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Reviews For: Yaesu VX-2R

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu VX-2R
Reviews: 136MSRP: 229.00
Description:
The Yaesu VX-2R is a microminiature 2 meter/440 MHz handheld with extensive receive frequency coverage, providing local-area two-way amateur communications along with unmatched monitoring capability. It is the worlds smallest HT with 1.5/1 watt output on 2M/440.

Its incredible size allows you to take it anywhere. Receive range is: 500 kHz to 999 MHz (less cellular). This means you can hear the AM, shortwave and FM broadcast bands, TV audio, aircraft and public service channels. CTCSS/DCS with split tone capability is built in. Over 1300 total memories are available including 900 regular memories, 11 home channels, and 50 pairs of band edge memories. You can scan just the memories, the entire operating band or a portion of that band. The aluminum diecast chassis is very rugged.

Power output is with the supplied 1 amp hour Lithium Ion battery 1.5 watts VHF and 1 watt UHF. With the optional E-DC-21 DC adapter output jumps to 3 watts and 2 watts! The VX-2R comes with the FNB-82LI lithium ion battery and NC-85B charger, SMA flexible antenna, belt clip, plus a wrist strap.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/amateur/handheld.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001364.5
KD7ZBU Rating: 2004-01-30
Good radio with battery and charging issues Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Pros:
TX quality: On only battery power, I am able to work mountain top repeaters with the stock antenna at great distances or at short to medium distances from inside my vehicle. With the addition of a home-made J-pole, I have gotten nothing but excellent TX reports, even at long distances.

Tough case construction: The construction of the case is holding up well to being dropped. It bounces instead of breaking.

RX quality excellent: Even with the small speaker, RX and audio quality are excellent for a rig of this size.

Menus OK: I found the menu system easy to use when used regulary with the exception of the DTMF (more below).

RX battery life excellent lasting several days, and is quick to charge.

Cost: After rebate, I paid $129. Good value!

Memory: Lots of memories, banking and great scanning capabilities.

--------------
Cons:

My biggest complaint: I don't think this radio makes efficient use of the battery. I get excellent TX reports when the battery has just finished charging, but when the battery drops even slightly below full, people can only hear about 1 word of my whole transmission. It is frustrating to have 3 days worth of RX battery power left, but unable to make even a single coherent TX on full power.

Power Supply / Battery bug: If you turn it off with either the AC adapter or the cigarette lighter adapter plugged in, it falsely detects no battery and will not not charge. After this happens, if you turn it back on and back off, it will only sometimes clear the error.

The DTMF functions add another layer of complexity that is very difficult to remember how to use.

Lamp Options: I turn the lamp off to save battery. How do you activate the lamp if you can't see the menu? They could have improved this by having another option when running from the DC adapter or having a series of hot-keys to turn the lamp on.

Cigarette Lighter adapter too expensive. Enough said.

Availability of PC programming ability: Although there is a cable and a software program available to program this radio, it is not mentioned in the manual, Yaesu's web-site etc.
KD5VHF Rating: 2004-01-27
Keeper Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
It's not a IC-V8000,IC-F621 & IC-R8500 combined, But it does just what I wanted. The stock antenna works for me.I can hit our local UHF repeater 35-40 miles away with it and it barely sticks out of my shirt pocket. Fuji camera NP-60 replacement batteries last as long if not longer and can be found new on E-Bay for less than $10.00ea. I use the auto dial memories for my favorite Echolink node #'s. They will get my VX-2R when they pry my cold dead fingers off of it.
KA7PLE Rating: 2004-01-25
Great little hand held, lives up to the Yaesu name! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased a VX-2R early this morning from HRO. My FT-50R has had some rough handeling and was starting to get flakey, so this is the replacement.
I knew this was going to be a small radio, but I was surprized when I opened the box. It is as small or smaller than most of the new cell phones I have seen. Of course the first thing I did was pop in the battery and fire it up. I threw my call sign out on a local VHF repeater and listened to the repeater output on a scanner. It was full quieting on the first try from inside my house. I was a little leary of the 1.5W output being able to access this repeater. I work lots of QRP on HF so I should not have been surprized, but I was.
Ok so hear are the pros and cons that I have seen in the 10 hours I have had it.
PROS:
Solid feel despite the size.
Relativly easy to change freq. even with out a keypad.
I noticed that the reciever works better on VHF/UHF and the FM broadcast band than the FT-50 did.
The buttons are back-lit and easy to read
Large LCD is also easy to read.
The Menu is in alphabetical order.
The battery only takes 2.5 hours to charge with the supplied charger.
CONS:
Most functions are hidden with in a Menu that is rather long. (Not a big deal if you have used other modern Yaesu's)It just takes a bit of searching the menu for what you want, until you get use to it ;-)
The spare battery (if you have one) is very small and can be missplaced easily. I did it twice today already.

I have only had this radio for a few hours now. I own several Yaesu rigs, and have never been disappoined. The VX-2R is no exeption. It lives up to the Yaesu name. Hence the rating of 5. I do recommend it.
I will try to update this post as I learn more about the radio.
73
KA7PLE

KC2GOW Rating: 2004-01-01
CAN'T PUT IT DOWN Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I love this radio. I own the VX-1R and that was a very good radio also, but yaesu hit the mark this time. The battery life is outstanding, go lithium. The PTT is a little tough to press but it does loosen up after use and age. You cannot beat the radio for the price either (approx. $130)
The HT collection is'nt complete until you get a VX-2R.

73
Andrew KC2GOW
IK0LLK Rating: 2004-01-01
Good Radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I'm sorry for my bad English....
Nice Radio, the receiver work very fine and trasmitter also.
Problem...
The PTT ie very hard to press!
The audio compare to VX5 is low but if you consider the size.... i think is good.
BG4SFZ Rating: 2003-12-15
Nice Tiny HT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got this nice tiny HT three weeks ago and fell in love with it immediately after one or two touches!

Rated power 1.5W/1W(VHF/UHF) strong enough for me. Even 100mW is adequate to get access to the repeater at my QTH. Small enough to fit in the pocket of my suit, pretty much handy. Tough enough to endure everyday use(freeband opened for communications with my team at 410MHz and 415MHz).

Battery? Optional battery is expensive and difficult to obtain. I use NOKIA mobile phone lithium BLB-2 as back up batteries, they work fine with my HT!

Stupid rubber duckie doesn't work with SW reception! Use random long wire with a SMA head will help to solve this problem.

Really a nice tiny HT for the price. I love it!
KK7AC Rating: 2003-12-07
Nice backup Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is a nice little HT I bought when they first came out. Not loaded with alot of features or power punch, but if you would like to use on some local repeaters or internet linked nodes, this is great. The only "disadvantage" is the lack of a true DTMF pad. Although it has DTMF, is is not a conventional pad. This is fine for me since I only use this little radio around the house to talk back into my echolink node.


Suprisingly good audio both TX and RX, and battery life (as with any lithium-ion) lasts along time, but drops with no warning. I find that the supplied antenna is fine for ham 144 and 440 use. Poor for AM, but thats fine... this is a ham radio as far as I am concerned.

For the price this radio cant be beat.
WA6EIK Rating: 2003-12-04
Improvement over VX-1r Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Overall, I feel the VX-2r is a good improvement over the VX-1r in the following:
Better receive audio, volume and freq./channel selector on top, better memory management, better back lighting, programming memories and alpha numerics are easy, and battery life appears better. Being able to split CTCSS/DCS encode tones is a real plus also. Great deal for $129.00
KA8DSP Rating: 2003-11-21
Nice little rig for the price Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Overall, a really nice little radio. But, like any other small handheld, it has it's limitations. I live off the beaten path with a tree or two between me and the repeater tower which is approximately 10 miles away. With the stock stubby duck it was often difficult to bring up and hold the repeater and when I did, the audio was not perfect; this was especially true indoors. In a car, the VX-2, as with many HT's, was basically deaf. As well, the stock duck didn't receive any bands real well other than 2 meters. It was also quite deaf on 440.

I say "was" because this all changed when I chucked the duck. I replaced it with a Pryme RD-9SMA skinny which made all the difference in the world. Now, I receive and transmit quite well on both ham bands it was designed for; it's even respectable inside the house or in a car. Obviously, the VX-2 won't replace a nice 50 watt mobile with an outside antenna but that's not why you buy an HT. As well, I now can receive many television stations, broadcast stations, and many of the pre-programmed weather and radio stations. I can also use the VX-2 as a functional scanner for many police and fire units in our area which I couldn't do with the stock duck. The Pryme is skinny and I don't even notice it on my belt; it's only 7" tall and flexible. It also doesn't take away from the sleak look of the unit if that's important to you.

The unit itself is handsome and appears to be well built. Programming is easy once you read the book once or twice and I don't find the lack of a keypad a problem. Battery life is very good, two days without a recharge and moderate use. The PTT switch is fine even though I've heard many complaints about it being stiff. The heavier push just means you won't accidentally key the unit.

Audio is fine in most situations but in a croud it is difficult to hear the little speaker at times. But then again, I have trouble hearing my mobile with all the windows rolled up so take that observation with a grain of salt.

To summarize, great radio, good value, lots of features, but dump the duck as soon as you get it home. This review would be totally different had I not opted for the replacement duck.
KB9SNO Rating: 2003-11-01
Perfect Little Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased my VX-2 at the local hamfest in Bedford, IN. I intended to get a radio suitable for fox hunting, I had originally planned to get the VX-1R but then I saw the newer version, and fell in love with it. The factory antenna has much to be desired, but hey, have you ever bought a HT with a "good" factory antenna? Anyway, the radio does everything you could ever want out of such a small package, and mine out of the box had wideband Tx , dont use it but it is there. All in All this is one heck of a radio.