zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

After reading all the posts following yours, and seeing you have a radio used as an example, I will say this:

One poster does note the practicality of the radio being unique to the job in comparison to your Seamaster. However.... When buying the radio for this line of work, did you buy Motorola, Vertex Standard, Kenwood, Icom, Ericsson or another brand. If you bought Motorola, you paid the highest amount of money for that radio, hands down, when really you only needed a Kenwood or Vertex Standard that functions the same as well and would have saved you about $700-900.

Now... who is to judge whether you should have a Seamaster or Seiko as opposed to Motorola or Kenwood. Especially if you carry the radio around with you when you are not performing your job duty.

If you were called to an emergency and were out at dinner with family, flat left and had your radio and watch in your possession with no other need to go to the station (thus, leaving you able to go strait to the scene to engage in whatever instead of wasting precious seconds in returning to the station), then having that watch on you was just as good as having the radio on you as well. Being prepared.

But I'll tell you why you probably got the Motorola over the Kenwood... You probably got it because of a tried and true product, rock solid dependability and longevity to accompany that high price that was paid.

It may be a long shot with the swings I gave you, but what the hell, I'm being creative.

: Here is the deal: I am a volunteer firefighter
: in my city and I'm also just finishing up my
: First Responder certification for the County
: Emergency Response Team.

: As a first responder I'll be required to asses
: medical and trauma patients which include
: vital signs (checking for blood pressure and
: pulse). This requires having a watch with a
: second hand.

: I am on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
: whenever I'm home and available. It's a
: strictly volunteer job, I get no
: compensation for it.

: I know that I should be able to deduct all
: purchases that I make that are required for
: getting my volunteer work done (I have
: deducted my handheld and mobile radio
: purchases), however can I, or should I
: deduct $2k+ for a watch? Can I make the
: claim that I bought the watch because of the
: first responder thing? It's a bit easier
: with a two-way radio that has absolutely no
: use outside of my firefighting tasks (well I
: can listen to the weather broadcast at home)
: but it might be a harder sale to explain why
: I needed a Speedmaster to check someone's
: pulse on scene......