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Reviews For: Icom IC-V8

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : Icom IC-V8
Reviews: 78MSRP: 179.95
Description:
Rugged, 144 Mhz HT that boasts 5.5 Watts out of the box.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00784.6
N.A. Rating: 2003-03-04
testing Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
just rxed my V8 from the Post Office...
tests made... easy ops... great just great...
cannot wait till spring and bike season. What it lacks is a 1750tone next to the ptt (same as in ft411 mk2)

very cheap even like for polish conditions
K4AAR Rating: 2003-01-17
High quality, simple, rugged, andgreat sounding HT! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I need to say that I am not one who uses amateur HTs in the amateur service. I have been using Motorola products for years in spite of the high price. The ICOM V-8 was the first amateur product in a long time that truly impressed me. The is a good, compact, and tough HT. I do not believe anything can come close to Motorola for the quality and durability. The V8 is a very well built, rugged, compact radio. As an HT is has good RX audio, TX reports always remark about the high quality of the TX audio and it is easy to use. This is NOT an HT with lots of bells and whistles though it does have a few (TOT, APO, tc.) bells on it. The radio works great in difficult (high RF level environments). It does everything it says it does well: it provides high quality RX and RX on two meters. It is better built than most amateur HTs, has plenty of power (mine puts out over 5.5 watts), uses alpha numerics and is very reliabile. I think that it is a true pleausre to find an amateur HT that is so rugged, well built, and simple to operate. This is the only amateur HT that I feel so positive about... Its commericial feel and looks are appreciated. I think anyone who operatres on two meters needs to explore this great HT. It does everything it says it can and does it well. (Still think I will keep my Motorolas.) A final note, this radio fits wonderfully into a large hand and it has always served me well. Seventy-three and I would most certainly recommend this radio to any two meter enthusiast.
DI7 Rating: 2003-01-17
perfection Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This HT is Great!
Has the ability to Tx 136-174 and recieves like nothing I have ever had. After using the yaesu vx-150, this radio is like a rols royce, really tough like a motorola.Using 1800nimh batteries is ideal.I cant believe it only costs $250(AUS)-thats cheap over here!

73s d_lussa@hotmail.com
KF4WSN Rating: 2003-01-09
Great Radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I got this radio for my 16 yr old son KG4SMU
so i was looking for a radio that had good performance, easy to use and had to be tough.
Dont be fooled by its low price, it is a top notch HT. it will perform every bit as well on 2m as my IC W32A at less than half the price.
we have tried some other antennas on this Ht and where more impresed by the results. we have other HT's BUT THIS ONE IS THE BEST PERFORMING AND BEST VALUE OF ALL
KD7TSO Rating: 2002-12-27
Great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recived this radio as X-mas Gift. Good slick desgin and durabel. Not some cheep $75 dollar radio of the net. Any ways it works good sounds great. It even hit repaters 70 miles away with a robust 5.5 wats of power and the stock rubber ducky. Any ways this is a good begginer radio. It has all the goodies, auto repeater,great battery life,and encode tones. This radio has one prbolem with not having a dc charging plug on the side. But still nothing is perffect cannot go wrong with this radio.
VE7MHJ Rating: 2002-10-20
Solid (voice) radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.

I've owned my IC-V8 for a little over a year and am, generally, very happy with it. However, it has some limitations.

Icom's strenths of rugged, compact design are showcased with this unit. It fits in the hand well, and has survived abuse that makes me cringe to think of. (Once, I looked over my shoulder to see it bouncing along the pavement behind my bicycle... ) It has good power output and battery life as well.

The downsides are the lack of an external power connection, and the audio/mic connection. Having a "battery only" rig while learning APRS meant a lot of time shuttling between the station and the charger. The constant cycling has cut short the useful lifespan of the original NiCd battery pack.

I'm concerned about the audio/mic connection on the side of the unit. It's placement is awkward unless you're using Icom accessories, and the mechanical strength seems to be less than is needed. The mic connector (a 2.5 mm stereo plug) falls out with the slightest force. For one connector, I glued the 2.5 and 3.5 mm plugs together with better results.

Also, the audio quality appears to be less than optimal for data work. When I set up the mobile IC-2400A in the shack, the QSO rate and quality improved dramatically. I haven't had any difficulty with audio contacts on the V-8, so this may be a frequency response characteristic.

In summary, this is a solid handheld voice communicator. It's rugged and reliable and will stand up to hard usage with ease. As a data or mobile set, it's use is limited, but it will also take it on. It will do the job, but it's a voice handheld doing a different job.


BATTERY NOTE
As a battery replacement, I strongly suggest using the BP-208 AA case. I use 1800mAh NiMH AA's in it to provide better capacity than any of the listed Icom batteries. Plus, using "general purpose" batteries provides more versatility with the other battery eaters in the shack.

KG4URI Rating: 2002-08-17
Very Nice Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I love Icom products. I really love the IC-V8 nice radio. Very durable and takes abuse like nothing I have ever seen. Icom does know a whole bunch on how to build to mil-specs. I like that the display is little because I don't like my radio to be filled up with a LCD screen. The bigger the lCD display the cheaper the radio would look. Like the 5.5 watt power output I talked to a guy at full power about 60 miles away he heard me with a little whitnoise. Talked to a ham 105 miles away with a roof mount antanna. Great radio. Think that everyone who uses the 2 meter band needs a ic-v8 because it is very easy to use.
KG4LFZ Rating: 2002-03-31
Love it!!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned mine for abt 3 months and I use it everyday. I like the tone scan on it, real useful to get into repeaters of unknown tones. The scan of of memory channels is fast. 5.5 watts is enough for me. Very rugged. Very nice HT.
KC2HWT Rating: 2002-02-23
excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
HELLO AND HERE IS A HONEST OPINION FROM KC2HWG BILL FROM MORRISTOWN NJ. ......SORRY HWT I COULDNT LOG ON THIS EHAM THING WITH MY CALL....I LIVE IN NORTHERN N.J. AND NOT TOO MUCH DUALBAND OR TRIBAND ACTIVITY....30 REPEATERS IN MY ICOMT7H AND FEW VERY ACTIVE...ESPECIALLY THE 220 AND 440 MACHINES....GOT THE ICOMICV8 AT KJI ...NO PROBLEMS...REASONABLY PRICED...GENE NEVER GIVES BAD ADVISE...A LITTLE EASIER TO USE THAN THE T7H..AS FOR THE PROBLEM WITH NO DIRECT DC INPUT THAT IS A PROBLEM,BUT YOU GET A DROP IN CHARGER SO THE THING IS FUNCTIONAL...TWO METERS SEEMS TO BE THE THING/BUZZ AROUND MY AREA...ITS ASHAME SO MANY MACHINES GO UNUSED...BUT IM ABLE TO HIT MACHINES IN ROCKLAND AND WESTCHESTER COUNTIES WITH A HALF WATT AND MY DIAMOND RH77CA ANTENNA..SO HATS OFF TO ICOM ON THIS ONE NO PROBLEMS HERE.....73S ALL FROM KC2HWG,MR.BILL MORRISTOWN NJ. CLEAR AND GOOOD NUMBERS TO YOU.....MY RATING IS 4.5 OUT OF 5........
KC9L Rating: 2002-02-11
Good, durable, cheap. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought this rig to have a "knock-it-around" radio for hamfests, public service, etc. I usually use my Motorola HT for this but was finding I needed to have a VFO at times. Well, since this rig is about half the price of a field-programmable Moto I thought I'd give it a try. And it's a winner! It's been dropped multiple times with no problem. The battery lasts a whole day on APRS duty. Audio is loud. Programming is easy and keypad is big. DCS is standard, which is nice. No problems with intermod, even with external antennas. Extended receive (136-174) picks up local police well. Finally, a drop in charger is included, and while it's not a quick one, it's better than a wall wart.

Problems? Well, there's no DC input jack, you'll have to buy a battery eliminator or alligator clip supply leads to the back of the rig. Also, the display is on the small side.

This is a great radio, especially if you miss the older HTs like the Icom 02AT and Radio Shack HTX-202.