.

I dislike the following.
-The radio comes without ANY mounting brackets
-$35-$50 for the head mount and $35 for the body mount
-The new microphone (HM-207) is too simple. I miss having all the various controls where the number keys are.
-The screen is too bright at night (unless you use auto-dim off)