My EX600XLS first impressions

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MT2000 man
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My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by MT2000 man »

Ok, I know this radio has been out for a LONG time, but I wanted to get into smaller radios, and all I've had since I can remember for a small carry radio is my trusty D revision Visar. So this review will be mainly comparing the EX600XLS to the Visar.


As soon as I took the EX600XLS out of the shipping box when it arrived and put the battery on it, it already felt much sturdier than the Visar. For such a SMALL radio ( same size as the Visar ) it does a TON more features. Great little carry radio if I don't want to drag my XTS5000R out of the house ( or when I don't need P25 ). It tells me the time, has a great display, has a signal strength meter, tells me if I'm on high/low power, does 160 channels, etc. GREAT little radio. I am very impressed. This thing blows the Visar right out of the water.

Only "issue" is it doesn't have that crisp / clear audio that the Visar and the rest of the Jedi's have. It has that muffled Waris series audio, which, while very annoying, all the pluses easily outweigh the muffled audio. I can't believe I waited this long to get my first EX radio. I'm running the fatter 1300MAH Li-Ion battery, and when that craps out I'll eventually get the slim 1,000MAH Li-Ion battery.

Anyone else use this radio ?
N4KVE
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by N4KVE »

Years ago I owned a Visar, & I still have plenty of Jedi's, & they are a great radio. I've owned 2 Waris radios, & I just didn't like the receive audio. While the 600 is more versatile than a Visar, I just can't enjoy listening to a Waris radio. I sold both of them. GARY
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MTS2000des
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by MTS2000des »

They are cute, feature packed but I'll concur with Gary, just not up to the performance of Jedi radios.

About 10 years ago I maintained a large UHF LTR fleet and we had a mix of Kenwood TK-3140 and EX/Pro radios for portables. The 3140 was and still is a way better quality of radio for a sub compact radio of that era.

Glad you are happy with yours, one word of caution, don't immerse them in water or get the too wet, sealing integrity on them is not the best.
The views here are my own and do not represent those of anyone else or the company, the boss, his wife, his dog or distant relatives.
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escomm
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by escomm »

Visars are great if you want a 16 channel radio that needs DOS to program, can't get OEM batteries for, have microphonics issues, and audio accessories are hard to come by. In fact they can't be beat in this regard
MT2000 man
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by MT2000 man »

N4KVE wrote:Years ago I owned a Visar, & I still have plenty of Jedi's, & they are a great radio. I've owned 2 Waris radios, & I just didn't like the receive audio. While the 600 is more versatile than a Visar, I just can't enjoy listening to a Waris radio. I sold both of them. GARY
Ya, the audio is defiantly not up to par with the Jedi radios. The Jedi radios ( even the Visar ) is very clear, where the EX600 almost sounds like a digital signal. Very odd that Motorola designed the recieve audio so . . . . differently in the Waris radios than the Jedi. What makes the audio so different ? Different speakers ? Different way the radio processes the audio ? Whatever it is, the Visar and especially my MTS2000 have hands down better audio quality.
g8tzl2004
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by g8tzl2004 »

I always disabled the Low Level Expansion on my Waris radios - it makes the audio sounds much better - well at least to my ears. The Low Level Expansion is enabled by default, I think.

I also find that you definitely need to have the pre-emphasis ENABLED. Without the pre-emphasis enabled, the RX audio sounds real bad. With my Jedi radios, if you disable the pre-emphsis, the audio still sounds OK...in fact I think the RX audio on an MCS2000 sounds better without pre-emhasis on weak signals ..less muffled..but not on the MTS2000.

I find my Waris HT1250 RX audio sounds better than my EX600..I assumed this was because the speaker is larger. My EX600 RX audio is OK but does sound a bit raspy..maybe its a speaker fault?
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escomm
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by escomm »

All of the Waris radios had garbage audio when they first came out

Motorola really only ever did anything about the HT750/HT1250, the other models didn't "sell enough" to justify improving the quality
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SteveC0625
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by SteveC0625 »

For the sound issues, this thread from a year ago contained some valuable tips on setting up the Waris HT's for better sounding audio: http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=104868 I would think that the EX600XLS should benefit from the same settings.
Pat
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by Pat »

As was mentioned above, disabling the Low Level Expansion should get rid of that "mushy" sounding audio. I've had one for several years and it's a great little radio. With a stubby antenna and the 1000 mAh battery it's practically pocket-sized.
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MaxK98
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by MaxK98 »

Anyone here already compared the EX600 VS a Vertex Standard VX829?
MT2000 man
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Re: My EX600XLS first impressions

Post by MT2000 man »

Interesting to hear about these programming tips. Unfortunately, I don't have the CPS for this radio though, I had the radio shop that I purchased it from program it ( didn't to too great a job either ).
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