Hey Al,

I've always liked their radios, and they have a great reputation for customer support and standing behind their products... When I was installing mine, I called their 800 number with a technical question, expecting to have to go thru the usual voice menu bullshit, etc... Pleasant surprise, the guy who picked up after the first ring was the tech himself, who was very helpful and friendly... PRACTICAL SAILOR always seems to have a high opinion of Standard's stuff, in general...

I'd suggest you think about their higher-end model that has an AIS receive capability built in... That's what I have, it's a very nice full-featured radio, fog signal capability, and all the rest... To get AIS for just a bit more money, it's a tremendous value - shop around, you should be able to find one for around $300, and I see SH is having a $30 rebate offer right now, as well...

http://www.thegpsstore.com/Standard-Horizon-Matrix-AIS-GX2150-VHF-P2629.aspx?gclid=CK7jibPogrcCFUdU4AodgAIAHg

I'd also caution about going with a model in white... Every white radio I've seen seems to fade to a cream or off-white color after a few years, always wind up looking discolored adn dingy, whereas black doesn't seem to change its appearance...

And, definitely, you want the cockpit remote... With the model I have, you can get the AIS display on that as well, although it's quite tiny...

Good luck, and best regards,

Jon