I don't know if it is the best or not, but last year I purchased a Uniden Atlantis 250 for $99 from Bass Pro. It has all the bells and whistles that I want, including 1 watt and 5 watt selection. I have been generally pleased with it.
I mostly used the 1 watt as I was running the radio on the included rechargeable or on AAs. At 5 watts I could see the battery meter go down as I talked. The radio seemed to have a 1 Watt range of about two miles on the water.
This year I wired the boat so I can run the radio off the 12 volt power cord. I also added a plastic holder on the console for the radio. The short holder that comes with the radio didn't look very secure. Anyway, this year I can run 5 Watts. I expect it will be good for 3 to 5 miles, between the islands, if I stand up when I talk.
The speaker is very clear, which is important to me as I am a little hard of hearing. I don't hear some frequencies hardly at all. Anyway, I didn't have any problems understanding other folks.
