Mt1500 (1.5)

bryanknj · #1 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 02:33 AM

Board members,
I am looking for the pros/cons of the Motorola MT1500 with display for Law Enforcement use. We will need to begin replacing our aging fleet of HT1000 radios operating on a VHF conventional system and this is one of the portables I am leaning towards. All thoughts on this radio as well as suggestions for other radios are greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Bryan K

RodStrong · #2 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 04:10 AM

I don't have specific experience with the MT1500, but I do with some of it's bigger cousins, and one nice thing about potentially going to this radio is most of your HT1000 accessories (such as speaker mics and many battery chargers) will work with it. This may or may not be of importance to you depending on your financial situation.

There are certainly other vendors as well that make comparable radios, some for a lot less money, but I am not going to turn this into a Ford vs. Chevy thread. Someone else can do that.

Good luck.

KS4VT · #3 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 09:28 AM

I have tons of MT1500's in use with local government users, who in some cases are harder on their radios than public safety users, and they have an excellent track record in my book and are a very close second to the MTS2000.

You should look to what your long term goals are, such as P25, as Motorola to date hasn't advised whether they will allow a digital upgrade to the MT1500 even though it is a flashport radio and has the same guts as an XTS1500 and XTS2500. It may be a better option to get XTS1500 Model 1.5's if your future goals are digital P25 capabilities.

Mark

MTS2000des · #4 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 03:19 AM

so no P25 upgrade for the MT1500 but yes for the PR1500? I am banging my head against the desk Mark. I own a VHF model 1.5 and a UHF model 1, so they will forever be analog only?

bummer.

to the OP, they are EXCELLENT radios on the Astro 25 platform. Lots of options in the way of programming, the battery life is much better than my Jedi (HT1000/MTS2000) and much better ergonomics. The display on the model 1.5 is nice, with the later units (or current firmware) they will do up to 96 modes. You can program a button to switch your A-B-C to select between zones 1,2,3 and 4,5,6- when used with the latest CPS. This is nice as the model 1.5 does not have a menu system like an XTS2500.