cRAzY Motorola Price

Jonathan KC8RYW · Post by **Jonathan KC8RYW** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 12:38 pm

Just had to share this...

Lookup a HMN1020B, a DTMF mic for the Maxar or Moxy radio. They want $598.00! For a DTMF mic? I could buy an entirely new radio for less. And, get a DTMF mic, too.

Another example of Motorola's crazy pricing.

MT2000 man · Post by **MT2000 man** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 12:47 pm

I'm telling you, Motorola is actually scaring consumers away with their sky high prices. True, they have to make up for the loss of however many employes they lost, but its getting to much! (Just look at what thier doing to thier parts web site) I think its time for Motorola to get back on their feet, and start making more radios like the old MT1000's and the like (saber), radios that the end consumer are happy with.

Just my $0.02

10-95 · Post by **10-95** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 1:07 pm

Well it is a crazy price, and I doubt they have any in stock anymore either. I called to find an MCX-1000 power cable and they kid, and that's whon they have answering the phone, young college kids who have no idea what i'm talking about when I call, well anyway, he gives me a price and it turns out it's not available anymore!! This is after 30 minutes of trying to explain to the kid what I needed!!

10-95

radioEd · Post by **radioEd** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 2:24 pm

On 2002-01-19 15:47, MT2000 man wrote:
I'm telling you, Motorola is actually scaring consumers away with their sky high prices. True, they have to make up for the loss of however many employes they lost, but its getting to much! (Just look at what thier doing to thier parts web site) I think its time for Motorola to get back on their feet, and start making more radios like the old MT1000's and the like (saber), radios that the end consumer are happy with.

Just my $0.02

Well the consumer comes 3rd. the product 2nd. And "moto" gets the $$$ up front! What a way to run a corp.

radioEd · Post by **radioEd** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 2:27 pm

On 2002-01-19 16:07, 10-95 wrote:
Well it is a crazy price, and I doubt they have any in stock anymore either. I called to find an MCX-1000 power cable and they kid, and that's whon they have answering the phone, young college kids who have no idea what i'm talking about when I call, well anyway, he gives me a price and it turns out it's not available anymore!! This is after 30 minutes of trying to explain to the kid what I needed!!

10-95

I know what you mean, Cause it works to ways, call them back and, put them on hold for 30 mins! (pressure release)

MT2000 man · Post by **MT2000 man** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 2:32 pm

Yup, looks that way

I dont think they ever will produce a "good rock solid" radio for some time to come, (even though the xts5K looks good, then I'd have to take a 2nd mortgage out on my house after I buy it) Wouldn't it be neat if they started to put the old saber series back on the market, (with some "modern day touches") or something on the line of a gp300, (its a simple radio, yet its rugged, and dependable. )

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: MT2000 man on 2002-01-19 17:34 ]</font>

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 2:55 pm

I don't think that it is fair to look at parts for a radio that has been out of production for close to 20 years and expect the prices to be as low as current product.
Just try to buy ANY part for a 20 year old ___________ (fill in any other brand here).

We have recently started dealing in ICOM and it is a real wake-up to me. The price and availability of ICOM accessories and replacement parts is scarry.

I think that Motorola does a good job of parts availabilty and stocking levels in general.

Cowthief · Post by **Cowthief** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 3:00 pm

Have you looked at where // builds radios?.
Cell phones in Brazil, 2way in Mexico, MDTs in "Palistine".
And the price keeps going up.

Thank You.

Post by **wavetar** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 4:44 pm

I agree with Alan. Quite simply, they don't WANT you to buy the $600 mic for a Maxar-80. They would much rather have you buy a new radio for the same price, and stop making the mics altogether. 5 years ago they wanted $700 for a 455KHz Permakay filter for a Mocom-70. Guess what? The customer soon changed his entire Mocom-70 radio fleet out for GM300s. Looks like the "buy new, not old" philosophy works well for Motorola! And yep, the customer is very happy with the GMs.

Todd

penstar · Post by **penstar** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 10:02 pm

At the core of Motorola's business problems is too many divisions in too many markets. The one's that are literally killing them is the semi-conductor and cell phone divisions.
Their own CEO finally admitted at their annual meeting back in August that Motorola's problems are of their own doing. M needs to get back to basics, as in their communications sector, and stop trying to put a motorola cell phone in every person's hand.

Twisted_Pear · Post by **Twisted_Pear** » Sun Jan 20, 2002 12:48 am

Look at the prices for some of their User and Service manuals. Talk about a ripoff. Their information isn't worth 50 bucks for a small little booklet or a 20 page manual.

OX · Post by OX » Sun Jan 20, 2002 7:55 am

On 2002-01-20 01:02, penstar wrote:
At the core of Motorola's business problems is too many divisions in too many markets. The one's that are literally killing them is the semi-conductor and cell phone divisions.
Their own CEO finally admitted at their annual meeting back in August that Motorola's problems are of their own doing. M needs to get back to basics, as in their communications sector, and stop trying to put a motorola cell phone in every person's hand.

That's too bad. They make some top notch cell phones too. I've been forced to use other phones (ericsson, kyocera/qualcomm) and they just don't compare. I've had MANY people comment on how well my digital phone sounded since I switched back to a Startac.

I'm getting tired of Mot discontinuing their most popular products. The top selling and most used radios are the Saber, Syntor, MTS/Jedi and Spectra and all of them have been or are very close to being discontinued and parts off into the wind. And then they try to sell us junk! (I know, <-- belongs in another thread...)

perthcom · Post by **perthcom** » Sun Jan 20, 2002 3:08 pm

A little imagination can get around things like the replacement microphone problem.
Cut the mic head off, leaving a 6" or so pigtail to which you wire a surface mount RG45 connector.
Vola! Now you can plug in the current series of Mics, DTMF or otherwise.
We've been doing the same thing with GE MLS radios since you can not longer buy mics for them. The HMN3008 works great and them too!

Post by **vcaruso** » Sun Jan 20, 2002 3:18 pm

I agree with perthcom, there is no reason to have to pay 600.00 Plus for a mic or have to replace the entire radio due to the lack of that particular part being in stock.
The concept of the Mic has not changed much and there is no reason why we cant retrofit a newer model on an older radio.
We are all creative arent we?

Jonathan KC8RYW · Post by **Jonathan KC8RYW** » Sun Jan 20, 2002 4:43 pm

On 2002-01-20 03:48, Twisted_Pear wrote:
Look at the prices for some of their User and Service manuals. Talk about a ripoff. Their information isn't worth 50 bucks for a small little booklet or a 20 page manual.

I agree. But, alas, how else can we get this information, without breaking copyright laws?

And, service manuals aren't exactly easy to copy out on the copy machine at work; some of the pull-out diagrams are HUGE.

I wonder what the "actual" cost of printing a manual is? I mean, some of the manuals I use have had their production costs paid off for at least 10 years!

Motoroly · Post by **Motoroly** » Thu Jan 24, 2002 7:54 am

Just another ADDON: Did anyone else get a letter from Motorola about there increase of Parts Pricing? The way I read it, they are going up by an average of 8%! Or did I read this wrong. It says, " This will narrow the margin between Resale and List price by an average of 8%".
That's a pretty big jump.

radioEd · Post by **radioEd** » Thu Jan 24, 2002 9:18 am

Yes! That was posted by: [email protected] on: Posted: 2001-12-27 14:38 (that would be about five pages back)

Bugs Bunny · Post by **Bugs Bunny** » Fri Jan 25, 2002 5:13 am

Anyone ever try to buy a button for an MCX1000 when they were still available. Depending on what was silk screened on the button would determine the cost. Scan button would be 50 cents, while a button with a number 1 on it would be 15 dollars or so. The explanation given is Motorola will support the radio, and if they do not have it in inventory, they will manufacture the part. Hence the scan buttons were produced in the thousands, while they might of only produced the 1 buttons in hundred lots.

Bugs