Icom IC-V86 7W VHF 2M Handheld Transceiver

I have bought many HT's of all brands and this is my workhorse. Durable and rugged, I have taken it on SOTA activations in Colorado, also use it for monitoring simplex everyday. It seems the sensitivity of this radio is much better than some of the others I have. Pair this with a signal stick or a roll-up jpole and you have a bulletproof portable station. Use a mag mount on the vehicle with the accessory mic and it makes an excellent mobile setup.

I love buying from gigaparts over HRO. I have an HRO less than a mile from me, but when I bought my first HT, it took a few weeks to have them mars/mod it because they only have a part time guy who goes in on Saturdays when he's available. Gigaparts received my order on a Friday morning, did the mod, and shipped it less than 2 hours later. UPS, HOWEVER, HAS HAD IT HEAVEN KNOWS WHERE SINCE THEN. It's going from Georgia to new hampshire. Next time I'll pay for expedited shipping. I'll review the unit when it arrives.

This is the best 2 meter only ht you can buy. It’s battery charges fast with the included drop in charger and lasts long. The audio tx and rx is very loud and clear. Mil spec and water resistant. The bnc antenna connector is strong and great to hook up external antenna quickly. The price is nice. Reminds me of the workhorse the old ic2at. Buy one. You’ll be happy with it. 73

Great simple 2m HT, an everyday companion.
Only conn is its display and the small signs on it. It would be so much better with a dot matrix LCD.

The Icom V86 is really a sweet piece of kit. No, it's not as capable as my Icom T-70A, but then it's only meant to work on the 2m band, and is not a dual band radio.
I wanted something that would be easier to use when only working with other 2m Hams and this fits my pistol just fine. It boasts 7w instead of the usual 5w for most HTs and that's got to give me a little more range.
Fortunately, there are plenty of connections to adapt the BNC antenna to my mobile on my truck. So, I get to punch out 7w on a high gain mobile rig which is just fine with me.
This little beauty also boasts a couple of high capacity li-ion batteries (the BP-298 with 2100 mAh min. and the BP-299 with 2050 mAh min.) the BP299 is rated at 27 hours of use.
Unfortunately I could only gave this baby 4 stars (it truly deserves 5). I'm thinking it must just be too new in the pipeline as there are currently (Nov 19, 2019) very few accessories available. I went on a road trip to several states, over several weeks,and unfortunately, my BC-240 charger didn't make it home. And, a small radio like the V86, with a dead battery, is not even a good doorstop. I've called Icom and talked directly to their parts folks. The lady on the line was wonderful, but even she is as dismayed as I am. Even IcomAmerica can't get spare or replacement BC-240 battery chargers. There's also a multi radio charger (the BC-214N) listed, but again, even IcomAmerica can't get their own parts.
Candace, from Gigaparts is also looking around for me. She acknowledged that they don't have the BC240 in stock, but she is searching and probably getting the same story I got from IcomAmerica.
If additional parts and pieces for the V86 do become available, I'll happily update this review. But until then ...