Motorola = Quality?

Zero dbm · Post by **Zero dbm** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 8:08 am

I just wanted to touch base on the fact that it seems as though the quality of Motorola branded products is slipping. In the process of getting new radios on the market, "M" seems to have overlooked vital problems. I mean, really, who here has not ever had some kind of problem with the HT series and their RX or TX? How many service bulletins have there been for that tier of portable? What about the amount of firmware upgrades there is for Pro series. At one point it seemed as though we were downloading a new firmware upgrade every second day. I, like many other love Motorola, but maybe there should be a little more time spent on the early stages of R&D. The industry they produce seems "rushed". "Lets get a partially working product out there, and we'll make it work as we go along." Given the choice, who is picking the HT750 over an MTX? I will admit, they are cute radios, but NO public safety organization, I my opinion, should be using them.

Those are my two coins. What's you opinion?

mts2000des2 · Post by **mts2000des2** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 9:17 am

Zero dbm wrote:I just wanted to touch base on the fact that it seems as though the quality of Motorola branded products is slipping. In the process of getting new radios on the market, "M" seems to have overlooked vital problems. I mean, really, who here has not ever had some kind of problem with the HT series and their RX or TX? How many service bulletins have there been for that tier of portable? What about the amount of firmware upgrades there is for Pro series. At one point it seemed as though we were downloading a new firmware upgrade every second day. I, like many other love Motorola, but maybe there should be a little more time spent on the early stages of R&D. The industry they produce seems "rushed". "Lets get a partially working product out there, and we'll make it work as we go along." Given the choice, who is picking the HT750 over an MTX? I will admit, they are cute radios, but NO public safety organization, I my opinion, should be using them.

Those are my two coins. What's you opinion?

The days of the old Motorolas are gone. I too, am far from impressed with the Pro series. In my opinion, they are inferior and hardly hold a candle to what they replaced. For the price and hassle, some of the imports like Vertex VX-900 and Kenwood start to look attractive. I did a side by side comparison with an HT-1250 and a VX-900 both on the same band (UHF) and the VX-900 won in all repsects, MUCH BETTER RX AND TX AUDIO, better sensitivity on the VX-900, an incredible battery scheme, and the VX-900 is built 1000 times better than the flimsy HT-1250- oh yeah, and it is HALF THE PRICE and it has a THREE YEAR parts and labor warranty.

Had no issues programming it, and the software and cable cost less than a hundred bucks from the factory- no licensing or B.S. I think it is fair to say that Motorola has changed much not only in the product line but the way they do business in general. I just don't understand some of their business decisions- call it upper management that needs an enema. In the past, Motorola led the way not just in commercial 2-way, but wireless, cellular and other sectors as well. Now they sell of their pager business, rumor has it wireless is next, so when will RPG be outsourced? They keep building junk like the PRO series and selling it for inflated prices and being pompous with their end users and customers, it will happen sooner than they may want.

But hey, the beauty of a free market. May the best man or woman win. I have always been loyal to Motorola, am an avid user of their products (HT1000, Visar, MTS2000, MT2000, HT600, Spectra, MaxTrac, to name a few) but I am not so blinded by blind faith that I can't see the forest for the trees.

EKLB · Post by **EKLB** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 2:22 pm

I too am very disappointed in motorolas so called better.

Why do they put the flex crap in these so called better radios=seems like they just cause me more headaches when it comes to telling the customer what went wrong. (And the customer makes me feel like im responsible for motorolas problem of building a reliable radio.)

Take for instance the p1225 portable=give this radio a little time and see what happens when the rubber contact between the mic element and main bd shrinks or gets dirty from the constant bumps we normaly have in daily use.

Wouldnt it have made more sense to keep it a solid connection like the gp300 had= it never hardly ever failed.

Ok Ok ill cool down and say what really fits motorola to a tee.

COMMON SENSE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED

EKLB

MT2000 man · Post by **MT2000 man** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 6:52 pm

I too, am very disappointed in Motorola's "new product performance" as well. What's even more unfortunate, is all the M dealers are pushing on the new HT series (obviously, because that's what replaced the Jedi series). I find this VERY unfortunate. Motorola should have kept the Jedi series (ht1K, MT2K, etc.) in production a bit longer, but, no, they had to make a poor quality radio, and have the dealers recommend that radio to the costumer.

Oh well, someday big M will wake up, and smell the sh** they're getting themselves into by selling these "cheeper made" radios. (that replaced the Jedi radios, which, were not perfect, but they sure as heck were better than these newer radios, a lot more durable, and the audio was MUCH better.)

"May the saber/jedi series never die"

larryepage · Post by **larryepage** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 8:09 am

I am responsible for the radios and radio system in our plant. We have approximately 150 radios operating on multiple UHF channels, including a conventional repeater system. I would class us as a severe environment, because we are a food manufacturer, meaning that our radios are exposed to lots of flour and other ingredients.

Over the years, we have used HT600s, GP300s, and GP350s. Recently we have been buying P1225s, and a very few HT750s have "snuck" into the mix. The HT750s are generally fine until the warranty expires, but the speaker-mics are poor and cannot be repaired. (Our speaker mic failures are almost always failed cables, which for the other units can be replaced for under $30 and under 10 minutes.) P1225s have not been a particular problem yet. We'll see how they do with a little age.

The bottom line of all this? Even though I've never been a Kenwood fan, I'm very impressed with their new high-end radios. They cost no more than the mid-level Motorola radios, programming is much less of a hassle, and we get tons more features and options. We are not ready to change yet, but we are really looking seriously at doing something outside of Motorola.

Monty · Post by **Monty** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 9:45 am

Long gone are the days when Motorola
made fine Quality , Reliable, worthwhile
products.

But, they are still in with the 400.00 Tolet Seat,
500.00 Allen Wrench, and all that expensive
hardware that they sell.

Fortunitely, Older Motorola Products are here
to stay too !.....Many Series are very reliable, sound
great, and can be fixed and modified.

May not have all the whistles and bells, but they
do work !

I never thought I would see the day where a
Motorola portable would be found on a Department
Store Rack next to the Star Wars Toys.

But, if one wants Company Support, rest assured
~/\/\~ is doing very well....If you have a problem, the
Depot Can fix it ( at a price ). and there are still enough
of the Seasoned ( I do not like the word Old ) Service
Techs around that can fix most of the Motorola products
one way or another.

But, I do see the time comming where all of us, including
me will see the light in the Vacum Tubes go out. Motorola
Radios will then truly be a Hobbie once again !

MS

Astro_Saber · Post by **Astro_Saber** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 9:49 am

Motorola are thieves. they overprice and then change their pricing once you decide what you want.

quality is not part of motorolas top 10 things to fix

jcobb · Post by **jcobb** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 10:33 am

I've seen their quality get to the point that their motto must be:

"Quality - job # wun!"

Sheeesh. I wish my HT 600 and MT 1000 would do narrow band.

Jack

metro121 · Post by **metro121** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 1:49 pm

I said it before and I'll say it again.

$1,000,000.00 worth of technology in $5.00 worth of CRAP.

Post by **wavetar** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 1:58 pm

One of the members of the board, whose name escapes me at the moment, has a line in his signature which says it all:

"Motorola - you may find better, but you'll NEVER pay more."

(or something like that)

Tpdd

MT2000 man · Post by **MT2000 man** » Fri Oct 18, 2002 6:56 pm

I thought it went something like "if its Motorola, than you paid to much"

?

evanh · Post by **evanh** » Sat Oct 19, 2002 6:41 am

Several years ago, I ordered a Parts and Data Handbook from Motorola. (First print 1978).

Stuffed inside the book was a postcard with the heading of something to the effect of "The power of Negative thinking".
I threw it away because at the time quality was still high and assumed that it would be maintained at that level.

The message was that Motorola didn't accept just anybody's material in the manufacture of it's products.
Parts used in Motorola's products had to pass Motorola's quality test before they were used in their products.

If anyone has the card I'm talking about.... Post it!.... we could all use a laugh!

EH

metro121 · Post by **metro121** » Sat Oct 19, 2002 12:59 pm

ITS OBVIOUS THE ONLY TESTING ANYONE IS DOING AT MOTOROLA IS THE LIMIT ON THIER CORPORATE CREDITCARDS.[/b][/code]

APCOMAN · Post by **APCOMAN** » Sat Oct 19, 2002 8:02 pm

Interesting thred.

Mother "M" has started to do more of what other large comapanies do when they want more money:
Come out with a couple new lines of Chinese built rig's. i.e. Pro series.

Gone are the days of Quality. Gone are the days of useing your HT to open walnuts with. Try doing that with a HT750 and you will see your radio spill all the guts out. Try that with a HT600, and you might cause a ding in the case, but the radio will still work. I am disapointed with Motorola's tactics regarding quality of final product. More R&D is indeed needed.

I have had the oportunity to compair Motorola's new radio's and the competeing Vertex and Kenwood rig's. In my opinion, if you don't "need" to have a "M" radio, then maybe a Kenwood TK380 or Vertex VX600,800 will do the job for you. They have a big advantage in Quality of radio that Motorola should try to regain.

I like all of those radio's for various reason's. I am not particular to and one manufacturer. I have a good spred of all of the "big 3" on my desk.
I make my final descision by what I want to do with the radio, and how much money I have to spend on it to buy an maintain.

CyberSlicer · Post by **CyberSlicer** » Sun Oct 20, 2002 4:50 am

Evan,
I have a first edition of that Motorola Communications Parts & Data Handbook that I bought in 1978. It still has the postcard you referred to in it. I'll try to post a picture of it as soon as the battery in my camera charges up.

Don

Okay, here are the links to the Databook postcard.

http://members.cox.net/custom_electroni ... ndbook.jpg

http://members.cox.net/custom_electroni ... nking1.jpg

http://members.cox.net/custom_electroni ... nking2.jpg

Don

Post by **wavetar** » Sun Oct 20, 2002 6:55 am

You won't see it written on a postcard nowadays, but Motorola has what they call "Sigma 6" quality. This is a standard which all their component suppliers must meet. It basically means they have to prove to Motorola their components have a failure rate of less than 6 parts per million. Problem is, you can put the highest reliability parts into a poorly engineered design, and you'll still end up with crap. Rushed R&D will kill a product everytime.

Todd

CyberSlicer · Post by **CyberSlicer** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 12:41 am

I updated my above post with images of the Motorola Data Handbook and the enclosed postcard. To read the postcard, it's best to set your browser to full screen.

Don