I originally had a UHF 5000, because I upgraded from a 3000, & had plenty of batteries. I always thought the 5000 was a superior radio to the 2500. At the time, there was no way to toggle between low, & hi power on the 2500, but that was fixed with recent FW. Now you can. But I wanted to get on P25 900 MHz, & there's no 5000 that does that. I didn't want a UHF 5000, & 900 2500. Besides, my 3000/5000 batteries were getting old. A friend who works for a HUGE utility company from time to time has to throw out NOS Motorola parts to make room for newer parts. They were going to toss new Jedi, & HT1250 batteries. So he gave me NOS HT1250 batteries which work with the 2500. I sold the UHF 5000, & bought 2 mint 2500's. UHF, & 900. To me, they are equal. Maybe the 5000 is more rugged, but I don't abuse my radios. I use the orange top button for encryption. So to me, they are equal. However, you can purchase higher cap batteries for the 5000, vs the 2500.
