Batboard

Hi, I know this is probably a real easy question, so forgive me. I just wanted to know what the key differences between a Saber II and a MT2000 are, (by function, and obviously a saber has better durability) but other than that, what are their differences? And, anyone recommend a saber II?? Any comments you want to share??

Thank you for your time

I have an MT2000 VHF, and I also have had/used a Saber II/III.

The Saber has better audio than the MT2000 hands down, infact, it has some of the best audio than most of the other portables I've used. You can hear the thing crystal clear in a concert if it's turned up all the way with a speaker mic .

I went to the MT2000 for the following reasons: I had Mostly Jedi equipment, access to a speaker mic, extra batteries, chargers etc. Also, the Jedi series is A LOT smaller than the Saber, which working College EMS and you have to carry a radio around campus it makes a difference. I also like the screen on the MT much better than the saber. I think the menu system is better, and you can have 14 characters dedicated to the channel name as opposed to the 8 I believe that the Saber had. You also have 160 channels (255 I believe with the batlabs mod) over the Sabers 120. I also like the Scan on the MT much better than that on the Saber. Much easier to program, and change on the fly.

Personally, I believe that the Saber is a very cool radio, has a lot of features, and is better when it comes to recieve, audio quality, and transmit. However, for my needs, I feel the MT2K works really well, and I'm not planning on trading it in anytime soon, unless my county changes their system.

-Alex

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: alex on 2001-11-17 23:10 ]</font>

I tend to concur with most of Alex's comments. In addition, however, signalling features can be vastly different. A good majority of the analog sabers out there are 5D core sabers. The only signalling available on those radios is MDC ID and emergency if your radio has a button. Most of the MT2000s I've seen with relatively recent firmware are capable of various combinations of paging and MDC profiles. My MT2000 is currently set up to alert for 7 different departments in both open channels and squelched channels (acts like a pager) as well as three different MDC1200 profiles AND I can receive different MDC1200 pages for each of those profiles. You'd have to find a saber with an 8D core to get that type of signalling out of one of those radios... and they're just about as easy to find as an E model Spectra.

On 2001-11-18 00:22, Bob wrote:
My MT2000 is currently set up to alert for 7 different departments in both open channels and squelched channels (acts like a pager) as well as three different MDC1200 profiles

Bob - I believe your talking about QCII decoding here... as well as the MDC paging, but since you don't specificly mention that I will The MT2000 does support QCII decode as well, I believe 16 different profiles? I forget. Another thing the Saber won't do out of the box unless you have the right core version...

I don't want to pick on the Saber all that much as I know it's quite a good radio as well, I just like the feature set on the MT much better. IF they would combine the features of the MT into the Saber (specificly the screen) I'd be a lot happier. I know the astro saber has done that, but, I can't afford an astro saber *yet*

-Alex

Well I agree with Alex and Bob in all the points that they made for the Jedi series portables. I have owned both Jedi's and Sabers. Currently I own 2 Saber III's. I prefer the Saber over the Jedi's mostly because of audio and durability.

Now what you want to look for mainly is what do you need in the radio? If you need MDC and QCII etc. Your best bet would to go with an MT2000 or the like. Unless you step in the right pile of doo doo chances are you won't get an 8D core Saber. All this is also partly why I use the Sabers as well. I have no need for QCII paging, I leave the portable in my truck and carry a pager around(it's a little lighter, than any portable you buy besides a Visar). MDC is non existant in my area for the most part. The agencies that have it I just listen to so I would have no need to transmit an MDC ID. And quite honestly I don't know what the point is for having 255 or 160 or even the 120 that my Sabers have. You can only scan around 16 of them anyway. It was a challenge to even fill up 80 of those channels, and that's including the weather channels I put at the end.....

So I guess my point is look at what features you need and what you would prefer to have as far as durability, etc. That's just me. I do see the point in spending extra for a radio that has features that I don't need.

It plays out like this: Better audio and build quality (electronic and physical) VS. More Features, Greater Portability. It all depends on who the user is, and what do they value more. If I was a NAVY seal, Id take a saber IIR with Fascinator, because its waterproof, Secure, and unbreakable in the most extreme of conditions. But if I was a large golfcourse superintendant, Id carry an MT2000 so I could use it to turn on and off individual sprinklers and zones of sprinklers using the DTMF pad and have each and every sinlge zone labled on the nice 14 charachter dot matrix display. The MT2000 is feature rich while still providing fairly good durability, and its compact so its a little bit easier to deal with when you are in a civilian enviornment. Both the Saber II and MT2000 are nice it all depends what you use them for

I agree with most of the comments here. I think that the decision comes down to who you are and how you are going to use (and care for) the radio. I have my own MT 2000 that I use at work. I, and everyone at work, was issued an Astro Saber, which sits in my locker. Before that, we had "System" Sabers, which were a bit lighter than the new radios are.

The reason that I chose to buy my own radio is that as issued to us, the Sabers are crippled. This was a management decision, and was pretty stupid. By crippled, I mean that we are restricted to two zone, with a total of 24 channels. Two of the channels we have use DES, but only a few managers have the keys loaded, and they never use the channels. Auto scan of two channels only, no display. In reality, we could have just bought HT-1000s for a lot less money.

My MT is set up with 44 of the 48 channels loaded, full scan with selected channel priority, ability to recieve and transmit (if really necessary) the PD and FD channels where I work. (I work for a city EMS service and we do calls with them all of the time).

I also take good care of my radio, so it will last a long time. Most of the folks that I work with aren't as careful and many of them don't care about listening to the other emergency services, so the Saber is better for them, but we could certainly use a lighter version for what we do with them.