I got my hands on a V/7-800 model for evaluation purposes for a few days. I won't be able to keep it but I can say right now that I would certainly like to.
I am IMPRESSED.
It's smaller than it looks in photos. Lighter, too. Though all the controls are there, it SEEMS like
there are fewer controls, because they're very intelligently shaped and placed. The radio's interface is clean and simple and you won't be hitting the wrong switch or button very often. They're simply not
in the way. They are easily used, even by feel alone, when you want to access them. I view this as a big leap forward in ergonomics.
Audio quality is excellent and the speaker audio is stupendously loud and absolutely clear even at full volume. This WILL cut through the noise and chaos of a busy disaster scene!
The radio I'm looking at has FPP. This implementation of FPP is simply amazing. If you know enough about radio to be qualified to use the FPP feature, you will instantly know what's going on here. Every parameter is easily defined and changed. There is nothing cryptic about it. It's even better than XTS5000 FPP, which is very, very good in and of itself.
Channel by channel, the radio does not care at all if you want to mix and match VHF and 7/800 frequencies in the same zone. You just type in the frequencies you want and as long as they're within
the limits of EITHER RF band in the radio, it accepts it. There is no switching between the two RF
bands as far as operator requirements go. You just choose your channel(s) and the radio does the rest.
The CPU is fast and the radio is very responsive to control inputs. From power off to operation it takes barely 3 seconds to boot up. Lag when changing channels or moving switches is so little as to be virtually zero. It keeps up with any fast channel changes.
By comparison, the Thales Liberty takes something like 14 seconds to boot up and be ready to use and nearly that long to shut down. It's also a monster of a brick of a radio by modern standards.
The APX is tiny by comparison.
The APX feels like a cousin to the Saber. It's a thinner radio than an XTS5000 and close to as thin as
an Astro Saber. Maybe it's even closer to an SSE5000, which I suppose is its cousin.
These ergonomics really work well for me. I think most users would like it.
RF performance: I'll be able to give better information on that after I put it on my test bench and fully spec out the receiver and transmitter, but I can say with some confidence that it has a HOT receiver.
Hooking it up to a mag-mount VHF antenna, I was able to hear distant stations at full quieting which
were a little bit noisy when heard by my very healthy and sensitive Spectra installed in my vehicle.
So it actually seems to be more sensitive than a healthy Spectra. The transmitter seems to do a
good job, giving me at least as good talk range on simplex as any other HT I've ever used, including
my Astro Sabers and XTS5000s. On 2 meters with the mag-mount antenna I was able to carry on conversations with amateurs on base station radios over 20 miles away, easily.
On the 800 MHz side of things, by a matter of pure luck, when I got the radio it was programmed for
a bunch of conventional 800 frequencies used in the Los Angeles area. Some of them are common
to a Motorola trunked public safety system used in an adjoining county. I am able to hear calls on that system at full quieting.
The display is, of course, bright, clear, and easy to read. The smaller top display alone is of very high quality, easy to read, and adequately informative, but the main display is all you'd expect of a large full color display like you'd find in most any modern cell phone. It's not cluttered with
extraneous junk and just gives you the information you need, and in a very clear format.
Also, the front display's backlight never turns completely off. It stays on in dim mode when you have
not been using the controls recently. Press any button and it goes to full brightness and the keypad backlighting turns on.
I observed at Dayton that Motorola dominates the HT market even among amateur radio operators. Hams like the features that Motorola puts into portables, such as loud clear audio and the ability to drop the radio without breaking it. I predict that even with the high cost, the APX is going to be
a runaway hit just like the XTS5000 became popular beyond all reason given its high cost.
Motorola has a guaranteed winner here. This radio WILL come to dominate the public safety market
and will be a highly sought-after item by radio enthusiasts for many years to come.
There is only one thing not on the radio that I would have liked to see and that is an XTS5000-style backlit illuminated channel selector, however this really is not needed as the top display is right
there beside the selector and easily readable day or night. It auto-illuminates when you turn the selector. Still, I would have liked to see that.
I would also think that with this radio's considerable memory capacity, Motorola should give you a
wallpaper option for the front display. When the radio's controls are not being operated, it would
be nice to be able to display a graphic relating to your organization, such as your unit patch or department's shield or even your own badge and number.
One interesting feature is that there is a small port inside the battery compartment for a micro SD memory card. I don't know exactly what Motorola will use that port for but I'm sure it will eventually come in handy. Maybe they'll even enable programming from that card port.
Elroy