ICOM 700...

[lastfreedom]

Hello,

Anyone know about the ICOM 700? Someone is offering to sell me one for $300 and am not sure whether this is a good deal or not. Also, is the 700 Pro the only one out there or is there a regular 700 (non-Pro) version too?

Thanks,

Matthew

[WATERNUT]

Matthew;
In my experience the 700 is real workhorse. I used one for years in the BVI charter trade. When it wnt a little fuzzy it went into Cay electronics in Tortola for a new board or two. Good enough for a few more years until it went fuzzy again. They told me that due to extremes in the environment the old horse was best put out to pasture.
The 710''s were the next generation. These have been replaced by their newest version the 802''s.

Bottom line, the 700''s were great. The years may have caught up with the unit your looking at. I''d have it checked out. If it checks out ok at 300 bucks jump on it.

But that''s just my opinion.

Waternut

[WHOOSH]

Matthew, there are two Icom 700 models active in the boating fleet right now. The ''Pro'' replaced an earlier model perhaps 5 years ago. I would suggest you ask the seller to confirm they are selling you the ''Pro'' which I''m guessing they are not.

The earlier 700 had a good rep and held up well in the marine environment but that model is not suitable for pactor (email), is probably fairly corroded internally by now if it''s been on a boat, and I would suggest you buy it subject to inspection and repair. The idea I''d consider would be to send it to AES (as one example - Icom dealers, certified Icom techs, etc.) for a complete bench test. You pay for the test (like paying for a survey...) but the seller pays for broken parts or declines the have it fixed at his/her expense, in which case you walk. I think you''d want to have the tests done even if you bought it outright.

Jack

[manateee_gene]

I have one of the old 700''s it is in excellent condition and while it does not have a big knob to tune with, I would not trade it for anything. There was an article on one of the boards about how to modify the 700 so it can be used for e-mail!I have boards and weather and many groups pretuned. If you track Practical Sailor you will find about 3 years ago they thoughtr it was the best buy for actual use!
Gene

[WATERNUT]

Matthew;

Ditto re: WHOOSH.
We share the same opinion on this unit, WHOOSH articulates much better than I.

I really like the big knobs(you know what I mean!)
preferable to the digitally advanced freqs.

But that''s just my opinion.
H20Nut