I thought it was expensive too initially. It's going for about $675 most places, so it's about $75 cheaper than the FTM-350AR + FGPS-1 module was (the FTM-400 has GPS built-in, not an optional module). It's also comparable to a TM-D710 + Green Light Labs GPS-710 GPS module. So it's expensive compared to a FT-8800 or something but within the market price for a dual band V/UHF with a full APRS suite of features.
The group monitor and real time position updating is of particular interest to off highway hams. Each time you transmit on phone (not sure if it's just digital or analog, too) your GPS data is piggybacked, so your position is updated on every other Yaesu digital radio in the area. It's tactical APRS at the next level.
I think Yaesu is offering a C4FM option, which is similar to the fundamental P25 protocol but with no encryption. The FCC does not allow amateurs to use encryption and there's some question how long we can push the limits. At some point we're going to have to figure out a digital modulation that everyone will use. D-STAR hasn't been it and honestly it does lack technically behind Yaesu's and the other modulations. It also suffer from proprietary I.P., too. I would be somewhat sorry to see Yaesu and Kenwood adopt D-STAR when there are better digital choices.
Maybe someone should get to work on pushing unencrypted P25, I'm sure the FTM-400 could support it with a firmware update, since at a hardware level it's similar to what Yaesu developed. Ultimately I think it's a chicken-and-egg problem. Unencrypted P25 makes the most sense or MotoTrbo, but most of the radios that support it are Motorola and are expensive and kind of a PITA to program.
I dunno.
