Motorola APX8000 VS Kenwood VP6000

[Aaron_B]

Feel free to move this if this was the wrong place to post. I recently got to use the Kenwood VP 6000 it was surprisingly nice to use (aside from a couple of weird software quirks). This got me wondering which radio would you prefer from an ergonomic/looks standpoint and let's be real, although these are tools, most people care (at least a little) about how they look. Personally, the fact that the APX 8000 is an all band radio means it will be my daily driver until another all band radio is released, however, if the APX and the Kenwood radio had the same features and functionality, which radio would you pick if you had to pick one? I myself am torn as they both have pros and cons so I would like to see what you all had to say.

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[Project25_MASTR]

I’m supposed to get some demo Vikings here in the next few weeks to compare to Motorola for a P25 System we are building. I will say, in the past I have not been impressed with trunking performance of the TK-5x10’s but I’ve been open to try the EFJ radios…just everyone here got scared off by the TKs.


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[12dbsinad]

It appears this EFJ/Kenwood VP6000 is single band only, is that correct?

If so, that is a major disadvantage right of the bat.

 

[Thunderknight]

Wow, that is a bit of a graveyard you have in the background on the bench

Can the VP6000 ABCD switch do banks within a zone...e.g. allow 64 channels? I know the Harris XL-200 can, and that is something I really wish the ABC on the 8000 would do (I know you can do above/below 16-ch zones, but I mean a true 48 channel zone).

 

[N4KVE]

Lookswise, I like the Kenwood having the speaker, screen, & keypad on the front of the radio, vs the APX having the screen, & keypad on the back.

 

[Aaron_B]

Yeah same here I do like on the Kenwood that everything is on the front, however, the fact that is single band is a massive disadvantage.

 

[Aaron_B]

I’m supposed to get some demo Vikings here in the next few weeks to compare to Motorola for a P25 System we are building. I will say, in the past I have not been impressed with trunking performance of the TK-5x10’s but I’ve been open to try the EFJ radios…just everyone here got scared off by the TKs.


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Interesting, I would like to see how they perform. For me, there was sometimes a weird lag when I would try to switch channels. Additionally, the Kenwood PTT tone just sounds off.

 

[Aaron_B]

Wow, that is a bit of a graveyard you have in the background on the bench

Can the VP6000 ABCD switch do banks within a zone...e.g. allow 64 channels? I know the Harris XL-200 can, and that is something I really wish the ABC on the 8000 would do (I know you can do above/below 16-ch zones, but I mean a true 48 channel zone).

Yeah lol the best part about those graveyard radios is that they still work. As for the VP6000, I don't think it can but not %100 sure as I haven't really gotten a chance to mess around with the programming software.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Interesting, I would like to see how they perform. For me, there was sometimes a weird lag when I would try to switch channels. Additionally, the Kenwood PTT tone just sounds off.

My big thing is we are looking at them for general business use and not public safety so there are a lot of features that we simply don’t care about.


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[buddrousa]

The EF Johnson VP900 is the Dual Band and the EF JOHNSON VP600 is the Single Band. The other difference is the VP's are not as expensive as the APX's.

 

[mmckenna]

Multi-band versus single band issues aside….

I was at a demo of the new EF Johnsons a year or so ago with several of the local fire agencies. One of the features of the EF Johnson is their "Hear Clear" noise cancellation.
They took a new EFJ from the demo and a random APX out of the group of fire guys and went out to the pump panel of an engine. Both a random APX and another EFJ in the room we were using.
At the pump panel with the engine running at pump speed, they tried both radios.

Hands down the EFJ had better audio compared to the APX.

If you cannot understand the audio, it doesn't matter who made the radio or how many bands it has. Motorola has always been a bit behind in the audio quality when compared to Kenwood.

After 20+ years, I'd rather deal with Kenwood than Motorola. Been there, done that.

 

[MTS2000des]

Demo'ed a VP6000 on my Astro 25 7.14 LSM system.

It's a good competitor to an APX6000, but an 8000...not really. Hopefully EF-Kenwood will bring out an all band version of the VP. This would be serious competition.

One thing I notice is that for some reason, on the VP6000 I had, secure audio would sometimes be garbled, whereas side by side on our APX, perfect decode. I have the same issue with my VP5430 on AES, and it's an issue as we are phasing in more AES-256 as time goes on.

 

[buddrousa]

As stated above VP600 700/800 ONLY
As stated above VP900 VHF/700/800 or UHF/700/800 Same as APX8000
Also if you need cleaner audio at less price Single Band 700/800 Kenwood NX-5900 as tested on the TACN system P25 type 1 and P25 type 2.

 

[RodStrong]

As stated above VP600 700/800 ONLY
As stated above VP900 VHF/700/800 or UHF/700/800 Same as APX8000

To avoid confusion (or perhaps to clarify), the VP600/900's are totally different radios than the VP5000 & VP6000's, although they use the same software (different cables). I believe the pic the OP posted is the VP6000 series.

I have a few VP5000/VP6000/VM5000 demos, and they seem to be pretty slick radios. The VP5000 series is the regular duty portable format IMO, whereas the VP6000 is more of the rugged, "XE" type radio.

Anyway, I am pretty impressed with them so far, and I suspect at their price point, they will do well.

 

[buddrousa]

I missed the Kenwood part but I would bet that the Kenwood is a Rebaged EF Johnson buy the looks of it.