ICOM IC-A210:
This Radio has lots of features for the money. Looks great on paper. BUT it is designed by a bunch of Non-Aviation types who are very difficult to work with (Read: YOU Airplane guys must be wrong) If you want more specifics, you can call me. The highlights:
1) Crazy design requires removal of the front panel and inserting a fragile ribbon cable into a receptacle every time the radio goes into or out of the tray. Mostly only annoying until after being plugged/unplugged 20 or so times (being sent back to the service center for feature upgrades and such) the cable shorted out and fried a chip in the radio. ICOM refused to cover the cost of this repair ($600!!)
2) OLED Display. ICOM claims viewable in brightest light. NOT TRUE. Very difficult to see in an RV with the sun coming over your shoulder.
3) Dual Watch. After arguing with ICOM about the need for this monitoring to be Priority Channel Based (ie make Active Channel always over-ride any reception of the stand-by channel) ICOM comes out with a Firm-Ware upgrade to address this. (Read above: they treat you like an idiot until they themselves decide it is a good idea) Don't yet know if this functionality is any good, as the ribbon cable fried upon installation after receiving the radio (see #1 above) I will update this after enough time has passed to have an opinion.
4) Intercom. This is Voice Activated (VOX) and is really too sensitive for a noisy airplane like an RV. If you set the intercom squelch ALL THE WAY UP and turn the intercom volume down a lot it is BARELY usable. Otherwise it is frozen in the on mode all of the time.
Do I sound disappointed? This was supposed to be the PERFECT radio. If I hadn't paid $$ to have this installed as the core of my panel upgrade, I'd probably chuck the ICOM and go with the new VAL Flip Flop radio and VAL Audio panel plus a simple intercom. My experience with VAL is that their designs are robust and they are reasonable to work with.
Live and learn
This Radio has lots of features for the money. Looks great on paper. BUT it is designed by a bunch of Non-Aviation types who are very difficult to work with (Read: YOU Airplane guys must be wrong) If you want more specifics, you can call me. The highlights:
1) Crazy design requires removal of the front panel and inserting a fragile ribbon cable into a receptacle every time the radio goes into or out of the tray. Mostly only annoying until after being plugged/unplugged 20 or so times (being sent back to the service center for feature upgrades and such) the cable shorted out and fried a chip in the radio. ICOM refused to cover the cost of this repair ($600!!)
2) OLED Display. ICOM claims viewable in brightest light. NOT TRUE. Very difficult to see in an RV with the sun coming over your shoulder.
3) Dual Watch. After arguing with ICOM about the need for this monitoring to be Priority Channel Based (ie make Active Channel always over-ride any reception of the stand-by channel) ICOM comes out with a Firm-Ware upgrade to address this. (Read above: they treat you like an idiot until they themselves decide it is a good idea) Don't yet know if this functionality is any good, as the ribbon cable fried upon installation after receiving the radio (see #1 above) I will update this after enough time has passed to have an opinion.
4) Intercom. This is Voice Activated (VOX) and is really too sensitive for a noisy airplane like an RV. If you set the intercom squelch ALL THE WAY UP and turn the intercom volume down a lot it is BARELY usable. Otherwise it is frozen in the on mode all of the time.
Do I sound disappointed? This was supposed to be the PERFECT radio. If I hadn't paid $$ to have this installed as the core of my panel upgrade, I'd probably chuck the ICOM and go with the new VAL Flip Flop radio and VAL Audio panel plus a simple intercom. My experience with VAL is that their designs are robust and they are reasonable to work with.
Live and learn