I’m glad to have found this site. I am packing for our annual 3 month camping/road trip. We can’t find our Costco Motorola Talkabouts. I was never too enamored with them, in the first place. We use our 2 ways for hiking, for in town communications, when we are separated while on our trip. Since we are travelling in a van, the AA battery is a plus for us, since we won’t always be able to find AC to charge our units. I know that new is not always better. Is there a substantial difference between the GXT1000VP4 and it’s predecessor? Has there been enough time for problems with the newer unit to surface? Does Buy Two Way Radios still stock the “old” GXT900VP4? I am counting on the reputation for fast and efficient shipping from BTWRs, and would ask for 2nd day delivery. I live on the West coast. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry, the GXT900s are gone. There is very little difference between them and the GXT1000 though. In fact they are almost the same, except they have a few refinements. I have not heard of anyone having any problems with them. This may be that they are not a “new” model in that everything was changed, mostly they took the GXT900 and changed the screen and added more “channels”.
http://www.buytwowayradios.com/products/midland/midland-gxt-1000-vp4.aspx
Also, you might want to give these a look:
http://www.buytwowayradios.com/products/midland/midland-gxt-740-vp3.aspx
They have almost the same features, and are just as good, for a bit less.
I’m working on a review of the new models. The new 1000s had the scrambling pulled as this violates regulations. Mostly the same radio.
Sorry that the scrambling feature is gone. If I had read that this morning, I might have checked around for the GXT900VP4. They still seem available from some sources. That is how these things go. When I need to make a choice quickly, I don’t always get all my due dilligence completed. The ordering process with BuyTwoWayRadios.com went smoothly and I’ll have the units in time for my trip. That part is as important to me as making the “perfect” choice.
Not all of the 900s out there will have voice scrambling either. Midland and the FCC going at it caused a lot of minor problems as to what could be sold, what we received as replacement items, and if the situation was temporary. Voice scramble just “disappeared” with no mention on all Midlands. Just an FYI to all of you, if you are trying to find any radios with scrambling, double check, do not just go by model number and make sure to ask. The FCC may reverse all of this, then it will get very confusing. Sorry if this caused any problems, we never did learn why any of this even happened.