Visar vs. EX Series

[MT2000 man]

Good day all !!

Just scored an EX600XLS pretty cheap, and figured it was time to add another small radio to my Visars. What is everyones opinion on the EX series ( 500/600 ) vs. the Visar ? I've never used an EX radio before and was wondering how well they perform ? Is it better than a Visar ? I know the EX600XLS is a much newer radio, but is it better built as well ?

Any opinions on the EX series would be great !

Thanks !

Mike

[RadioSouth]

Mike,
I had Visar's from their inception until a few years ago when I could no longer source slim batteries and switched to a few EX500's. I don't use them the same way, I had a Visar for an off duty and sometimes at work radio that went everywhere with me for years , now my radio usage is hobby so the comparison isn't equal. My impressions:
Visar with the belt clip attachment slightly more concealable than the EX500 with same when used with slim battery due to holder design.
Carried in pocket without clip, pretty much the same.
Receive audio better on the Visar.
Never saw a side by side on a monitor but Visar is a Jedi based radio, the EX is Waris. The overall opinion I've seen here and from a dealer I know that stocked uo on Jedi's before the phase out is the Jedi
is higher regarded than the Waris.
Visar or EX with fat battery pretty much the form factor of a potato, but it does stay in vehicle cupholder well.
Cool factor- Visar, and that dual charger they made for it very handy
Parts for Visar likely NLA so this might be of importance
That's my take, YMMV
Jim

Even had a novelty Visar keychain with me 10+ years that a friend brought back from a trade show (possibly IWCE).

[MT2000 man]

Thanks for that comparison. Since I've never used a Waris radio before getting used to this EX600 should be interesting. At least with the EX600, it can do 160 channels, has a display, etc. I'll see once I get it in my hands how it feels next to the Visar, but they both seem to be about the same size. I just hope Motorola didn't make the internals of the EX as flmisy as they did the Visar ( ie- super thin control boards, etc. )

Speaking of Visar, check out this promotional gem I found haha :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4PXgkDYgL8

[RadioSouth]

That's a gem alright. Saw an Expo in there as well, forgot about that bugger that was pretty much the 1st sub compact Motorola. Had one of those in the 80's before the Visar came out, 2 channels 1 Watt and a bit larger.

[JRUTA]

Hahaha that's great. Didn't understand a word, but got the idea. I still have my Visar (Dn revision- better built controller) it still works great. Something about it gives it the "cool" factor over the EX series, even with just 16 channels and no real display. As RadioSouth said, finding slim batteries is next to impossible, and that ruins it.