XTS2500 Counterfeit?

[zacsharpe]

Not meaning to bring up an old topic, but as of 2017 are there any Motorola "counterfeits"? I have an XTS2500 and i believe it to be a panter88 radio. When I got it, it appeared to have a bad gasket seal. I opened it up and fixed the issue. Also it has a silver "Motorola" label instead of a white one on the front. You guys on here appear to be much smarter than myself. Any ideas?
Thanks in advanced, Zac

 

[gary123]

A lot if not all of the panter radios are rebuild or recased units. This is a buyer beware or be informed issue. I have bought some hardware from panter and found it fine for what I wanted.

No one has cloned any XTS/XTL/APX hardware that I have ever heard of. All the units are either heavily edited, accelerated life or development.

BTW almost all of the panter units have bad/poor tuning alignment values I suggest any units be realigned.

 

[zacsharpe]

Thanks Gary, I did not buy my XTS2500 directly from panter, when I got it I noticed that the case was bowed out and exposed the gasket. Upon my discovery I opened the case and noticed that the metal piece that holds in the keypad was not sitting correctly. I corrected the mistake and now I am concerned about water resistance. I am a junior firefighter and that's what I use it for. (I know there is a lot of debate about panter radios for public safety) But only being a junior firefighter I didn't see it as a big deal.
Thanks, Zac

 

[rescue161]

The only way to check it is to put a drop of water on the white portion of the vent on the back of the chassis and put a vacuum gauge on the port on the back of the radio and pull it to 5 PSI. If you don't put the drop of water on the vent, then the test will fail. The vent allows air to flow in/out of the radio, but will not allow water to penetrate. Wait 1 minute and if it is still at 5 PSI, then it is good. If it drops more than 1 PSI in 1 minute, then you put a pressure gauge on the port and pressurize it to ~6 PSI and dunk the radio in a bucket of water and look for bubbles. Where ever the bubbles are coming from is where the leak is located. This is all per the service manual and we do them all the time. No battery is attached during this test.

 

[allend]

Anytime you buy from overseas used Motorola equipment "Buyer Beware". I have bought some small parts and equipment from Panter88 before and never have had any issues.

But I have also heard through other dealers and sellers on Ebay and other sites that Panter88 has illegally produced his own serial tags. Not sure if this is true or not

 

[zacsharpe]

Thanks for all the replies! Now I'm interested in testing my radio for leaks/penetration. Any recommendations on how to do that and the equipment needed?

 

[com501]

I hope you do not bet your life on that radio or any used radio from unknown sources. At the very least that radio should be aligned with shop equipment.

 

[zacsharpe]

@com501 I do not. I mostly use the radio for monitoring. I don't do much transmitting. I am only a junior firefighter so I don't use my radio as much as a firefighter. Thanks for your concern.

 

[rescue161]

If you weren't so far away, I'd align it and perform a leak check. Is it an XTS2500i or just an XTS2500? AN or BN?

 

[zacsharpe]

It's an XTS2500 BN model.

 

[zacsharpe]

Anybody know if panter's 2500 housings are legit?

 

[rescue161]

All of the housings/radios that I've seen from him are real Motorola. They are just pieced together from parts. As long as they are aligned to spec, they should be fine. We are a Motorola authorized service shop and we do pretty much the same thing with legit radios. When they come in messed up, we completely rebuild them, align, test and send them back out looking brand new. Although, just about everything on the radio is different and not the original parts, it is still a legit Motorola radio.

 

[zacsharpe]

Good to know! Thanks guys!

 

[madrabbitt]

I have one of his 5000's and after a tune and align, it performs better then one i bought surplus from my former agency.

They are mostly pieced together, but he tends to use good "junk" to start with.

Of course, its NOT the one i carry on the fireline, its purely a monitor radio

 

[marcotor]

Be careful of the eBay seller in Southern California (Pasadena) selling re-cased and hacked PR1500's as M3 FPP XTS2500's. I didn't ay attention and ended up with one of them, and while it does work, it also sold for an XTS2500 price

 

[N4KVE]

It is the same radio internally. One of my XTL5000's started off life as a 1500. Could care less, as it is exactly the same radio inside. None of the guys on the ham repeaters I use it on seem to care either. I did not complain to the seller, & the price was good.

 

[zacsharpe]

Thanks for all the help!