The Astro Saber is very near and dear to me. While I never carried one myself I did buy one due to my exposure to it when I was younger and dumber. Way back when I met a cop in Florida who carried an AS, but what really threw me for a loop was the sound it made whenever he transmitted. It wasn’t a TPT, but to me at that time it was the sound of the future. Although now it is the sound of the 90’s. 20 years later of being a radio nerd I finally discovered the sound was MODAT. So I bought an AS and love it dearly, but the battery life on the “new” batteries I bought was around 1 hour at best. I will say compared to the APX the analog audio quality of the AS easily wins. Definitely has a full and rich sound.
The AS is rather confidence inspiring. When holding one there is a real presence and it feels like you could use it as a hammer if you needed to. As a last ditch item of defense it probably wouldn’t be a bad choice. Perhaps my first impression of the radio was the cool factor. Coming from the hills where my dad carried a big chunky gray GE radio and had a single rotating light on his dash compared to this Florida highway pursuit cop with his Astro Saber, Astro Spectra, MDT, and ^ shaped lights on the top of his car I was rather awe struck for an 8 year old.
Nostalgia.
Those pesky knobs. Mine obviously took a fall onto concrete at some point in its life, but the knob is still plenty functional. The encryption toggle does have a crack in it. I had been attempting to find one but considering the radio is a desk queen I don’t think it is in much danger.
Does look really cool with the high capacity battery. Mine is a model 2 VHF flavor so it has some stage presence among the other radios. I’d guess about 14” tall as a whole.
