Customer Reviews

Cobra MR HH425LI VP 15-Channel VHF/GMRS Two-Way Marine Radio

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Pros: Covers Marine VHF, GMRS and overlaps FRS. Comes with everything you could possibly need, especially Li-rechargeable, drop-in charger, AC and DC power cords, and AA battery case. Good controls, metal frame, swivel-off belt clip, easy to read display. Detachable antenna with SMA connector and wrist strap. The documentation is better tha most.

Cons: Squelch (uncoded) and coded squelches take 1 second to unlock. FRS frequencies 1-7 are fixed to GMRS power and frquencies 8-14 are not included.

This is a very complete product especially for the money. You will not have to buy any accessories except perhaps the remote mic. Especially impressive is the inclusion of an AA battery case in addition to the rechargeable battery pack. You get both AC and DC power cords.

There are several subtle things that are "right" about this product. The audio is much stronger than most handhelds. There are actual knobs, not pushbuttons, for squelch and volume controls that are easily manipulated. The controls are logically arranged. The drop-in charger has a plate that adapts it for charging the battery alone, without the radio. The RF squelch will open the tone or DCS squelches allowing accurate, single-control setting of the RF squelch threshold or opening up of the squelch for receiving weak signals. The backlight is orange and bright enough to read easily. The LCD display is easy to read from a normal viewing angle.

I have not had enough experience with the "say again" feature to determine its usefulness but it is well implemented. The audio quality is as good as the original transmission and you get 20 seconds of stored audio. Replay is counted down on the display and you can cancel playback by merely tapping the PTT.

Weather reception has several interesting alerting features including WX alert and SAME monitoring. I did not test these as of this writing, but the WX reception is excellent.

The only negatives I could find about this radio involved the squelch and the lack of FRS power levels and FRS frquencies 8-14.

The squelch open or unlock times were annoyingly long. Uncoded squelch open time on VHF marine or GMRS bands was the better part of a second. This may not seem like much until you consider the fact that most people start speaking just a fraction of a second before they key the mic. With this radio it will lead to the guaranteed loss of up to the first two seconds of audio. For those with a long "uhhhhh" before their real message, that will work. But for most others, it will result in a lot of missed calls. The unlock time for coded squelch (tone or DCS) is almost exactly one second, making performance here slightly worse.

Given the completeness of the product, the fact that a power setting for FRS compatibility and frequencies 8-14 are missing is puzzling. Still, I believe in actual use this limitation is more than easily overcome.

After testing it looks like I'm going to be getting a few more of these. You really can't beat them especially for the price.

UPDATE: With over a year of use on many of these units I can report they are still all working well. Most notably the battery HOLDS its charge seemingly forever. We know this is NOT true but I have yet to see a case of a self-discharge over even a few months of sitting on a shelf, sometimes in heat or cold extremes. Most radio batteries are notoriously bad this way, but to my great surprise, the batteries that came with the batch I got are all still performing quite beyond expectations. Good batteries seem to be a rarity these days!

I just received two of these radios earlier this week, primarily to use as GMRS radios.

Having used them now for a few days, I'm so far impressed with the quality and reception. My biggest gripe is that the PPT button is sometimes hard to locate just right, since it is covered by the same flexible plastic which covers the light/lock button. I think these two buttons should be separated.

Regarding the squelch delay mentioned by another reviewer, the delay occurs only when CTCSS or DCS is enabled, AND the rewind function is enabled (it is by default). Even then, I timed it closer to 1/2 second. In any case, here's how to get rid of that delay: For close to ZERO squelch delay, disable CTCSS/DCS, and disable REWIND. The REWIND is by far what causes the longer delay, it seems to me. Turn it off, and by far most of the delay is gone, in fact I would say it is close to instant squelch unlock. Only problem I have is, I would LIKE to use both the CTCSS/DCS and REWIND features. Doing so will increase the squelch delay to 1/2 second or so (which is not uncommon with many radios), so you will have to decide what works for you.

This radio is VHF/GMRS only, not FRS. FRS frequencies 8-14 are FRS only, and are not shared with GMRS. This radio is not marketed as an FRS radio, therefore FRS frequencies 8-14 are not included. Frequencies 1-7, and 15-22 are GMRS (with 1-7 only being shared with FRS).

Overall I'm real happy this these radios.

While I do like this product, I have a very important message for anyone who has purchased one.

The instructions in the manual for programming the SAME weather alert feature (page 56) are incorrect and will not set the radio to sound the alarm if an alert is broadcast for your area. I called Cobra repeatedly for several days before I was able to reach someone in tech support who would acknowledge the problem and furnish me with the correct procedure. This oversight could be disastrous to anyone in an area prone to sudden severe weather. The operating instructions on Cobra's web site have not been updated with the new procedures. NOAA and the NWS have been informed and are contacting Cobra to have them provide the correct information to registered owners and update the info on their website.

Here is the update:

MR HH425 SAME (Specific Area Message Encoder)
SAME lets you customize weather alerts, so that you only get a weather alert if the emergency is in
your area.
For example, perhaps there is a tornado alert for an adjacent county. Do you need to be bothered with
a weather alert? No. SAME lets you program your location into the radio so that you only get weather
alerts for your specific area. This is done by programming your location code into the radio.
Please note that you cannot have both the regular Weather Alert and SAME turned on at the same
time. If you enable SAME, the regular Weather Alert will automatically turn off. If you enable the
regular Weather Alert, SAME will automatically turn off.
1. Press the BAND button to get to the weather channels.
2. Tune to a live weather broadcast.
3. Press and hold the SETUP button to enter the setup menu.
4. Press and release the SETUP button until you see *SAME* flashing.
5. Use the channel up/down buttons to turn SAME on.
6. After turning it on, press and release the SETUP button. It should say *CODE* on the display.
7. Press channel up/down to select a memory location. You can save up to 10 (0 through 9) different
location codes, depending on how large an area you want the SAME feature to cover.
8. Press the SETUP button. *SAME* should be flashing on the display.
9. You can now enter the 6-digit location code. Use channel up/down, then press SETUP to move to
the next digit.
10. After entering the last digit of the location code, press SETUP. It should say CODE again.
11. You may enter another location code, by repeating steps 7-10. Or press ESC to quit.
Marine-based SAME codes: [...]
Land-based SAME codes: [...]
When on the weather channels, it will say SAME on the display to indicate that SAME is enabled.
You may turn location codes on or off. For example if you have 3 location codes programmed, you
can disable one of them so that you receive warnings only for the remaining 2 areas. Proceed as
follows:
1. Press the BAND button to switch to weather channels.
2. Press and hold SETUP to enter the setup menu.
3. Press SETUP until you see *CODE* on the display.
4. Use channel up/down to select the memory location that you want to disable.
5. Press and hold SETUP until the display says HldSEt. That memory location is now disabled.
6. Press ESC.
To re-enable a location, repeat steps 1-5. After holding SETUP in step 5, wait until the display shows
the location code. It is now re-enable. Press ESC to exit.

I purchased one of these Cobra gmrs-vhf marine radios and it was soo great i just purchased another one. Radio is quality built and outperforms everything else i have ever owned. Great reception , clear, loud and powerful. 5 watts make a big difference and the larger antenna increases the range. Super long life battery pack or comes with aa battery converter pack. This radio hold a charge for up to five days use. Easy to read oversize screen. Drop in charger with dual lighted indicators. 1-3-5 watt outputs. Im impressed. I purchased a uniden natica and i took them back as they were very poor in performance. Five stars and highly recommended. Great job cobra you have a winner here.
\
WALLY

I bought two of these radios to use during a family relocation from Southern California to the Puget Sound area. We had two cars and were driving through the Redwoods and rural sections of Northern California. I knew that there would be times when there would be no Cell Phone coverage and there may be some extreme terrain conditions that ruled out using the low-powered "blister pack" radios.

Prior to the trip, I tried the radios in a normal urban environment. We were successfully able to communicate at ranges of 1 to 2 miles (with one radio inside a vehicle, and one inside a house). I also wanted to test the radios in "ideal conditions". I drove to the top of Signal Hill, a small city in the Long Beach area with an elevation of 150 feet and was able to communicate with the other radio in Anaheim, almost 15 miles away.

On the trip I had both radios set to the "Hi" power setting (5 watts) due to the terrain features that we had to overcome. I was concerned about the battery life at this setting, however the batteries had no problem powering the radios under fairly heavy use on each 8 hour leg of the trip (the radios were fully charged every night).

Overall the performance was great. They were well worth the money.

The only change I would like to see is a true scrambling feature for true privacy.

I purchased this radio for use on a bare boat charter in St Martin. Initial tests in the US showed limited range of 1-2 miles when communicating with Talkabout or Marine VHF radios in a suburban environment. The 425 worked well in the Caribbean allowing me contact with my boat and other crew members ashore. It survived being dunked in the salt water on several occasions when loading the dingy at remote islands, but audio quality degraded until the speaker dried. Sensitivity specs will show that this is not amoung the best in class for VHF and I believe the Talkabouts had less background noise. It's easy to forget that the light button is also the keyboard lock and a couple of crew members kept pressing the light button instead of the PTT. While this is not a perfect radio, it offers acceptable performance as a waterproof dual band radio and should be considered for trips where both bands need to be used or as a general purpose backup radio for a boater/hiker. It is quite a bit heavier than a Talkabout, so use while hiking depends upon trade-offs between battery life/weight and any need for its waterproof capabilities

After reading some reviews on Amazon on this radio as well from members on RadioReference.com, I bit the bullet and ordered one for myself for Christmas. I like the fact that this radio has a maximum power output on GMRS of 5W, not like bubble packed ones like the Motorola MR350R's I bought for my kids. I am hoping it's as good as one member said about 15mile from atop a slight elevation which we have plenty of around here in Northern New Jersey. It is also good to know that these are water resistant would make it easier to carry around during hiking or other types of outdoor rendevous. Also, having a Lithium battery is a plus which should elimiate the guessing games with the older Metal Hydride batteries. More reviews to come...

-- Second Review -- *Product Design and Quality*

I received the walkie talkie today from Amazon. Got here in 3 days via FREE SUPER SAVER, I can't thank Amazon enough! I opened up the box, and noticed how neat it was packed. Radio, antenna, rechargeable battery, and belt clip was neatly laid out and packed. Very good screen protector ensure that it was protected from scratches. I also removed the charger, AC transformer, and the mobile charger.

I then removed the AA battery pack and installed the rechargeable one. Battery compartment has a tight seal around it, I am so far amazed at the quality. Next I attached the antenna, removed the strap, and installed the belt clip. All perfect fit, and the surface of the radio is top notch quality, heavy duty like police/military gear. When I insert the radio onto the charger, it sits nice and snug, and everthing about this unit is just awesome.

I then turned on the radio, LCD display has a backlit and orange in color, real crisp, so far so good. Turned on the radio and noticed that battery shows full bar, neat. Changing the band via the BAND button. No receive so currently have it on weather for NYC. Sound coming from the speaker is like listening to FM radio, I am just blown away. I also performed a test TX with Motorola MR350R, and I like the fact that the MIC is located on the bottom of the radio. This is a good design as it forces your to raise antenna above your head for a marginally better transmit. Also, one reviewer mentioned that it's really not that stable when left stood up. Mine has no issue standing straight up on a table. Another nice feature: TX/RX meter, this is just amazing, like the one on my PRESIDENT HR2510 10m radio (with each segment lighting up as the signal strength increases), this I have to say is the nicest feature on the LCD display. This is the first time in a while that Cobra actually produced a winner as far as consumer radio goes. I wouldn't be surprised if this particular radio becomes the next benchmark for all others are judged similar to the President HR2510 currently is.

Radio does say SUBMERSIBLE but would I submerse it deliberately just to prove that it can like the other reviewer? Not a chance :)

I am definitely going to order a second one once the funds become available, this is a fantastic piece of electronic, I can't wait to give this baby out for a spin for quick range check. Stay tuned!

--- Lazy Man's TX/RX Test ---

I performed some very unscientific test today with my son with another pair of walkie talkies - the MOtorola MR350R's. He was in the house on 2nd floor next to the windows with his walkie talkie and I was in my car driving away from the house towards the big hill up towards 9W. with my Cobra MRHH425LI-VP. To my surprise, we were able to communicate to about .8 miles, much better than when we were talking on two MR350's, which sadly couldn't even do .4-.5 miles, which I actually got out of the car each time when I wanted to transmit/receive.

Definitely showing some improvement with range with just one HH425; imagine if we were both on HH425? Also, I find that it is much easier to communicate with other GMRS radios if I turned off the recording feature as well as the DCS/CTCSS. I was also transmitting on high power setting on channel 15/GMRS. I am definitely considering purchasing another one, instead of getting the Midland GXT1000VP4's. Seeing is believing!

--- Not Quite New ---

I noticed that this radio looks new, left some clues that it may not be. Reasoning is that on the casing's crevices, I am showing some dirt and the screen, although it had the protection, there were some fine scratches on it. Not that big of a deal but this is the problem with non-blister packed equipment where you can actually remove the item and still can claim that it is new.

--- Another *MUST* Update ---

The rechargeable battery, even after when it's fully charged, won't last for more than few key ups on HI power mode. I found this out the hard way when I took the radio to day hiking thinking it would last me at least a day, and after a few transmission, not even holding a conversation, radio went dead. Right now I am using regular alkaline batteries but the radio takes 6 of them, it is a bad design on Cobra's part, or the rechargeable battery that comes with the radio does not have enough A/hr to handle this radio.

I am acually glad that I did not buy the 2nd one because just for this issue, I would not buy this radio again.

Pros: Covers Marine VHF, GMRS. Comes with Li-rechargeable, drop-in charger, AC and DC power cords, and AA battery case. Good controls, metal frame, swivel-off belt clip, easy to read display. Detachable antenna with SMA connector and wrist strap.
Cons: squelches take 1 second to unlock. FRS frequencies 1-7 are fixed to GMRS power and frequencies 8-14 are not included.
no accessory like headphones.

This radio is VHF/GMRS only, not FRS. FRS frequencies 8-14 are FRS only, and are not shared with GMRS. This radio is not marketed as an FRS radio, therefore FRS frequencies 8-14 are not included. Frequencies 1-7, and 15-22 are GMRS (with 1-7 only being shared with FRS).

I test it in the City it works about 3- 3,5 Kilometers.

Excellent radio! Has both marine band and GMRS to allow you to communicate with all other hand-helds. Also has weather channels.
Kniaz would highly recommend it.

I've bought alot of walky talkies and cb's that really never had the range that I need in the mountains. I've tried many, the 16 mile, 22 mile, 30 mile, but none really worked. This cobra is solid and has the range!!! It must be the 1 watt, 3 watt, or 5 watt selection that comes with this cobra. I bought two, just to see if they had the range, and they did!!!! So I ended up buying 9 total, one for all of my employees, and wife. This cobra is AWESOME!!!!!!!! AAAAAAA++++++++

If you are looking for a product that doubles as both a GMRS and a marine radio, you have probably found this product. From the specs, it looks good, and using on dry land, it is fine, but once you use the submersible attribute of the product, that is when the problems start.

I bought this product to replace the 2 radios I had been carrying in waterproof bag. Initially, this product was a god send, it was compact, did 2 functions in just one radio, and didn't need a waterproof bag. The problem is that one the product is submersed, it stops working as intended.

The first one of these I had was submersed in water of about .5 meters for only a few seconds while in my life jacket. After that, the sound levels dropped drastically and functions started to change sporadically without me trying to change them. Cobra was very helpful and sent me an RMA and replaced the product.

The second radio I got (the replacement) befell a similar fate again after being momentarily submersed. This time, the radio began to pick up rogue transmission that weren't on any of the channels I was monitoring. Cobra was again helpful in replacing the device.

The third radio (the replacement's replacement) is now kept in a sealed waterproof bag where I haven't had any trouble with it yet, but the purpose of getting a submersible radio is defeated if it can't be submersed without failing.

If you have plans on keeping the radio high and dry, it is a good radio with a wide feature set and decent reception, but if you are like me and need a radio that can get submersed, I would highly recommend staying away from this one.