Experience with XTS4000?

[JPOPatents]

Can anyone share their experiences with an XTS4000? How does the radio perform? Likes? Dislikes? Problems? Thanks!

[tvsjr]

It's a lot of radio in a very small space. It suffers from the same compromises as any other small radio (see Visar, also Expo)... not as rugged, not as much power out, very limited battery life, limited antenna options, etc.

If you need a radio that looks like a cell phone and is of similar size, and if you're OK with a 4-6 hour battery life, and if you're operating simplex or have a system that saturates your area well enough to make up for the limitations of the device, it's OK. It is not, however, a replacement for a real radio (XTS/APX).

From my perspective, they are cute toys with a certain very limited market... but that's about it.

[n7maq]

John,

TVSJR was right on, the battery life is short (I use the low cap for small size) and if you have a lot of RX traffic with the volume up it can be as short as 2 to 3 hours and that is for RX only. Most of the time I see around 4 to 5 myself, but on a slow day 6.

They are nice for the size, and the UHF does actually perform good. When compared to a 2500 set at two watts into a few local 440 machines I was surprised how good they did. I use mine with a VRS a lot and low power does a great job for that.

Jim

[mab]

I've got a VHF and a UHF.

They're quite good for what they are, and much better than I expected. It's more rugged than it looks, but not as rugged as a full sized XTS.

Others have commented on the battery life, which I can confirm is problematic with the standard battery. There's a higher capacity battery, but it makes the radio a bit too big to fit comfortably in my pocket. A better option is probably to carry an extra charged standard battery.

A few random nits:

It's a bit too large to pass for a modern cell phone under any real scrutiny (it's pretty thick, in particular), but it doesn't call attention to itself.

There's not much audio, although you can use it like a phone (opened up to your ear).

The FPP has a horrible UI and is only barely useful. You have to wait for the display to cycle through several screens each time you want to change anything.

Analog receiver performance is not quite as good as the XTS2500 or XTS5000 (it seems more susceptible to overload and intermod, though I've not actually measured this).

There's no standard antenna connector; you have to use the test jig/battery eliminator if you want to connect anything.

Annoyingly, it lacks a built in bluetooth or any bluetooth option (which is especially weird given that they make a bluetooth adapter for the other XTS radios, and this thing really calls out for one). But there are a variety of wired surveillance kits available.

[N4DES]

I agree...works great around the hood talking to my local VHF repeater on the weekends or when I want to carry in the stealth mode, but If I'm leaving the County I grab the xts2500 or APX for my portable comms.

The VHF 4000 works just as well as the VHF Visar that I used to own, although I think the Visar was a bit more efficient being it had a full size antenna vs the real stubby iDEN style antenna that is about as close to a dummy load that you can get.

[JPOPatents]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to consider the XTS4000 to be a radio for the person who has every other radio that they ever wanted, but still has money burning a hole in their pocket.