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7180 Price

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WillB

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Ive been looking for a used 7180 for my truck. Whats a good price to pay? I'd prefer one with remote mount but those seem pretty far and few between. Reason for sticking with a 7180 is I have a 2180 and would easily be able to program it.

My other thought was looking at a digital radio. My FD isn't digital but the county law enforcement is P25 so it would be more for listening then anything. I don't know enough about the digital side of Kenwood to know what I should be looking for or if it would play nice with the analog side, but I'm assuming it would no problem.
 

ramal121

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List for 7180s is $586 and $718. The maximum I'd pay for any used electronics is half price no matter how pristine. Go down from there for the scratch and dents. Knock off even more $$ for missing items. A 7180 complete and obviously used would be fair in the $200 to $250 range. The only exception is a recon unit that comes with a warranty.

List for a KRK-10 remote kit is $105. Have seen them for less from online sellers.

If you do get a 7180, you can take the archive from the 2180, change the model type to the mobile, and dump it into it (after you reset the button assignments which will be blanked). Piece of cake.

Before you consider a P25 radio, you better check what your county LE uses first (conventional, trunked) before you jump in.
 
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WillB

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My other question is can these be desk top programmed or do they have to be installed in a vehicle before programming? I know that's probably a dumb question but I'm wondering how one would power it? Does it come with a power cord that can be plugged into a wall outlet?
 

mmckenna

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My other question is can these be desk top programmed or do they have to be installed in a vehicle before programming? I know that's probably a dumb question but I'm wondering how one would power it? Does it come with a power cord that can be plugged into a wall outlet?

The radios only run off 12v only, so you can program them out of the vehicle, but you'd need a 12volt power supply capable of an amp or so to power the radio up. Since you won't be transmitting, you don't need much juice. They do not come with a power supply capable of power them off 110vac. Kenwood does sell a 12v base power supply, but you will spend over $100 on it.
I use a 15amp 12 volt supply in my shop for programming mobile radios on the bench.
 

MTS2000des

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The 7180/2180 is a 12 year old radio no matter how you slice it. Anything used, OOW (out of warranty) is a risk. It's an analog only radio and there hasn't been a firmware update since 1.22 back in 2009, and I doubt there will be.

With NXDN radios like the NX700 not too much more, I would not pay more than $150 for a used 7180 in good shape with accessories. People on Paybay are asking RAPEOFF prices for these, and while good radios, they- like the 2180s, are soon to be considered "legacy" radios.

Don't overpay for an old radio.
 

WillB

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The 7180/2180 is a 12 year old radio no matter how you slice it. Anything used, OOW (out of warranty) is a risk. It's an analog only radio and there hasn't been a firmware update since 1.22 back in 2009, and I doubt there will be.

With NXDN radios like the NX700 not too much more, I would not pay more than $150 for a used 7180 in good shape with accessories. People on Paybay are asking RAPEOFF prices for these, and while good radios, they- like the 2180s, are soon to be considered "legacy" radios.

Don't overpay for an old radio.

I see what you are saying and bring up some valid points. I wasn't aware that the 7180 was that old.

My thoughts though are that its going to by a while, if ever before my county switches to digital for fire communications. We have some depts that have a hard time finding the funding for pagers right now. I've looked at the specs on the NX -700 and it seems to only do Nexedge digital. For a radio to do P25, which is what our county law enforcement is, I would need a 5710 or 5720 correct? Those are a little pricer then what I'm looking to spend.
 

mmckenna

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While the 7180 is an older radio, it is still in production. That means there is still support for it, which is a good thing.

The NX-700 will do analog and NXDN, so if you find a good price on one of those, don't pass it up. You are correct, it won't do P25. P25 would cost you a lot more. If you don't need it, you don't need it. It might be worth waiting until you do. By that time the used market might have lower prices on used P25 gear.

The TK-5720 is the P25 version of the 7180/NX-700, basically the same chassis, different firmware. Since the NXDN protocol and P25 protocols use the same vocoder, they are likely the same radio with a different firmware package. List price on the TK-5720 is $1300.

I wouldn't purchase a P25 radio if your local agencies have not gone to P25 yet. Many of the P25 radios out there will only do phase 1. If your agency hasn't gone to P25 yet, It'd be likely they'll consider phase 2, which would require a different radio. So, in other words, if you don't need p25, don't buy now, you could be sorry later on.
 
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