Batboard

We are considering moving to the SL7550 radios at the office, but I am not a huge fan of the plastic snap in clip. The radios would be going mainly to maintenance staff who have been complaining for years that their HT1250's are too large. We will be moving to a local connect plus system, so that limits my choices in radios.

Has anyone found any sort of drop in holster or something for these? I'm sure if I look at the measurements I could find something on line, just hoping someone has already done the leg work.

Anyone have any real world experience with these radios? In our case, the vendor will be putting a site right on our campus, so the lower power is really not a problem. How's the battery life with them? I know, smaller and long battery life don't typically go together...

I'm working on getting one in my hands to look at and play with to see if we would like it.

In my experience, the SL radios usually go to the bosses who will take care of them, & put them in a shirt, or jacket pocket. The workers usually don't give a crap about their radios, & require something more rugged to deal with the abuse. I'd see if you can test them for a week before making a commitment to buy. Those on our system using SL's have trouble being heard, while those using XPR radios don't have this problem, but an on site repeater could make up for it. GARY

Did you think maybe of looking at a horizontal phone case that fits the dimensions of the radio?

Have over 1K SL radios supported in various facilities that we support data for. The SL's are proving to be a better executive radio, where as the XPR-7550 is a more traditional staff radio. But that said I have all sorts of staff in many Hotels carrying them with great experiences. Just be careful that you understand that needs of the 2 watt talk in when looking at your Antenna and Repeater plans.

For the SL and the larger XPR battery life will depend on how you use it and what if any accessories (Blue tooth) you add on. But you should note that there are new batteries for the SL and they do have a much better life than the original ones did.

tdats wrote: Anyone have any real world experience with these radios? In our case, the vendor will be putting a site right on our campus, so the lower power is really not a problem. How's the battery life with them? I know, smaller and long battery life don't typically go together...

I'm working on getting one in my hands to look at and play with to see if we would like it.

Battery life is a concern. We would go with the extended batteries if we went that way. Will they make a 9 or so hour shift?

A cell phone case is probably the way I would go, was just hoping someone had already figured one out that works.

I am working on getting a SL from the system operator to check out before we commit to them. I know the 6550's are good and will work well, we have a few of those on analog right now, but faced with the opportunity to replace the entire fleet, the SL's are tempting...

Nylon cases from Bee Cases. They have belt loop and belt clip models.

Bottom of page 7. http://www.beecase.com/uploads/dealer-catalogue.pdf

Way cool, thanks RFGuy!

RFguy wrote:Nylon cases from Bee Cases. They have belt loop and belt clip models.

Bottom of page 7. http://www.beecase.com/uploads/dealer-catalogue.pdf

+1

How many channels do they need. the SL seems over kill

KitN1MCC wrote:How many channels do they need. the SL seems over kill

tdats wrote:We will be moving to a local connect plus system, so that limits my choices in radios.

currently, we are using 8 talk groups on a passport trunking system. The SL is overkill, but the constant complaint from our staff is radio size and weight. The passport operator is adding a connect plus system in our area, so it seemed like a good time to replace our fleet of radios.

the XPR series are not as heavy as the CDM

Anyone care to chime in with real world battery life on the SL7550's? We would like to go to them when the system we use is upgraded. Use wise, they will be on a UHF connect plus system. No messaging or anything like that, no bluetooth, no scanning, just a radio on a talkgroup talking maybe a minute or two a 9 hour shift. Pretty low usage. Our high usage group will be getting XPR6550's or XPR7550's.