JRayfield
Member
Not sure where your information came from, but it's not correct. There are thousands of HT-series portables being used by firefighters and law enforcement, all over the U.S. And they all have a very low 'failure rate' in that environment (I'm speaking from experience).
And Motorola Solutions does consider that series of radios (CDM and HT series), as well as the XPR-series of radios, to be "public safety grade". If asked them, and the answer was "YES".
John Rayfield, Jr.
And Motorola Solutions does consider that series of radios (CDM and HT series), as well as the XPR-series of radios, to be "public safety grade". If asked them, and the answer was "YES".
John Rayfield, Jr.
While you will find Waris platform radios in use by some public safety agencies, the odds of finding them being carried by firemen and police officers is rather low. They're good radios but they're not designed to take the level of mechanical abuse that a fireman or cop can dish out.
You could argue (successfully) that the XTS1500 is a glorified Waris platform radio. So it's a lower cost radio for use by budget challenged police and fire departments, right?
Well, they have a rather high failure rate. Even when used by such high demand users as school bus drivers. (That's slightly sarcastic, btw.) In my last job as a radio tech, a few XTS1500s came in for repair and they all needed new housings and most of them needed new PTT switches on the PC board. They're just not up to the mechanical durability standards of the more expensive models.
It takes a lot to score a mechanical kill on an XTS5000. Or, to be fair about it, on a Harris P7100. I've seen examples of both radios that had been run over by a fire truck and both were restored to working condition after replacing basically everything EXCEPT the PC boards, which were fine.
I usually make an effort to be very dispassionate about radios these days. They're tools. You use what you want. But I also DO have an opinion on various radios and I will offer it now. You do NOT have to agree with it, but it IS my opinion, formulated over 30 years in radio as both a hobbyist and as a professional:
There are people who think their Kenwood and Icom commercial gear measures up to Motorola (and Harris) public safety radios. And the are absolutely wrong, bordering on delusional. In my opinion. In my experience.
Granted, I have not extensively evaluated EVERY recent and current radio on the market. But I've seen enough examples and bench tested them and been inside them and repaired them and used them that my opinion is certainly adequately validated as far as I'm concerned.
Oh, BTW, prices on XTS5000s have come way down lately. You can get a good one for 300 bucks if you look around. That pretty much qualifies as the bargain of the century.