Quote Originally Posted by SPOONFEEDER View Post
Most any radio will do. Some just have more features then others. Get one in your budget range. I recommend an icom or standard horizon. The biggest thing is the antenna. Don't skimp on it. Get a good quality antenna. Like a shakespeare galaxy. The taller the better. What ever fits your boat. Just my opinion.
you can get the Shakespeare 5225 xt for around 110.00 or the xp for around 150.00 on ebay. they are both good antennas. I went with the 5399 9'6" antenna and haven't had any regrets. I found it on ebay for 168.00 when I bought it. there selling for around 200.00 now on ebay. I had one of the cheaper antennas and thought it was doing what it was supposed to do. then I read where the antenna was the most important part of the system. so I started doing some research and found the antenna is more important than the radio for getting better service. anyway after installing the new 5399 antenna I'm getting much better reception and talking to boats much farther away. it should be a one time investment as a good antenna should last for many many yrs.

and you want to get a stainless mount and not one of those plastic mounts.