Minitor IV Recall

JD · Post by JD » Mon Dec 13, 2004 1:40 pm

Has anyone recently heard of a recall on the MIV Pager ?

Carter6903 · Post by **Carter6903** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 9:16 pm

i havent heard of a recall but i think there are enough problems with them for motorola to seriously look into it....my fire dept has had numourous problems including pager not alerting, pagers stuck in programming mode, etc. we recently purchased 6 of them and have had problems out of 4. which in my book is not doing so good!

JD · Post by JD » Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:22 am

A large share of my customers have had same complaints, no alert tones, poor reception, not happy at all.Think the big M will try to fix?

Wile E. Coyote · Post by **Wile E. Coyote** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 7:53 am

I have had a lot of complaints about the M-IV. range was the biggest issue. our solution for that was to put a simplex paging repeater in the area. After they spent more money for that, they started complaining of pagers that would not go off at all! something is seriously wrong with that pager. the big /\/\ better step up and take care of the customer before someone else does!

Just a thought... look at the specs here:

http://www.motorola.com/cgiss/docs/mini ... tsheet.pdf

did you notice that the "sensitivity" is a relatively low number compared to the M-II? that is because the minitor 2 includes VOICE sensitivity, whereas the M-IV DOES NOT. it only states the alerting sensitivity. I have tested this personally and found that if you are in a weak signal area (like a bedroom) it is possible for the M-IV to go off, and not pass audio! anyone else found or seen this?

-WEC

fire_master_21 · Post by **fire_master_21** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:58 pm

Wile E. Coyote wrote: I have tested this personally and found that if you are in a weak signal area (like a bedroom) it is possible for the M-IV to go off, and not pass audio! anyone else found or seen this?

-WEC

I have that problem all the time, it will alert but no audio after the page until I pick it up out of the charger. other than that i haven't had any problems with mine

Post by Pj » Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:59 pm

Our town just went to Min4's. We have good coverage, so that most likely helps. So far, everything seems to work pretty well. The only thing I have noticed is that it will false alert on the "plectron" style dee-doo's (is that accurate?:)) every so often, when the volume is low.

Other than that they seem to be working pretty well.

bernie · Post by **bernie** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 7:12 pm

My two bits worth:
I have not met any one that was satisfied with the Minitor lll or lV.
Too bad. Very poor support.
They really need a competitor for this product line.
I expect one will show up sooner or later.

Ett1033 · Post by **Ett1033** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:36 am

I have about 30 Minitor III's and IV's in use. Just purchased 4 NOVA pagers by USAlert. They do everything the Minitors do and even a little more. So far, they are pretty good. Not perfect, but better. Price is about the same. No 2nd channel though. Until something great comes along, you may want to try.....
http://www.usalertllc.com

detblow · Post by **detblow** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 3:03 pm

I have had several fire departments start complaining about not getting pages. We have narrowed it down to bad M4's as well. Seems they just drop the tones for no reason. Coverage is not an issue. If anyone has any ideas let me know.

kf4sqb · Post by **kf4sqb** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 6:09 am

I have problems with my M-IV, too. As stated earlier, voice sensitivity sucks. It's not uncommon for me to be on fringe areas, where an HT picks up so-so, and the IV will alert, but no voice. I mean I can take the thing off my belt, hold it as far in the air as I can (and I'm 6'2"!), with the monitor button held for open squelch, and I get nothing but static. Have problems with it inside of buildings, too. One of the VFDs I run with is in the NW corner of the county (big county), with the repeater just to the NW of the center of the county. My old M-II worked fine in the station. My M-III worked somewhat in the station, but you had to be standing in the right spot for it to work reliably. The POS M-IV I carry now rarely ever works in the station, no matter what. However, we have had an X9000 mobile laying on a table, with no antenna attached, and it received the repeater just fine! I've said it before, and I'll happily say it again: THE MINITOR IV IS A TOTAL POS!!!