Handheld transceiver recommendations? Icom, Yaesu, or Sporty's?

Ryan A

Ryan A

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austinrc
Looking at getting a new handheld transceiver. I'm trying to decide if I should go for the Icom A-16, Yaesu FTA-550, or Sporty's PJ2.

Anyone have any experience with any of these?

Thanks.
 
I have the Yaesu 450. I haven't used it as an emergency radio in the air yet but it works well for ground to air comms and checking AWOS. Lives mostly in my flight bag but seems sturdy enough.
 
I've got an older Icom A-22 Nav/Com. They aren't made anymore but I've had a couple of the Icom portables and they are pretty hard to kill.

A friend came into the airport the other day. He had the Sporty's radio. Said he liked it for the full size headphone jacks but complained about having an issue with it. It wasn't clear to me what the problem was ...
 
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I use sportys. I find it the easiest to use, turn it on and punch in a frequency. Or use one from the memory function. I had to use it twice in rentals when radios weren't working.
I had an icon but sold it. It was just to complicated for me.
 
Yaesu is great. I have had one for years.

Stay as far away as possible from Sporty's. Build quality is terrible. I know at least four people that have had theirs just stop working. One let the smoke out, which is kind of terrifying for an aviation product.
 
172andyou said:
Yaesu is great. I have had one for years.

Stay as far away as possible from Sporty's. Build quality is terrible. I know at least four people that have had theirs just stop working. One let the smoke out, which is kind of terrifying for an aviation product.
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I had a Sporty's handheld from about 10 years ago (SP-400?) It worked great for checking ATIS. The one time I needed it for a NORDO situation, the screen went dark. I also had an iCom IC-A2***Something (also from about 10 years ago). For awhile it was my only radio in a little non-electric fun-flyer. It would pick the most inopportune time to decide to quit working. Fresh batteries wouldn't last a whole flight. And the little cigarette lighter adapter connection on the radio was finicky. So, I would find myself at the 45 for entry and not able to get anymore than my N number out before it'd quit working.

I've had a Yaesu FT-550AA now for about a year. It works great. I think the button-ology could be a little simpler. But, other than that, no complaints!
 
I ordered a Yaesu FT-550AA. Sounds like I made a good choice. Thank you all.
 
Chris Scherry said:
I had an icon but sold it. It was just to complicated for me.
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I can't disagree with that. Sometimes it takes a second round to get where you are going. I think that's because I seldom use it.

I like the Nav feature on mine and it worked pretty well back in the day when I used to use it. I'm now a child of the magenta. :blush:
 
Ryan A said:
Looking at getting a new handheld transceiver. I'm trying to decide if I should go for the Icom A-16, Yaesu FTA-550, or Sporty's PJ2.

Anyone have any experience with any of these?

Thanks.
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I have a Yaesu Pro-X, which is a great radio (with VOR/LOC nav built in as well). You can use it with its own built-in rechargeable battery or alkaline batteries, and it comes with a headset adapter at no extra charge.

The only negative point is that if you want to plug in the headset adapter, you have to unscrew a little plate to do so, which would be an annoyance in an emergency.
 
I have the Yaesu FTA-750L and I love it.
GPS, VOR, Glidepath all work. Lot's of advanced features.
I would buy another in a heartbeat.
 
David Megginson said:
I have a Yaesu Pro-X, which is a great radio (with VOR/LOC nav built in as well). You can use it with its own built-in rechargeable battery or alkaline batteries, and it comes with a headset adapter at no extra charge.

The only negative point is that if you want to plug in the headset adapter, you have to unscrew a little plate to do so, which would be an annoyance in an emergency.
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Have the same. I just leave the adapter installed, mostly out of fear of losing it in my bag.
 
I have a Vertex Standard VXA-300 picked up cheap off of Craigslist. I've never used it in anger, though. I doubt the NiCD/NiMH/whatever batteries have any life left in them, but I do have the alkaline battery tray as a standby and it's full of Energizer Lithium.
 
Whatever you get, make sure you have the AA battery tray for it. Unless you use the radio a bunch and need rechargeable capability you'll want to use disposable batteries. Much cheaper in the long run.
 
I use energizer lithium. They actually give me decent battery life in a very old Sporty's.
 
I vote for the simplest radio possible. The one time I used mine in anger it was at night. I had just lost everything electrical at night with some smoke in the cockpit. I had just taken off to give a pal a ride to get his plane after annual. I told my pal to take the controls while I rooted around in back to get the hand held. I was able to turn it on by feel, call the tower and tell them of my plight, and return to land.

It was one of the earlier Sportys.
 
I still have an ancient Sporty's SPA-400. Aviation Consumer just did a review of portable COMs, for those who are interested. The current crop is a lot smaller than the one I have. An AA battery pack is a must, charged with alkaline or lithium batteries that have low self-discharge rates. (NiMH batteries will deplete over time, leaving you in the lurch during an emergency if not frequently recharged.) Alkaline or lithium cells are pretty much a do it and forget it for a year. To make portables useful, one should also purchase a headset adapter, and optionally, a external antenna adapter in the panel. I have the former but not the latter.
 
I have the iCom A-25N. It has some pluses like the screen and NAV that works, and it's nice and useful to have a ground radio.

The A-16 has nice specs and good price but I wouldn't recommend an iCom based on the difficulty of programming the A-25N, unless don't care about that. The iPhone app for it is totally useless and abandonware. And must buy special cables and software to program it (none of that is really documented), or else do it manually.

The rechargeable battery (a $125 replacement item) gave up in less than 2 years. I think to just use the AA battery tray from now on. I always carry lots of AA batteries in the airplane. Maybe it's because I didn't use it enough that the battery went dead. I definitely agree with above comments about AA batteries.
 
Sporty's PJ2. Stone simple to use and my headset plugs directly into it. When I need to use it I just want to turn it on, plug in my headset, and key in the frequency.
 
General question for all of you, are any of these radios loud enough to use in a, say, C172 cockpit in flight without connecting to a headset in an emergency?
 
CA182R said:
I have the iCom A-25N. It has some pluses like the screen and NAV that works, and it's nice and useful to have a ground radio.

The A-16 has nice specs and good price but I wouldn't recommend an iCom based on the difficulty of programming the A-25N, unless don't care about that. The iPhone app for it is totally useless and abandonware. And must buy special cables and software to program it (none of that is really documented), or else do it manually.

The rechargeable battery (a $125 replacement item) gave up in less than 2 years. I think to just use the AA battery tray from now on. I always carry lots of AA batteries in the airplane. Maybe it's because I didn't use it enough that the battery went dead. I definitely agree with above comments about AA batteries.
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I got less than 18 months out of my A25 battery. Very disappointed, especially with the replacement battery cost.
 
Ryan A said:
General question for all of you, are any of these radios loud enough to use in a, say, C172 cockpit in flight without connecting to a headset in an emergency?
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negative, ghost rider. cuz it won't power up when you need it. mine stopped working at month #13, just outta warranty, after less than an hours' use in total
 
yaesu and Icom units are much better made than the sportys units. Price obviously is also higher. . Whatever unit you get - make sure you get the AA adapter panel and keep a set of AA batteries that arent in the unit available to swap in. You dont want a dead unit as a backup unit when you need it.
 
I have both a Yaesu 750 and a Sporty's PJ-2.

I am a huge Yaesu fan. All my ham radios are Yaesu. Downsides are complicated and separate headset adapter. I have already misplaced the cover for the headset adapter. GPS is not that usable as there is no database.

Sporty's is simple to use. AA pack for long standby life. No headset adapter needed.

I am doing an major avionics upgrade, so new panel will be LEMO plugs, so will probably pick up an L6 for direct plug in of LEMO headset.
 
Yaesu 750- It's amazing.
It's not hard to plug in the GPS data, VOR data, ILS data, just time consuming.
And it all works.
 
I have owned an Icom AC-22 for many years. I lost the alkaline battery adapter so just use the rechargeable nicad. I have had Batteries Plus rebuild that two times in about 30 years, for roughly $50. It works great, and my primary use for it is to get a weather forecast from home. I am only using it for a short time each time, so the battery lasts about two months or more between charges.

One time while flying from Kalamazoo to Central Wisconsin Airport, I lost my ability to transmit with my panel radios. Over Muskegon at 10,000 feet, I called Approach on the handheld and advised them I could receive but not transmit with the ship's radios and would soon be out of range with my handheld using the rubber antenna. I was able to continue by squawking Ident to acknowledge radio calls, and then used the handheld again for landing clearance at KCWA.

Oh, yeah... another time I use it is at air shows and again the power lasts quite long. I have no experience with the other brands, but I do consider this one of the best purchases I have made for airplane accessories.
 
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I have an icon IC-24. It was used quite a bit when I bought it for training, and backup as the rentals sometimes had dodgy radios.
 
I have the Sports L6 COM Radio and love it. I can plug my LEMO headset directly into it! Now I'm going to sell my Icoms...
 
asicer said:
I have a Vertex Standard VXA-300 picked up cheap off of Craigslist. I've never used it in anger, though. I doubt the NiCD/NiMH/whatever batteries have any life left in them, but I do have the alkaline battery tray as a standby and it's full of Energizer Lithium.
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I also have a Vertex with alkaline battery tray. I installed Eneloop batteries (the cheaper ones from Ikea), and charge them up once or twice a year.
 
Chris Scherry said:
I use sportys. I find it the easiest to use, turn it on and punch in a frequency. Or use one from the memory function. I had to use it twice in rentals when radios weren't working.nd
I had an icon but sold it. It was just to complicated for me.
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I've had several handhelds and this is a primary complaint of mine. Many new handhelds have so many features, menus and sub-menus that you need a degree in electrical engineering to figure out how to adjust the squelch or manually input a frequency. Old man rant over.
 
I have the Sporty's PJ2 (not the " + " model). It is mostly OK. Simple to use, no adapters needed. Lower priced. Handy for checking the ATIS before starting.
But, the 'rubber duck' antenna (on any of these handhelds) isn't great for use inside the typical aluminum 'can' (significantly limits the range). If there was an easy way - in my club airplanes - to connect an external antenna, it'd be a big improvement.
The big problem I've run into is the battery case - the internal spring contacts are too wimpy. I've re-bent them more that once, to make contact with the AA cells. They should have used the next gage heavier metal:confused:
 
Everyone mentions the Sportys because no adapters needed. But I noticed that the Yaesu 850 has bluetooth. I wonder if that's even better.
 
I've got an older Icom A-22. It's a good radio with VOR but the pain is finding a replacement battery that will last any length of time ...
 
I bought a Yaesu (back then it was Vertex Standard) because of the size. The Sporty's looked to be just a bit smaller than a WW2 walkie-talkie.
 
asicer said:
Everyone mentions the Sportys because no adapters needed. But I noticed that the Yaesu 850 has bluetooth. I wonder if that's even better.
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I don't trust Bluetooth in situations where I need to fall back to a portable radio...
 
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