Motorola HT1250 Replacement

[BlueDevil]

What radio are you or have you replaced your HT1250 with? Our Public Safety agencies are predominately using the HT1250. Some have started to transition to the Icom F70.

Our county wide simulcast system is only about 3 years old. It is conventional analong VHF and no foreseeable upgrades or conversion in the future. The entire region (including our neighboring agencies and counties) are conventional analong VHF. We don't really have any need for a real expensive and feature rich radio. We will probably get at least P25 capable so we can use these radios into the future.

The HT1250 has and continues to serve us well for what we need. Any recommendations or suggestions for a simple replacement?

 

[SCPD]

For yourself a decent used or new xts 1500 or 2500 model 1.5 or model 2 at least. For agency they can still order the xts line if they get it in on time which forget the cut off but it is near then you'd have to go apx end. Just be careful on flea bay for personal use items. Go with a seller anywhere with credentials for used gear as it would be used for on the job functions that will pass testing etc. There is other brand a which do p25 that aren't as expensive but you can find a good used xts still around that is certified. Adding to it you'll wanna get a radio that suits your areas future upgrades and near by. P25 then get a p25 capable one. Mototrbo then a mototrboor nxdn etc. If you areas format is probably p25 way layer or surrounding agencies you'll want p25 units. Basically go for IS rated and approved gear that hasn't been toyed with. Specially in public safety and fire end. Dealers may have equipment you csn get which is used and in great condition certified, tuned, latest firmware. Just research it before getting a cheapie too good to be true. Others will chime in on the importance of certified gear.

 

[mmckenna]

A few years back our PD needed to replace their fleet of aging MTS2000 VHF's. We tried a few different options, including XTS-2500's, APX as well as Kenwood TK-5210 and NX-210's. In the end the NX-210's won out. Better audio and lower cost, smaller/lighter radio.
Since all they needed was analog VHF, it's more than suitable. I've already got 300 or so NX-410's in my fleet, and they have about 30 of those, so being able to swap batteries and accessories made some sense.

Not hard to find a suitable radio today. Most of the higher end gear will do MDC1200, if you need that. The market is competitive, so lots of choices if you aren't stuck on the batwings.

 

[BlueDevil]

I am not too familiar with Kenwood. I will have to look into those radios. We are not in any hurry to replace our fleet of radios but need to start figuring out what we would like to go to because we will need to start budgeting for replacement. Right now we are using just the basics, no digital, no MDC1200, no trucking, etc. Just plain and simple conventional analog. I have always like the way the scan system works on the Motorola radios. It seems to have quick and reliable priority checking and is fast. Other than that I really have no loyalty to the "Batwings"

 

[SCPD]

Yeah bendix kings do p25 as well as analog. I haven't checked in a while but they were working on mdc 1200 on a few mid tier models. Kenwood and icoms are decent. I would go with the option board for p25 so any agencies around you can be monitored. They do mdc 1200 also fpr analog. Since your not needing any trunking these decent end other markets are a plus for you. I honestly would like to get a icom p25 portable for duty use but they went all blown out apx with any option you can think while we only need basic p25 and mdc 1200 for analog. You know how politics and sales go. I do like kenwoods. Ill have to look at the model types again as well as kenwood and I'll post back. But you have options. The Relm bendix kings are one option if they do mdc 1200. I'll look into that also.

 

[w8prr]

I'm not up on current models, but I've always liked Kenwood. I worked with a system that had both Motorola and Kenwood, and the Kenwood was every bit as reliable as the Motorola, had 2 Kenwood repeaters in primary dispatch functions for County Law enforcement and in 10 years only had 2 outages due to repeater failure. ( had a few others due to antenna issues) we also had another 3 in fire service for about 5 years while I was there with no repeater failures. We had 4 MTS 2000's in fire service and only one failure in 5 years. (The fire units only came into our agency at the 5 yr point) By far the bulk of the mobiles and portables on the street were Kenwood and they preformed very well, the usual issues with portable antennas and mics, mostly due to user abuse.

 

[12dbsinad]

We use Icom F80 (UHF version) P25 radios in out dept. with waterproof shoulder mics. Have had these for a few years and seem to hold up well with good audio. Kenwood also is a great choice like others have said.

I would suggest buying a model that is still in current production and supported and keep them all the same, The XTS line is (or already is) on the way out, so support will end within a few years and that means parts will quickly become not available. Also, buying radios from flea bay for a front line public safety radio gives me heartburn. Buy from a local reputable dealer so you can have the support that goes with it. They will probably treat you much better walking in with a busted radio bought from them rather then one from flea bay.

 

[mmckenna]

So, comparing several radios side by side, our officers strongly preferred the better audio of the Kenwoods over that of the Motorola. I received a lot of positive feedback.

If you are looking for a basic analog only hand held, you'll have some options, but good high grade (dare I say "Public Safety Grade"?) radios you'll find will almost all be analog/digital. It's getting difficult to find analog only "public safety" grade radios.

A couple of options:
Kenwood NX-5200. It does Analog and NXDN out of the box for a very reasonable price. You can "add" the P25 license later on only if you need it. They'll do MDC1200, FleetSync, as well as DTMF ID'ing. There are also strong rumors circulating that a DMR software add on license is coming for this line of radios. So, you can buy analog/NXDN now, and once you decide which flavor of digital you need, you can add it when the budget allows.

Kenwood NX-200. Again, this is an analog/NXDN radio. Reasonable price and a lot of them in use on the public safety side. If you decide to swap out NXDN for P25, you can send the radios back to Kenwood and they can update the firmware to do P25 instead. Again, you'd by the radio you need now, and could add P25 later on when your budget allows.

There are similar options on the mobile side, too, but you might want to consider purchasing a p25 capable mobile now. Mobiles tend to have a longer life span than hand held radios, so it's a longer term investment. TK-5710 is what we chose for our PD.

We chose these because Motorola was pretty much forcing us into the mid range APX radios, and we just didn't have the budget for that. If I count up all the 800MHz Kenwoods on my trunked system and all the VHF radios on the PD system, I've got well over 400 Kenwood radios we've purchased in the last 4 years. Out of those 400 radios, I've had exactly 2 fail. 1 was a bad display out of the box, replaced without question. One was a shop visit and ended up being replaced. A 0.5% failure rate in 4 years isn't bad at all. These radios have stood up well over the years. Some of them do sit on desks, but the rest of them are riding around in garbage trucks, with plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, buses, fire fighters and police officers. I've seen some really beat radios come back through my office that were still running just fine.

And, no, I'm not a Kenwood dealer, just a very happy customer. Kenwood has taken very good care of us.

 

[mformby]

Good words of widsom here

No one has mentioned the Vertex radio. They make very tough, durable radios and have enough different models to meet your needs. Motorola is the only company that guarantees support (repair,upgrades and parts) for 7 years after they pull a radio from the product line. I would not buy a two way radio off the internet (used). Buy from a local dealer and create a customer relationship with him. It is his job to take care of you or go to a different dealer. Any radio, Motorola, Icom, Kenwood, Vertex will work. Support after the sale should be a major buying consideration.

We use Icom F80 (UHF version) P25 radios in out dept. with waterproof shoulder mics. Have had these for a few years and seem to hold up well with good audio. Kenwood also is a great choice like others have said.

I would suggest buying a model that is still in current production and supported and keep them all the same, The XTS line is (or already is) on the way out, so support will end within a few years and that means parts will quickly become not available. Also, buying radios from flea bay for a front line public safety radio gives me heartburn. Buy from a local reputable dealer so you can have the support that goes with it. They will probably treat you much better walking in with a busted radio bought from them rather then one from flea bay.

 

[roxfire53]

The XTS line was discontinued late last year, replaced by the APX line. While they are wonderful units, they come at a fairly steep price point. The direct replacment for an HT1250 is the XPR 7550. While it is not P25 compliant, neither was the HT1250. You can also look at the XPR 3500.

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[BlackSheepDue]

My father( a fire chief) had the xpr 6550 and just got a 7550. Both radios seem to work quite well but the 7550 seems to have features that seem unnecessary and only increase the price. For example when you turn it on it comes up with a color picture of our dept patch. While this is cool it does nothing for the real purpose of the radio and simply drives up the price.

I own a 1250 and have loved it since the minute I got it. I love the "coolness" of the xpr and apx lines but I miss the simplicity and relative cheapness of the 1250.

We currently run pm 1500's which are $1,400 in the trucks and my dad looked into buying more but they've been discontinued. The rep showed him the replacement model which is p25 capable,which we have no need for, and cost $4,000 which is way more than the pm 1500 and we don't have the budget for radios at that price point.


Thanks,
Thomas

 

[kayn1n32008]

What radio are you or have you replaced your HT1250 with? Our Public Safety agencies are predominately using the HT1250. Some have started to transition to the Icom F70.

Our county wide simulcast system is only about 3 years old. It is conventional analong VHF and no foreseeable upgrades or conversion in the future. The entire region (including our neighboring agencies and counties) are conventional analong VHF. We don't really have any need for a real expensive and feature rich radio. We will probably get at least P25 capable so we can use these radios into the future.

The HT1250 has and continues to serve us well for what we need. Any recommendations or suggestions for a simple replacement?

While the county I live in is eventually going to go VHF DMR, we are currently VHF analogue(zero intention to go to our new 700MHz trunk system due to coverage and cost) likely the replacement radios we are going to will be the XPR-7550/XPR-5550. Currently the county is a mix of TK-2170, TK-2180, HT-1000, HT-750, HT-1250. The one portable radio I do not like is the TK-2170. Mobiles are TK-7180, CDM-1250

I really like the TK-2180/7180. Pretty rugged. The NX-200/700 are nice, I use both. Love them, and I believe they can both be firmware updated to do P25.

For a volunteer, small tax base, Motorola really price themselves out of the market. Wh wants to spend $4k on a mobile or portable? When that $4k will buy almost 4radios that are analogue...

My father( a fire chief) had the xpr 6550 and just got a 7550. Both radios seem to work quite well but the 7550 seems to have features that seem unnecessary and only increase the price. For example when you turn it on it comes up with a color picture of our dept patch. While this is cool it does nothing for the real purpose of the radio and simply drives up the price.

I own a 1250 and have loved it since the minute I got it. I love the "coolness" of the xpr and apx lines but I miss the simplicity and relative cheapness of the 1250.

We currently run pm 1500's which are $1,400 in the trucks and my dad looked into buying more but they've been discontinued. The rep showed him the replacement model which is p25 capable,which we have no need for, and cost $4,000 which is way more than the pm 1500 and we don't have the budget for radios at that price point.


Thanks,
Thomas

I have a Ht-750 issued. I think it is OK, but would rather use my personally owned NX-200...


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[mmckenna]

I really like the TK-2180/7180. Pretty rugged. The NX-200/700 are nice, I use both. Love them, and I believe they can both be firmware updated to do P25.

Yes, this is what I was hinting to above. The NX-200/300's and NX-700/800's can be sent back to Kenwood to be reflashed as P25 radios. It's nearly $800 list to do this (per radio), but it does mean you can buy the radio you need now with your budget and then if you decide you need P25 later on it's a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing all your radios.

If you are in the fire service, you can also order the NX-200/300's in orange or yellow cases as well as an I.S. version.

List pricing on a basic NX-200/300 with battery, charger, antenna and belt clip is less than $700, and if you qualify under a state contract, you can probably do much better than that.

Good peace of mind knowing you have a new/good currently supported radio, and not something off e-Bay.

 

[firefive76]

The XPR6550 has been discontinued. I had both the 6550 and 7550. The 7550 was only slightly higher in price than the 6550 was and is a much better radio. The 7550 has a hotter receiver, has better audio, color/larger screen, continuous channel knob, and a ton of features that you can change right from the front panel.

I traded my fire dept HT1250 for a XPR6550 when we first got them. I immediately went back to my HT1250 and let someone else have the 6550!

My father( a fire chief) had the xpr 6550 and just got a 7550. Both radios seem to work quite well but the 7550 seems to have features that seem unnecessary and only increase the price. For example when you turn it on it comes up with a color picture of our dept patch. While this is cool it does nothing for the real purpose of the radio and simply drives up the price.

I own a 1250 and have loved it since the minute I got it. I love the "coolness" of the xpr and apx lines but I miss the simplicity and relative cheapness of the 1250.

We currently run pm 1500's which are $1,400 in the trucks and my dad looked into buying more but they've been discontinued. The rep showed him the replacement model which is p25 capable,which we have no need for, and cost $4,000 which is way more than the pm 1500 and we don't have the budget for radios at that price point.


Thanks,
Thomas

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I'd almost say if the plan is to take fire to dmr look at Simoco. Their top of the line digital portable is cheaper than the XPR7550 but also has the IP67 rating (which the XPR models available in the US do not) and handles submersion very well. The next generation line is being debuted next week and rumor has it that the plan is to migrate the P25 and DMR lines into that next generation chassis (much like the NX line). I'm also aware of a plan to produce an IS version as well.

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[JRayfield]

The XPR-7550e (which was just announced and replaces the XPR7550) is rated IP-68.

The XPR-3500e (which was just announced and replaces the XPR3500) is rated IP-67.

John Rayfield, Jr.

I'd almost say if the plan is to take fire to dmr look at Simoco. Their top of the line digital portable is cheaper than the XPR7550 but also has the IP67 rating (which the XPR models available in the US do not) and handles submersion very well. The next generation line is being debuted next week and rumor has it that the plan is to migrate the P25 and DMR lines into that next generation chassis (much like the NX line). I'm also aware of a plan to produce an IS version as well.

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