Icom IC-A24 vs Sporty's SP-400

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GreggSRT8

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GreggSRT8
Any one have experience with either of these. Is one better than the other? Difference in ease of use and capabilities?
Also does anyone know if either company has plans to release a new and improved version? Hoping I don't buy one and the new version comes out in a month.
 
GreggSRT8 said:
Any one have experience with either of these. Is one better than the other? Difference in ease of use and capabilities?
Also does anyone know if either company has plans to release a new and improved version? Hoping I don't buy one and the new version comes out in a month.
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I can't comment on the sporty 400, but I owned what I think was the 200. As we speak I am reading on how to use my ic-a24 that I purchased in Oshkosh after I was unable to get my old one to work despite all my best efforts.

So far I like the functionality, search function and ability to toggle between your frequently used frequencies. If there are any questions you have specifically let me know and I will look it up and give you an update.
 
I have the Icom A-6, which is the 24 without the VOR. It's OK. Aviation Consumer likes Sporty's better than any of the other radios as of the time of the review a couple of years ago.

I think you are supposed to not let the A-24 stay plugged in. Not sure, but might affect battery life.

Sporty's is bigger and clunky, but also has more battery

I think you will want to think about how you are going to use your radio. Will it be your ini-plane emergency backup? Will you want to be able to use it easily, with one hand, when things are busy? Do you plan to transmit a lot or mostly receive? How easy it is to change to a brand new channel?

If I were to buy another, I'd research the Sporty's more. The Icom I have is OK but nothing to brag about.
 
I have the vertex if you are looking for another brand. It has been a great radio
 
I had no end of trouble with my Vertex VX-220 due to poor contact between the speaker's springs and PCB. Often I turned it on and there was no sound. Drove me mad. Eventually bent the springs into a more reasonable shape with needle-nosed pliers and it seems reliable now. Still, the UI is just as bad as everyone claims. Horrible. I have to carry a manual with me at all times. It was a lesson not soon forgotten and I wish I bought IC-A24 instead.

In addition, VX-220 is poorly compatible with my DC-10.3 headset. Oh, and requires external PTT.
 
GreggSRT8 said:
Any one have experience with either of these. Is one better than the other? Difference in ease of use and capabilities?
Also does anyone know if either company has plans to release a new and improved version? Hoping I don't buy one and the new version comes out in a month.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on what you want a hand-held comm to do.

If I have enough electrical problems in a semi-modern AC that I would think I'd need a hand-held, I might rethink what I was trying to accomplish.

If I had a NORDO Champ, J-3 or C-120, then I'd probably talk to people that used one or another for optional comm.

Somehow over the last 20 or so years, someone selling handheld radios has convinced a bunch of people that they are somehow necessary. I'm not sure how that happened.
 
BurtM said:
someone selling handheld radios has convinced a bunch of people that they are somehow necessary. I'm not sure how that happened.
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Necessary? No. Convenient, very much so, in our glider operations. If I did not have one, I'd go out and buy one.
 
BurtM said:
Somehow over the last 20 or so years, someone selling handheld radios has convinced a bunch of people that they are somehow necessary. I'm not sure how that happened.
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For those of us renters with Hobbs meters tied to the electrical master, a handheld can pay for itself after a dozen flights or less just by getting ATIS and clearances before starting. When paying about $180/hr, each .1 tick is painful when you're not going anywhere.
 
I fly almost exclusively IFR and carry an SP-400 as a backup comm, nav and ILS. I have experienced a main comm failure due to an antenna problem so can attest to firsthand knowledge of how comforting it is to have a handheld backup available. Whichever brand and model you choose I highly recommend that you also spring for the headset adapters. You'll still have to deal with the handheld PTT but at least you'll be able to use your headset.
 
Wonder if the guys flying the Airbus could have used a handheld when they had the complete cockpit electrical failure?

Cheers
 
I like the vertex, works about 10 miles out with just the rubber ducky antenna.. Comes with the headset adapter, which I believe is required for your santity.

I charge it about once a month, to make sure it is always ready. I have used it a few times in two years.
 
I have the Icom -24, I think I've used the VOR function once on the ground and once in the air just to see if it worked.

Our glider club uses handhelds all the time, and we use them pretty hard. The Icom and Vertex are pretty bullet-proof. I have no experience wtih Spory's.

In my experience, the Icom and Vertex are very rugged, very reilable, and have equally powerful transmitters. The differences will be in the user-interface. They each have their own quirks on how to configure preset freqs, squelch, and other functions. So it all comes down to personal preference.

I use my handheld almost all the time I fly, even if it's just to get weather and ATIS reports. I have yet to need it in the air because of comm failures (not counting glider flights where it is the only comm I have.)

There will be pleny of people who will recommend getting a comm-only handheld instead of a comm/nav and using the savings towards a handheld GPS.
 
I've yet to buy a sporty's branded product that I would recommend. no PIREP of the SP-400 but the SP-200 is unimpressive and makes me think "illegal Chinese import" for quality standards.
 
I have an Icom, and wish I'd gone with the Vertex. The reason I did go with Icom was that I've seen commercial band rigs in that same case take a dive off an 80' tower, hit concrete, bounce, and come up operational.

The downside was, I wanted Lithium Ion, so I had to buy third party batteries and charger for it. Icom's love affair with NiCD sucks.
 
denverpilot said:
I have an Icom, and wish I'd gone with the Vertex. The reason I did go with Icom was that I've seen commercial band rigs in that same case take a dive off an 80' tower, hit concrete, bounce, and come up operational.

The downside was, I wanted Lithium Ion, so I had to buy third party batteries and charger for it. Icom's love affair with NiCD sucks.
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If you had it to do over again, which model of Vertex would you pick, and why?
 
Rigged4Flight said:
If you had it to do over again, which model of Vertex would you pick, and why?
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Well, the VXA-710 is the only Vertex with Li battery, and it matches Karen's VX-7R Ham rig, so accessories probably cross-over...

I truly hate the user interface, but I'd survive it.

I like their other rig better, the 220 but just noticed there's no Li battery available for it. Hrumph. Voted off the island... ;)

Looking now, the Icom A-14 wasn't out when I bought the A-6. It looks pretty good too, and hmm...

No AA battery case for the Vertex. I hadn't noticed that only their NiMH radios have one available.

So... I think I'd get the Icom A-14 if I were buying today. Bigger buttons, the battery types I want, and larger overall but not huge. Li battery for regular use, AA-pack in the bag for emergency use.

Another plus, I like BNC antenna connectors better than SMA. Not by a huge margin, but I have crimp tools for BNC stuff, and can make my own cables, antennas, etc. a nit-pick most wouldn't care about.

SMA to BNC adapters put too much stress on the SMA on the radio and break things when tugged. Plus adapters are notorious for intermittent problems and if they can be avoided, I do.

If I had an extra external antenna on an aircraft it probably would have a BNC on the end on the cable, or would after I got done with it. :)
 
I have the Vertex 220. I am of the mindset that the VOR/NAV function would be better on a $100-$200 handheld for backup... So I didn't pay for it on the handheld...

After thinking about it, I did fly with the Sporty's 400 once. We used it, it seemed to work fine (Even the ILS).. But it wasn't as rugged as the Vertex or Icom...
 
I've got both an Icom A6 and a VXA-710. Build quality is super solid on both, perhaps with the edge going to the Vertex. The Icom is MUCH simpler and user friendly. While the Vertex does need an SMA-to-BNC adapter for most common antennas, it comes with one in the package (but is another small part to lose).

The Vertex is a bit smaller and lighter, but its belt clip sucks. It's got one of the swivel-removable clips found on cheap cell phone holsters, whereas the Icom has a real clip.

My Icom's battery seems to have been killed by leaving it plugged in all the time, or at least for a week on end. It'll die after 3-4 transmissions. I'm going to be a bit more careful with the Vertex's battery...not sure if the LiON is susceptible to that. It's been relegated to acting as a receiver for one of my LiveATC feeds, which is why I picked up the additional unit. I was tempted to buy the Vertex because of its size, stashing it in my flight bag.
 
Those looking for AA battery packs will want to consider if they get enough power to make a decent transmission. My experience with my ham Yaesu VR-5 is the AA battery pack is only reliable for receive. The Icom A6 says right up front to not leave it on the charge more than (8?) hours.
 
jnmeade said:
The Icom A6 says right up front to not leave it on the charge more than (8?) hours.
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Yeah, guilty as charged. It's been tossed on late afternoons and forgotten about before leaving town a few times.
 
denverpilot said:
No AA battery case for the Vertex.
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I have Vertex VX-220 with optional 8xAA pack. It works well enough, but I found that the radio does not warn about low battery with it. So it just dies one day. I went through a couple of battery sets with it and switched back to the standard rechargeable pack. It's the same radio that I fixed with skillful application of pliers. I'll be happy to swap it for Icom A24.
 
So a Vertex with charger, and placing the charger on a timer outlet so as to never exceed the recommended charge ours, would possibly make that the better radio?
 
Mike I said:
Yeah, guilty as charged. It's been tossed on late afternoons and forgotten about before leaving town a few times.
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Thus, why I wanted Li batteries. Chargers for such have to have some intelligence built into them. Most NiCD/NiMH chargers are just "dumb" trickle chargers, great at cooking batteries.
 
I just ordered the Icom a24 and don't have it yet for a review. I've had several Icom marine handhelds and never had a problem. I have a Sp-200 from Sporty's I bought off eBay for cheap when I was just considering flight training. I'm pretty sure it's made by Bendix King and doesn't impress me (but it is an old model so I'll give them some slack). I haven't held the 400 but was considering it strongly up until this morning when I pulled the trigger on the Icom. I went ahead and bought the AA battery tray to have as a back-up in my bag.
 
We use Icoms for airport mobile use. I don't remember the model numbers and am home so I can't just go look at them. We had a couple of the pilot communication only radios and they didn't hold up too well. I also found that I could buy a new one for less than icom wanted for a repair. We replaced them with the icom ruggedized version. This version has been more reliable. We did find that these have a mike sensitivity adjustment that doesn't seem well documented but was necessary to get clear transmissions.
 
I just ordered the ICOM IC-A24 220v from Sporty's....they price matched the lowest price I found online @ $319. I had a bunch of Sporty's Gift Cards that covered the cost so nothing out of pocket!!

I will post my review when I receive it in a few days.

My neighbor has the SP-400 so I will borrow and do a comparison.
 
Somehow over the last 20 or so years, someone selling handheld radios has convinced a bunch of people that they are somehow necessary. I'm not sure how that happened.[/QUOTE]

I was just departing a busy towered airport at night. About 300 feet and climbing, everything went dark and I smelled smoke. I turned the controls over to my pilot rated passenger and groped in the back for my Sportys handheld. I called the tower told them of our trouble and returned to land.

A short had taken out the buss.

My handheld is great at the airpark for greeting visitors and telling them where to park, for situational awareness while doing weed control, useful at flyins, etc etc.

I love em:)

Paul
N1431A
N83803
2AZ1
 
GreggSRT8 said:
I just ordered the ICOM IC-A24 220v from Sporty's....they price matched the lowest price I found online @ $319. I had a bunch of Sporty's Gift Cards that covered the cost so nothing out of pocket!!

I will post my review when I receive it in a few days.

My neighbor has the SP-400 so I will borrow and do a comparison.
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Why did you get the 220v version?
 
denverpilot said:
I have an Icom, and wish I'd gone with the Vertex. The reason I did go with Icom was that I've seen commercial band rigs in that same case take a dive off an 80' tower, hit concrete, bounce, and come up operational.

The downside was, I wanted Lithium Ion, so I had to buy third party batteries and charger for it. Icom's love affair with NiCD sucks.
Click to expand...

I have a different thread on radio batteries, and looked at Icom's website. If you look at the product brochure online for the IC-A24, they appear to have a Li-Ion battery for it. I haven't looked at a store and how much they cost though.
 
Wonder if the guys flying the Airbus could have used a handheld when they had the complete cockpit electrical failure?
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I don't know about the airbus, but I doubt it would be much (if any) good in most airline cockpits.

Even if one had much range out of them, which one doesn't (especially inside the cockpit on an airbus or boeing), by the time one is within ten miles of the field, one is on final and landing.

At the speeds in question, one wouldn't be talking to one station for very long, and enroute they wouldn't be much good, either.

Electrical failures are a regular training item; we regularly have used the Loss of All Generators procedure in each recurrent training. I've never seen "use handheld transceiver" as part of the recipe for success.

That's why there are lost comm procedures.

I have a Vertex, and I don't think I've ever actually used it. Aside from it's overly complex operational requirements, it's just never been useful. It has a little more application in light airplanes, but I don't carry one now when I fly general aviation aircraft, either.

Aircraft still fly just fine without the radio.
 
I've chatted with flight crew on VHF FM on the ham bands before from airliner cockpits who've said they were on power settings of less than 1W.

Radio works fine through the relatively thin skin.

"Just buzzing along here at 30,000' Aeronautical Mobile, over."
 
I have an older Vertex i have had for years. The batteries have been amazing, although I don't use it a lot. But it can sit in my bag for months and still be ready to go.

My primary use is monitoring student solo flight. My own kid admitted a certain comfort when he heard me call on that first flight. Of course he took the opportunity to announce to the world, "This thing sure flys different without Fatty onboard!"
 
Bringing to life an old thread, but thought I'd get current opinions. I'd be using one of these radios for emergency only as I will flying IFR as soon as I get my ticket. My instructor mentioned it'd be a good idea to get something with vor/ils. Any more comments on either 2 radios? Thank you, DM
 
There's ads that say they upgraded the big screen one's screen recently. No other info, just sharing.
 
denverpilot said:
There's ads that say they upgraded the big screen one's screen recently. No other info, just sharing.
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Yes, I'm reading that as well. I guess one benefit that I could gain on the 400, if my endless supply of AA bat's. Wife get's them free from work once they've been used one time in low pwr hospital equip. I'll hang out and wait till i get a few more responses. Sucks they don't throw in the $26 headset adopt. like Icom. Maybe can ebay that.
 
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I guess I'll comment on my own writeup. As I reading icom reviews from Amazon, I see that some complain of the ion bat. reliability. The more I think about this, we use Motorola radios with that same type bat. at work. When they have a memory created, those expensive packs are FINISHED. For that reason, my vote thus far is with 400 due to the easily replaceable AA bats, uh and for my supply of those bat's. Standing by for more thoughts. DM
 
Big fan of the handhelds.....used an Icom years ago when I was in ops to talk to the crews if I was on another bird........used it all the time in GA for picking up clearances and the atis etc........in cruise at 7,500ft over Daggett coming in from Laughlin called LA Center on it just to see if it worked, and heard everything just fine. My son taught a Chiropractor to fly years ago and he bought a 210. He's a big fan of handhelds also.........one evening coming over the Grapevine past Burbank the panel on the 210 went dark......he had nothing......grabbed the Icom and it was a non-event.......that's worth it right there........the Icom I used also had the VOR on it, I think just a COM function is good enough if you have a GPS on battery somewhere...........
 
Vf6cruiser said:
Big fan of the handhelds.....used an Icom years ago when I was in ops to talk to the crews if I was on another bird........used it all the time in GA for picking up clearances and the atis etc........in cruise at 7,500ft over Daggett coming in from Laughlin called LA Center on it just to see if it worked, and heard everything just fine. My son taught a Chiropractor to fly years ago and he bought a 210. He's a big fan of handhelds also.........one evening coming over the Grapevine past Burbank the panel on the 210 went dark......he had nothing......grabbed the Icom and it was a non-event.......that's worth it right there........the Icom I used also had the VOR on it, I think just a COM function is good enough if you have a GPS on battery somewhere...........
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Thx 4 input. I suppose you're right as I do have the ifly. Actually with my included skyguardwtx adsb xceiver I am waas. I look at it as another redundant nav source. U just never know:hairraise:
 
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