I have a bunch of different UHF radios in stock that I use for my own production, as well as rent to clients. I also use VHF radios in my volunteer gig as a boating patrol officer and search and rescue for the national park service. Here is what I use:
Icom F4S 2 chan (discontinued): These were my first "good" radios, and are still going strong more than 15 years later. They are only two channel, so I don't rent them to clients, but they still get used by our production staff a lot. We bought both Icom and Radio Shack remote mics for these. I like Icom a lot.
Icom F4001 16 channel: These are my current main client rental radios. They run about $150 ea and come with a drop in charger. They get programmed with my main licensed business frequency, as well as general "dot" business frequencies with privacy codes. The clients can talk to production on our freq, or talk to each other. Well built and compact, and the batteries seem to last a long time. we have remote mics as well as a few headsets with these. Great radios!
Icom 4011 16 channel: I have a few of these. Basically a bigger version of the 4001. My clients like the smaller compact 4001 better so I never bought any more of these. Still a great radio, but they run a few dollars more than the 4001. They use the same mics as the 4001.
Motorola HT600 2 channel (discontinued): We call these radios "tanks" because it will take an enemy force with heavy weapons to destroy one. I used to carry one of these in my fire department days. Great radios, but old and heavy. I still have a few of them in the inventory, and we use them as a production office radio base station, security base station, etc.
Motorola HT1000 16 channel (discontinued): I just bought a few more used ones in VHF for use on the boats, and to keep in my vehicles. These are also built like tanks and are still in service with many public safety agencies. I have a few in UHF that I use in production, but they are a bit heavy to give to clients. If you are on a budget, you might look into buying some of these used. I always see packages of HT1000 on ebay with drop in gang chargers, and remote mics. I get them programmed from a local Motorola dealer for $15 each. You can still buy remote mics, headsets, batteries, and other accessories for them. I trust my life to this radio! You can't go wrong with Motorola HT series.
Motorola HT750 16 channel: Nice heavy duty radio, currently used by a lot of public safety agencies. I have one in UHF that I bought used from a guy and programmed to go into my inventory. I usually end up carrying it around as my main radio. A little pricey, but if you can find them used, they might be a good deal.
Motorola HT1250 128 chan: Current public service radio. I have one of these in Lo Band for Search and Rescue. Its a great radio, and a lot of the patrol guys have them in VHF. Another one of those radios that if you find a package of them used with drop in gang chargers, you might score a good deal, but overall, a bit overkill for a production radio.
Vertex 354 16 channel: I bought one in VHF to use as a handheld on the boats. It lasted about 3 months, and I just replaced it with a used HT1000. On mine, the remote mic died after a few patrol shifts, and even without the remote mic, dispatch tells me my audio is scratchy. They are small and compact, and its nice having the display window too see what channel you are on (but since I wear the radio on my belt and use a remote mic, I never see the screen anyway). The battery lasts a very long time, and would be really good radios to use in production, although a little pricey.
Maxon SP series: I have some older cheap Maxon radios in the inventory that I barely use. I bought them years ago in Maryland when I ran out of radios one weekend and needed four more radios really fast. They work OK, but are not a rugged as I would like for a client radio. These end up being used as production radios.
Black Box: I bought a Black Box radio to check it out a while back. They are fine, but I decided to go with the Icoms. They have a lot of accessories available and might be worth a look.
Radio Boss: I ran into these guys at a trade show here in Las Vegas last year. They make a bunch of very small two way UHF and VHF radios, and offer tons of accessories like remote mics, headsets, gang chargers, and even a double muff high noise environment headset with boom mic (perfect for using near the stage) Never bought anything from them, but you might want to take a look, especially at their headsets.
www.radioboss.comEarTec: Eartec offers up a few basic radios that can be used with their headsets, including single and double muff styles. I have a TD900 interface system from them that gives me a wireless comm headset for my Clear Com rigs. Its built OK and works fine for what I need it to do. Their simplex radios might be worth a look.
www.eartec.com
