X1p or xpr7550e ?

[SirJ]

Having a issue deciding which radio to get. I don't own a Motorola dmr radio but I have heard great things and bad things about the xpr7550. I haven't seen any bad things about the hytera x1p.

Comments, suggestions welcome

 

[PACNWDude]

What have you heard that was bad about the XPR7550 radio? Administer several sites with hundreds of XPR7550e, and many more with older XPR6550's, with very few issues. Mostly user errors, or run over by forklifts being the common problems.

 

[N4KVE]

The 7550e is a great radio. It’s Hytera equivalent would be the PD982. Not the X1P.

 

[dazey77]

I was going to say the same as N4KVE. Your not comparing like with like. The X1P is hytera's high end super compact/light weight (relatively). I do have one and it is a good radio. The PD982/5 is much more comparable to the 7550, bigger, heavier, longer battery life etc.

I have never used a 7550. I do have a moto SL4000 (SL7000 in the US), which has nice points but is also very disapointing in others. A few bits which may or may not be relevant. I am not going to compare the two as its not a radio your looking at, just some bits which 'may' follow over to the XPR

The SL has predictive text which is nice for sms. Hytera texting is like going back to 1999. The SL has a more phone like interface.

There are differences between the way that motorola and hytera do 2-channels on 1 frequency in direct mode. I prefer the Hytera pseudo trunk, which allows 2 conversations on one virtual pipe. The motorola solution splits the frequency into two seperate pipes.

I find little difference between reciever performance, I get slightly better range out of a PD365 than the moto SL (which is kinda disapointing)

I think the XPR has a decent screen but the SL is crap, it looks pretty but it shows nothing without backlight and eats batteries, the X1p or PD982s are always visible with or without backlight.

I prefer the hytera CPS

Annoyance with the X1P is that the charger base is big, so you have one of hyteras smallest (full featured) radios but if you want to travel with it the charger is bigger than one for the PD985

The bluetooth on x1p also works for headsets etc. but can be picky and you can't do bluetooth programming (like you can/could with the SL (gone in new cps?!) and can with the PD985. the moto bluetooth in the SL has always seemed less flaky.

The PD985 has some cool features (licenced) like single freq repeater, full duplex and more.

Oh, Hytera FPP is much superior to the Moto SL FPP which is virtually useless. The hytera you have to set up some scratch channels in advance but it is actually usable in a fashion.

 

[alcahuete]

I have a ton of 7550e radios as well as a PD782G. I realize you are not asking about the 782, but I don't own the others.

My 782 works great, has for years, and is a really nice radio.

Where the 7550e excels:

By far the hottest receive out of any radio on the market.

Continuous channel knob. This drives me friggin NUTS that in 2020, radios do not have continuous channel knobs and greater than 16 channels per zone. My Hytera did not have the continuous knob. Not sure if the new ones do or not.

The RX Leveling entitlement key is an absolute godsend. Best feature ever.

CPS is much easier to use.

 

[dazey77]

On continuous channel knob:
X1p doesn't have (but is similar age to 782)
PD982/5 does have continuous knob.

 

[SirJ]

Sounds like I should look into the pd982. And forget about the x1p.
Already own the 682 & 782

 

[k4do]

X1P1

 

[speedway_navigator]

This drives me friggin NUTS that in 2020, radios do not have continuous channel knobs

There is a distinct advantage in public safety for a hard stop. Our county's radios are set with our state wide pursuit channel in 14. The officers are told to turn the channel knob to the stop, then back 2. The voice announcement helps verify.

 

[alcahuete]

There is a distinct advantage in public safety for a hard stop. Our county's radios are set with our state wide pursuit channel in 14. The officers are told to turn the channel knob to the stop, then back 2. The voice announcement helps verify.

Sure, if you're near the end of either stop. What if it's Channel 8 or 9 or such? Are the officers really going to go to the stop and count back or forth 8 channels?

Mobiles are continuous. Handhelds should be too.

 

[mikewazowski]

There is a distinct advantage in public safety for a hard stop. Our county's radios are set with our state wide pursuit channel in 14. The officers are told to turn the channel knob to the stop, then back 2. The voice announcement helps verify.

Likewise. Talkaround on Channel 16. Can't raise someone in an emergency situation, change to channel 16 for talk around.

 

[speedway_navigator]

Our HHS radios had a guard channel on 16, I see that listed on lots of 205s.
Alcahuete, you missed the point. Hard stop, 2 clicks, done. We removed the thinking factor, remember, we talking about cops....

 

[alcahuete]

Our HHS radios had a guard channel on 16, I see that listed on lots of 205s.
Alcahuete, you missed the point. Hard stop, 2 clicks, done. We removed the thinking factor, remember, we talking about cops....

No, I didn't miss the point at all. I completely understand that. Like I said, what if it's Channel 8? Go to the stop, click back 8 times? Easier to just look at the display. That method only works for like 4 of the 16 channels before things get stupid. I can see using 1 and 16 for something important, but aside from that, I just don't see the point. Sorry.

 

[alcahuete]

And then what happens when they use the mobile radio, with the continuous channels? One method for the handhelds and another for the mobile?

 

[mikewazowski]

No, I didn't miss the point at all.

Sorry but you did miss the point. We're taking about a channel in an emergency situation like a pursuit or a mayday. With a hard stop, they can easily find a channel positioned near the beginning or the end of the rotation without looking at the display. A firefighter in a mayday situation might not be able to see the display. Rotate the knob clockwise until it stops and he's on the correct channel.

 

[hill]

Even without using my radios for any critical missions and only ham radio. I still prefer the 16 channels and hard stop, as it's much easier to find a channel. The ones with continuous channel knob is impossible to know which channel you landed on without looking at the display.

 

[alcahuete]

Sorry but you did miss the point. We're taking about a channel in an emergency situation like a pursuit or a mayday. With a hard stop, they can easily find a channel positioned near the beginning or the end of the rotation without looking at the display. A firefighter in a mayday situation might not be able to see the display. Rotate the knob clockwise until it stops and he's on the correct channel.

Uhhhhhhh.....no, I didn't miss the point at all, I promise. I understand exactly what you're talking about. I just think it's silly.

Ran it by a couple of my LA Co. SD friends this morning, and they agree. They said the absolute dumbest thing you can ever do in a mayday situation is change channels, when you are on a channel where you know people are hearing you. It's the reason their pursuits are covered on whatever channel you happen to be on, including the main dispatch channel, and other resources are patched in if necessary. Because it's stupid to change channels in a situation like that.

They agree that it's useful for finding the dispatch channel (i.e. Channel 1), for example, but if they are in a situation where they are going to be switching channels, they can simply look at their radio.

 

[K2NEC]

Ran it by a couple of my LA Co. SD friends this morning, and they agree. They said the absolute dumbest thing you can ever do in a mayday situation is change channels, when you are on a channel where you know people are hearing you. It's the reason their pursuits are covered on whatever channel you happen to be on, including the main dispatch channel, and other resources are patched in if necessary. Because it's stupid to change channels in a situation like that.

And the mandown button should be programmed to go to the emergency revert channel or the main dispatch channel anyway.

 

[n1das]

I have a UHF X1p and a VHF X1p and some UHF PD982 handhelds. I like features of both radios but if I had to choose between an X1p or a PD982, I would go for the PD982. I have also owned a few UHF PD782G handhelds and later traded up to the 982 with them.

Between the 982 and 7550, I would go with the 7550. I don't own a 7550 but I may own some in the future because I'm done with Hytera. I'm keeping what Hyteras I have but going full Moto in the future. No more Hyteras for me. It's hard to say how much longer Hytera will remain in the USA.

Hytera files chapter 11 bankruptcy

Irvine, CA, May 26, 2020 – Hytera America, Inc. and Hytera Communications America (West), Inc. announced today they filed voluntary petitions for relief under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California (Santa Ana Division). Through...

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[n1das]

On continuous channel knob:
X1p doesn't have (but is similar age to 782)
PD982/5 does have continuous knob.

I prefer a continuous channel knob on handhelds and mobiles. The X1p and PD782 has 16 position channel knobs. A continuous channel knob allows a zone to be any size you want and not limited to a maximum of 16 channels.

When changing Zones in a PD982, the radio defaults to the first channel in a Zone because of the continuous channel knob. With a 16-position knob in the X1p and PD782(G), changing zones causes the radio to go the same channel number the radio was on in the previous zone. For the PD982, I like to program my favorite channel in each zone as the first channel in the zone so the radio always lands on a favorite channel after changing zones.