The FT1DR is slow to acquire the satellites, very very slow. The FT1XDR picks up the signals quick, so I can avoid leaving the GPS on all the time and burning the battery. I found the FT1XDR to be on par with the Kenwood D72A regarding GPS coordinate acquisition and position. I have not tested a FT2 against the FT1XDR yet. Yaesu released the "X" version of the HT and the mobile and the GPS was pretty much the difference. Still, for those not interested in APRS or using the GPS, the non "X" models can be picked up at lower prices.
Well both models seem pretty popular. Whenever either an FT1-XD or -XDR gets posted for sale here they get snapped up rather quickly.
Looks like I may be n the market for a new HT, depending on repair costs for my FT-2. Unfortunately, it was dropped and the screen is trashed. Can't read a thing on it. I guess that is the hazard of these new fancy radios. My FT-60 has fallen from 6 feet with absolutely no issues.
Since this got bumped, for those interested Yaesu has just released new firmware for all the Fusion radios to support the added Fusion II features.
Looking at the release notes it's just some new group ID stuff and no other apparent performance or feature changes, but who knows. There is also a corresponding DSP update.
Can anyone tell me if the FT1XDR plays FM in stereo? Currently, when using my VX-8DR, I can listen to stereo and also dual watch (which I know the FT1XDR also does), but the VX-8DR lets me use a standard headphone and listen in stereo and plays the two monitored frequencies in separate channels - A freq plays in left audio and B freq plays in right audio channel. No where in the manual for the FT1XDR does it describe this capability, whereas the VX-8DR clearly outlines it in the manual.
