I don't own an IC-V8, but I have put together a few sites which might be
of interest to you and others.  In particular, the Universal Radio and
Batteries America sites, for those who might not know about them,
may be of interest, no matter what handheld or other radio you're
looking to purchase.  The Batteries America site has low prices and high
capacity batteries for many radios as well as having their own chargers
at reasonable prices. If anyone is looking for name brand accessories
for their radio and if you don't mind waiting in case they aren't in
stock, in many instances Universal sells these items at a
significant discount off the retail price. This seems especially true
for Icom.  They don't charge your card though until items ship. For info
on the IC-V8 at Universal's site go to:
http://universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0088.html For info on batteries
and charger for the V8 from Batteries America go to:
http://www.mrnicd-ehyostco.com/icom1.htm
 All their Icom products are shown here, so look for V8. For reviews of
 the V8 go to:
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1788


Keith