Many thanks to Don (W7SSB) who shares the following two product images/teasers courtesy of Xiegu (click images to enlarge):
Thanks for sharing these, Don, as a follow-up to our previous post.
Xiegu fans will be happy to see that this new transceiver has a removable battery pack. If this pack is easy to source/obtain, that will indeed be a strong point.
It looks like Xiegu has also added fixed rails to protect the front panel along with reinforcement around the chassis.
It looks quite durable, although it also appears there are two knobs protruding on the top of the radio–?
On our previous post, there were a number of skeptical comments about the new Xiegu transceiver. Indeed, some of the comments were from X6100 owners who feel that Xiegu hasn’t fully completed all of the published features promised in the ‘6100 (which was released two years ago). A number of owners also commented that getting support or repair work done after the one year warranty has challenging. These are, for sure, some of the risks associated with price-competitive radios. Xiegu radios offer a lot of features for the price.
After this radio new is released, I will reach out to Xiegu or Radioddity and ask for a loaner to test in the field. I’ll be very interested to know if it has a few of these improvements over previous models:
- Better front end with some built-in BCI filtering
- Cleaner audio with balanced AGC
- Lower noise floor
- Longer battery life than the X6100
- Published features which actually work in the first production run
I haven’t gotten a confirmation of the price or availability yet.
Stay tuned!
As The Who said – I won’t be fooled again.
“These are, for sure, some of the risks associated with price-competitive radios. Xiegu radios offer a lot of features for the price.”
It isn’t rocket science, continued support
for existing radios would be helpful (even mode specific firmware) or a generous trade in package for previous models but alas…
No, it’s not rocket science. Unfortunately, it’s more akin to “you pay for what you get.”
Some readers love their Xiegu products and some have moved away from the brand.
The vast majority, though, have complained about out-of-warranty assistance/repair work and the fact that firmware support sort of drops once a new radio is in production. They would retain many, many more customers if they gave better customer service outside the one year warranty.
My first rig was a G90.
I sold it as soon I realized how a good radio should be..
Yes, it was cheap, I learn a lot with it, but my IC 705 right now is the “perfect” portable radio for me.
One can get a lot of QRP rig from Xiegu for the money. Best IMHO is the G90, just small display is a problem for some. I like my X6100 although it has spur issues and like many Chinese rigs operational features are not so easy to access. I do prefer my IC705, but at twice to three times the price I should, hi. I will not be getting the new rig although I am sure it will sell well. I have had a G90, have a X6100, FT817 (have not used for over 2 years) and IC705. I’ve settled on the IC705 and do not need anything else for QRP. 73, ron, n9ee
I owned an Xiegu 108H HF rig and it worked very well. I had a couple of questions about it over the time I owned it and they were always answered promptly by emailing the support email address.
All that friendly support came to a screeching halt when Xiegu released their next radio model. After that, every email went unanswered. It was like my 108H never existed.
I don’t have a problem with their equipment. My rig worked very well. But I can not see giving a company with that lack of support to its customers another penny of my money.
Just. Fix. The. Frontend. Overloading. Issue.
That’s all I want to see.
The important thing with Xiegu – or any similar manufacturer – is to reset your expectations. You’re paying a fraction of the price of the IC-705 (for example), so it’s unrealistic to expect the same level of support.
You will however, get a radio that has 80% of the features, and arguably will provide just as much fun! Not everyone can afford or can justify spending $1400 on a toy, especially those that may be new to the hobby.
Ham radio already has quite a high barrier to entry and although many may disagree, lowering this and making it cheaper and easier for people to get on the bands and start making contacts is a positive thing.
Now, if we could only convince Xiegu to open source their firmware (at least for the older models), the community could “pick up the baton” and continue developing and supporting existing hardware.