Page 1 of 1

XTS 2500i Reliability

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:28 am
by Countrychris80
After my county got a million or so dollar grant, we're going Astro 25 using XTL 5000/2500's and XTS 2500i mod 1.5 and 2 (after moving out of a 25+ year old UHF Analog system)
I was issued my portable from my EM Director and have already had to send it off after light test usage (system is still not online with 911 center)
as the radio decides to turn itself off and on at random times. The Motorola dealer in the county told me to swap batteries, this "seemed" to remedy
the issue for 3-4 days then continued with it's random restarts and shutdowns. After consulting with the dealer again it seems my radio is not the only
one out of the batch the county purchased that is doing this. Is there a known issue with these radios doing this?

I sent mine off but here is the specs on it:
XTS 2500i Mod 2 (Conventional)
Flashcode: 100001-000001-6
Model: H46KDF9PW6BN
With the features Q811 and Q445

I'm hoping this will be a durable and dependable radio (Seeing as how we "upgrade" every 20-30 years lol)

Re: XTS 2500i Reliability

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:00 am
by kb4mdz
So much for Motorola's 'Six-Sigma' quality program.

Re: XTS 2500i Reliability

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:08 am
by MSS-Dave
I will vouch 100% for the XTS 2500i. I have 300+ Model 1.5 in service since mid 2009 with maybe 6-7 failures. All of them were covered under warranty and I had decent turnaround time from the depot. I've had several spend at least 24 hours underwater with no adverse effects. These are 7/800 MHz radios using the LI-Ion NNTN 7335A packs.

Dave

Re: XTS 2500i Reliability

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:19 pm
by MTS2000des
I like the radios for the form factor, but they aren't nearly as durable as the XTS5000. We have about 120 of them in service at two facilities, all are AN versions purchased in 2006. Several have had display problems, the knobs are prone to break, and overall they are not that great of a performing radio compared to the 5000. The 5000 is much more serviceable and long term, has better reliability IMO.

I'm surprised your agency didn't buy APX6000's. Motorola is soon ending the XTS/XTL line and dropping prices on the 6000 to make it to put it in more peoples' hands. And now the APX4000 is out which is rumored to be a replacement for the XTS1500/2500 radios.

Re: XTS 2500i Reliability

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:38 am
by MSS-Dave
I should have stated that my radios are BN models. 1 broken knob/shaft so far. Had a few goofy display issues on delivery that were swapped overnight by Motorola.

Re: XTS 2500i Reliability

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:17 pm
by Countrychris80
I appreciate all the input on this, I checked the radio shop today and they have yet to look at it, so the cause of the issue is still unknown.
I was surprised they didnt go with APX6000's as well, but I think the lower price was the main driving factor on their choice for the
XTS/XTL 2500's. An APX 7000 would have been nice, given that one county we provide heavy mutual aid to uses UHF and our county
is now entirely VHF so I have still been unable to relieve myself of keeping two radios with me while on duty. On another note,
My radio was the 9th to be serviced because of the same or similar problems, so it seems there was a few bad ones in the batch we bought
which came to a total of 327 Portables, 75 Mobiles and 10 Repeaters.