Before making a recommendation for a hand held VHF the question is do you
really need one?
ICOM or its equilvalent is a good choice. Bearing in mind that the range is
limited and the battery do not last long.

I have one and I do not use it as much as before. Its not bad for day
sailing.
My fixed mounted VHF has the controls on the mic. The cord is long enough
to use it in the cockpit when I need visual contact. In my neck of the wood
sailors are using cell phone more and more. * 16 gives you direct access to
the coast guard and less people can scan your conversation. Here VHF radio
is used mainly for communicating with the cable ferry operators within the
river systems and Coast Guard ship traffic when entering Harbors in heavy
fog and crossing shipping lanes.
As for kayaking and canoeing a digital cell phone with lithium ion battery
will outlast a portable VHF and has a longer range.
The new trend in VHF now is you can connect it with you GPS. I like this
for when you may need to make a distress call.

When cruising in coastal water its a good thing to a back up VHF.
One year during a big thunder storm my VHF got disabled and I was left
without transmitting capabilities.

"~^ beancounter ~^" wrote in message
ups.com...
hummm...could be you didn't bitch
enough to the right cust service person...i
have always had good luck w/icom in replacing
parts (sometimes free), upgrading to other,
better mdls when doing service and/or repairs...
all their manuals and lit is posted on the web in
pdf files.....and they are easy to get hold of.....same
w/garmin for gps stuff...both co's consistantaly
please me......and, that's rare......what is a "quad-bander
opened up to VHF"??