Motorola XT420 and XT460 Two-way Radio Review

The Motorola XT400 series is a cost-effective starter solution for businesses that are introducing two-way radios to meet their communication needs and comes with one radio, a carry holster, and a charger. This powerful license-free PMR446 radio has been designed to provide exceptional durability, enhanced features and clearer than ever audio, even in the harshest and noisiest environments.

 

However, the XT420 and XT460 radios are sold by LRS UK in to many long established businesses because of their cost, features, reliability and not least the many accessories available.

Examine the close up review below that we created recently and you will find information that no other company ever shows you.

Knowledge is power especially if you are unfamiliar with the equipment.

Our expert staff will help on 01782 537000.

 

The close up review of the Motorola XT420 & XT460 Two-way Radio by LRS UK

Today we're going to example the XT series of two-way radios so let's consider what's included. This unit is an XT460 and we also have an XT420 to briefly discuss as the XT420 and XT460 are similar except for the display. Inside the box are plenty of manuals, theres a two-way radio quick start guide, the radio is complete with its holster, various types of charging plugs, a battery, a charger - the actual charger itself, the power supply and the XT460 radio itself.

The battery package; if you notice the battery does say charge immediately or when storing for greater than six months see battery care - so just bear in mind that when you put your battery in the radio the first thing you want to do is to actually put it on charge and charge it fully.

The XT460 has a display and some user buttons on the front; it's got the PTT on the left side, a few other buttons and somewhere where you can put your headphones and microphone in.

Consider the XT420 to just indicate the differences that there are; if you want to save a little bit of money the XT420 is a little bit cheaper than the XT460 but in other respects they are identical; the XT420 is pretty much identical to the XT460 in respect of what you get; comparing the XT420 and the XT460 it's obvious they are surprisingly similar - the only difference is those few things on the front (buttons and display).

We have sold more of the XT400 series than any other radios we sell and that's a real achievement in fact about seven and a half thousand of them in one order recently; an amazing product that doesn't fail by the hour - we get very few back under warranty.

Under a cover on the right hand side of the radio is where you plug in the headphones and microphone or earpiece and microphone depending on what you need.

The video: in-depth review of the XT460 Handset

When turning on the XT460 reports verbally which channel the radio is on, and if you change channels the radio reports verbally the channel change. The display itself is a reasonably accurate nice display although like anything else there are better displays; the thing about these radios, these XT400 series two-way radios were made for business use; they are made to help people to work better together and whether they're coordinating resources at the construction site or monitoring production on the manufacturing line they come with the right credentials to give business the competitive edge exceptional quality affordability and durability to outlast high noise tough conditions and hard use.

They are very robust radios make no mistake of that, they feel really good in the hand and it's pretty obvious holding the handset that there has been no real expense spared in arriving at a product that is so well made, it's so well built it's not at all like the cheap rubbish that you see on unbranded radios out there from China and other parts of the world often sold on eBay or Amazon. Frankly there is no comparison.

The XT400 series are brilliant when you want to focus on the job; there's an instant push to talk and a customized channel announcement that can keep your hands free you'll know which channel and which department you're talking to without removing the radio from your belt even.

The audio is loud and clear output thanks to its powerful built-in loudspeaker and the user can select between 8 channels and 219 privacy codes to help ensure a clear signal. They have a great range too, the XT400 series radios make it easy to get work done, they are compact but they are performance packed and the series provides coverage up to nine kilometers line of sight that is with voice prompts that enable you to program non-display radios on the go. There's a carry holster with a swivel belt width that lets you rotate the radio to fit most comfortably and move freely while picking up a tool or restocking a shelf and the anti-microbial coating that you don't see on many radios helps prevent the growth of moulding germs on the surface of the radio as you change shifts pass on the radio confidently.

What makes this radio one of the better choice of radios in our opinion is how robust it is - it's because Motorola spent the time getting this right bearing in mind how many they actually sell; once the design is completed as here there's nothing really to touch it for the price.

The military standard MIL-STD-810 C,D,E,F and G and an IP55 might be standard for all the radio manufacturers out there, and if you watch the series of these written reviews we will often those specifications; but they are the starting point for the XT400 series radios.

These radios undergo Motorola's unique accelerated live testing - this rigorous laboratory testing simulates up to five years of use in the field they design and build the XT400 series right first time to minimize costly repairs and downtime and we can confirm we really don't get many of these back under warranty.

Strangely enough the previous series the XTNi from Motorola was superseded by the XT400 series; but that's no problem even if you use XTNi radios; the html based customer programming software is so easy to use it works with any computer browser and radio profiles are interchangeable with the XTNi series too so its easy and quick to copy settings between the XT400 series radios or between XTNi and XT400 series portables with the radio to radio cloning cable.

Of course you can reuse the your XTNi audio accessories to unleash the power of the XT400 series two-way radios! yes they are compatible; LRS UK here in the uk has been selling Motorola radios for many years and we're very very successful with these radios; we sell literally tens of thousands and we don't sell tens of thousands of this radio for no reason; the reason it's successful is how good it is; we're not just saying that you can give us a call and we can loan you radios so you can try them on site yourself. Speak to one of our our Motorola specialists here at LRS UK and they will find the right radio for you if it's this one or a different model that's fine; that way you're going to end up with something that's perfect for your application.

The six-way charging unit is a fast charger and this particular model and the XT420 fit this charger simply; this unit plugs straight into the mains underneath, it's a simple charger but it's a powerful charger and it's a fast charger and it's important to understand that if you're using just the regular desktop charger it's not going to compare to this one; these multi-chargers are available optionally but they are well worth the money if you've got more than one radio these are a great buy and some of our biggest customers buy these all the time they save such a lot of messing around with single charges that really operators couldn't do without these they're excellent.

Main features of this radio: it operates on license and subscription-free PMR-446 frequencies there are eight channels, the on or off or volume control knob is on the top of the radio, it's a 16 position channel code selector knob, there's an auto scan feature, there's a battery save feature there's a usb cps interface so you can connect to pc or other device there's a radio mic gain there's an accessory mic gain there's a scan and a scan list, there's voice scrambling for extra privacy, a timeout timer, and it's compatible with XTNi audio accessories. The audio out by the way is 1.5 watts and it's relatively clear. If audio is absolutely essential that it's the best and loudest look to other brands but we would advise you that anyway 1.5 watts output is no mean feet and it's perfectly acceptable for most ordinary applications.

The battery that this radio comes with is a standard 21 milliampere per hours lithium ion battery and that will give you up to 20 hours worth of use if you've got the battery saver turned on; obviously if you turn that off you get a bit less operation time.

Accessories include earpieces, microphones, and more. We supply all genuine accessories that are available today however we also make our own accessories for all Motorola wireless communications and we sell substantial numbers of those - but we don't make our accessories down to a price as you often see on eBay and Amazon we make our accessories up to a standard. We make them very specifically for Motorola and while we make other brands these accessories from LRS UK are the biggest selling earpieces that we make. We make C (or G shaped) shaped, D shaped and acoustic type of units. The C (or G) shaped unit has a PTT on the microphone included and it is very high quality; these earpiece and microphones are used in some of the largest hospitality operations throughout the UK and in other sectors; a very tried and tested earpiece as are all of this range, they are built to a very high standard and if there are any problems with any of these LRS UK will just give you a new one under warranty only from LRS UK. The D shaped earpiece and microphone is first class quality; these are made to the highest specification that we could get them made; there's the microphone and PTT included and it fits absolutely perfectly. Lastly this is the clear earpiece or a clear acoustic earpiece; it's a very well made high quality and it really will stand up to rigorous use. These are all guaranteed with a better warranty than you'd get from any other company.

The warranty; LRS UK always looks at warranty when we consider selling anything and this maker has an excellent warranty, in fact it's longer than some other well-known brands. The whole range has a two-year warranty and rarely do we get these back - they seem to be so robust and so reliable they just work and work. We sell them into so many different sectors - so a great radio that we're willing to stand by and sell at LRS UK. It is highly important that we choose a brand of radios that has exceptional warranty and this two year warranty for the price point of this product is exceptional.

LRS UK has been selling these radios for years and we've got within our company experts on Motorola products; our experts can guide you to the best radio suitable for your business; we can also loan these radios to you if you want to try them out. Obviously we have certain rules in place regarding that but in any case we'll identify the correct radio and loan it to you so if necessary you can try them out; it's simple to contact us just call 01782-537000 or you can find us on our dedicated website which is twowayradiosuk.co.uk and note we don't have every radio on that website, its got many Motorola radios available to buy immediately. It's operated by Long Range Systems UK Ltd and not Motorola - this site is also an LRS UK operated website. To speak with our experts and it's far better if you call so please do call us on 01782 537000 and we're looking forward to talking two-way radios with you.