Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on March 29, 2008 at 5:15pm

My Department used Minitor III's several years ago, (we have Minitor V's now). They're nice pagers although I wouldn't give up my Minitor V to go back to one! As far as where to lay your hands on one, I'd try the back of Firehouse Magazine or eBay. Hope this helps, stay safe!

Permalink Reply by Gordon Hennigs on March 29, 2008 at 6:37pm

stay away from the threes they were the shortest lived pagers built by motorola, better off with a four or five.

Permalink Reply by Brad Carlson on March 29, 2008 at 6:45pm

We use minitor 2-4-5's in our dept.personally i like the 2.Our chief's use the 4-5's.I had bought a minitor 4 on e-bay last year and i like it.Stay away from the 3 they dont last long.Go for the 4 or 5.Try e-bay they seem to have alot But buy it new.

Permalink Reply by Ken Wagner on March 29, 2008 at 6:56pm

I have a Minitor III, and I think that it works pretty good. The only thing it does not have is the Stored Voice Recorder. Other than that it is a really good pager. Just watch the price on it. A little friendly advice. KW

Permalink Reply by Zack Spalding on March 29, 2008 at 7:14pm

I think that I get better reception with my V pager over the III.

Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on March 29, 2008 at 8:55pm

Minitor III pagers are the worse ones motorola made. The buttons fall off, the case cracks with little warning (rips at the clip) the battary doors break, and the reception sucks.
To save yourself money, look at buying a Vertex Standard. It is a portable radio that you can program up to 16 channels in, you have the benefit of using it as a portable radio or receive only (more like a pager/scanner) and you also can have a page channel installed into it so you get an alert when your tone drops. The total cost for a vertex standard with a charger will run about $225, far below the minitor IV and V.
The reception is excellant, and it is well worth the price.

I hope this helps, be well and stay safe

Permalink Reply by Jacob on March 29, 2008 at 9:05pm

Thsnk you all.I'll try to save for a IV or V or a vertex.,

Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on March 29, 2008 at 9:30pm

Jacob, I've been repairing our department's fleet of pagers for the past 10 years so I'll tell you what I know.

The Minitor 3 and 4 pagers are very similar inside - they are basically the same design except the 4 has more robust knobs and channel selector switch. There may have been very minor changes elsewhere but in reality they are the same design.

We had far fewer problems with out Minitor 3s compared to the 4s. We bought 30 Min 4s in 2005 and have sent almost every one of them back to Motorola at some point for repair. None of the 3s had to go back that I can recall.

The 5s are better in my opinion but I would not hesitate to buy a 3 in good working condition. Ebay is a good place to look.

Hope this helps.

Permalink Reply by Jacob on March 29, 2008 at 9:34pm

Ok . Thank You. I'll keep lookin at the 3's for now until I can afford the IV or V

Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen Shea on March 29, 2008 at 11:34pm

my department has ZERO as discretionary income ....operating budget is a joke...but we just got brand new Minitor V's (to supplement our plectrons...go ahead...laugh.....everyone does)....and they gave me one to use as a test...to be honest? My Minitor 2 does a better job...less crossover noise bleed...the range is better, and for less than half the cash its doing everything I need it to do.
Why spend the $ on pagers when you can use the dollars to bolster an air pack spending account?

Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on March 30, 2008 at 1:40am

Well, one reason is that there aren't any more replacement parts for the 2s - to fix them you have to cannibalize non-working units. But when they're in good repair they work very well. Our fleet of M2s is on average about 20 years old.

And a comment about Plectrons - we have some that are approaching 40 years old and are still working well. They don't fit on the hip as well as the pagers do, though. At least MY hip.

Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on March 30, 2008 at 8:04am

Plectron..... Wow theres a voice from the past. I have one, and it worked amazingly until the radio's went from low band to Ultra High band. (viva progression...) Nothing woke you up like a plectron that forced you to get out of bed to turn it off. (hell I'm up already, may as well go :):) )

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