So I'm still digging. Most don't have service life on them, just durability testing (it would be on you to infer how long based on the data provided to see how long they will last). All the white papers are of course put out by the mfgs so they really paint their own products in good light.
Here's my advice - and I don't know what system you are using.
1. Pick a standard to follow - FM or UL. Read their standards because not all the accessories are FM certified. Assuming of course you're doing with XE and XE accessories. Don't mix UL only accessories with an FM only radio. A bunch of stuff is both.
2. Again, depending on the system(s) you're operating on take a strong look at doing an 8000 with the longest possible warranty. You can order the 8000 in single band to provide an upgrade path later and other than the multiband part the hardware is so close that I would not be surprised if the 6000 is given an EOL soon. Also being that it's the newest it will help guarantee the model will stick around for a while. Finally the 8500 mobile is different enough that it would be a better mobile to adopt for longest term of service.
I go down this path with computers ALL THE TIME. The argument of which one will last longer will always be a moot point because not all vulnerabilities and weaknesses will be noticible out of the gate. So you play the game of either buying the device that is tried and tested and will be out of support soon or the device that is newer but hasn't been kicking around enough in various use cases to recognize the problems.
I always can reccomend going with the newest available. You'll be able to beat your account manager up to get a good price so he gets the new stuff out there and gives you a good warranty when you are concerned it hasn't been truly field tested yet.
Great, thanks again Mr. Boh. It's not the hardware that has me concerned- it is, in fact, Motorola support.
Last week we were delivered 34 new APX6000XE. I went out to MoL to look to see if I needed firmware upgrades for my old chargers for these, and the first thing that hit me was the EOL notification for the APX 6000XE (certain hardware versions). And, of course, the radios we haven't even put into service yet will be out of support on 12/31/2023. So we'll have just a bit over 6 years on these very expensive portables before they turn into pumpkins. Heck, the reason they twisted our arms to ditches the XPS's was because their EOL of 12/31/2019 meant no more parts availability. So it's the same thing for these APX's.
So after that date, if they break, instead of the normal ~$400 service fee we have to replace the radio with a new one. But that's not the part that scares me- it's the likelihood that we'll be required need to implement a new feature after that date- let's make up something- the FCC is requiring "double top secret probation encryption" on our radios. And GUESS WHAT? Since our radios are EOL, there's no firmware available for those, and our only choice is to go spend a couple hundo thousand AGAIN to replace the radios that still work just fine.
Again, my current frame of reference for "expensive" radios is that 2004-2019 supported lifespan for our XTS2500 and XTS5000. Was anticipating at LEAST that long for these new radios, but getting only ~40% of it!!!
And I know all too well the IT comparison.
I'm on the sales side of an enterprise vendor. Any new hardware we release has a 10 year support guarantee, but it's extremely rare that F500 companies want to keep gear on the floor anywhere near that long, because Moore's law renders things obsolete in just a few years. But I can't make the leap to compare with radios that closely, as there aren't the same gains to be had with increased processing power.
