Xiegu X5105 New QRP HF/6m Portable Transceiver Complete Review

Well, depends. As someone else on here pointed out once, the Chinese are actually very capable of doing good QC and turning out a quality product. But not for bargain basement prices. China offers a range of QC from pure junk to as good as one could ask for, priced accordingly. You still get pretty much what you pay for.

Now for some things, that's fine. I was talking to a motorcycling buddy today about the little USB power port block I mounted on the bars of my bike. He pointed out it had some bad Amazon reviews. "Yep," I said, "but I looked at a lot of them and they ALL do. Maybe I could have spent $75 for something fancy from Kuryakan [high dollar accessories] and they'd have tested it out for me, but for this? Pay my fifteen bucks and take my chances. If I got a bad one back to Amazon it would have gone."

That's fine for a fifteen dollar do-dad you can live without while you swap it out for one that might be made right, and is simple to begin with. It's not fine for something really complex and costing hundreds of dollars.

 

Ah, the thing is, sometimes good enough really is good enough. I used an analog audio filter for CW in the old days when the bands were generally way more crowded than now. Worked pretty well, actually. Not as well as an IF crystal filter, but it worked, and I was able to make a lot of contacts.

I still think this radio is way over priced, but not for that reason so much.

 

Yeah I do agree, its $820 landed Aud, you can have a new 817 for $900 aud with local support. Not that I like the 817, i have the 897 and use it base portable a lot, but I hate the radio and do not want to spend another $600 on it to drop in a pair of Inrad filters to make it usable. Hence my comment re filters, I just wont bother looking at a radio if the filtering is sub par for my general needs and thats as a portable qrp contester.

 

with Yaesu now selling the 891 for $579 this rig is in for a tough challenge. We like the Chicom stuff cuz it's cheap and capable enough for most jobs but at $650 this radio has no real reason to exist. $299 yeah, might be worth taking a chance.

 

Let me expand on my previous comments. KL7KN's coments that one of the MFJ QRP rigs is made in China & that MFJ supports it. That is one key to success: Service after the sale. All companies make mistakes, but the ones who support their products are winners. My experience with Chinese manufacturing is this: left to their own devices, they offer poor to no quality control & no after the sale support. Those companies from "advanced western countries" (i.e. USA, Canada, Australia, the EU, etc.) who operate factories in China offer very good quality and service support. As far as Chinese "companies" lack of manuals, or poor quality manuals or refusal to share schematics; their products are not patented so they are afraid another firm (ChiCom or others) will steal their designs. Most of these ChiCom companies are little more than a bunch of "techies" who utilize idle production capacities of larger companies to build their products "on the side". If you notice, their designs change at the drop of a hat and they have very limited production runs. Buying a ChiCom product is indeed buying "a pig in a poke"! 73, Ken - KG4LLQ

 

I assume you mean $900 after adding a couple of filters? Because the base 817nd can be had brand new from Gigaparts for $674.

 

Yep...I'd take a chance at 300...600? No freaking way.

 

Aud = Australian Dollars, not US.

 

Eric, I just ordered one of these pups so I can "blame you for blowing the money" ,Hi,, hi.
I also recently acquired a CS108GX from Connect Sysytems and a RS-918SSB AND an FT-817nd.
Jerry at CS has been so incredibly supportive to all who bought his modified X108G that it has so far worked flawlessly
for me, very happy. The RS-918 is amazing but absolutely no factory manual so owners are on their own. It is a very close competitor to the
KX2 with bandscope and clearly a mcHF complete radio. For the adventurous, highly recommended and the mcHF online kit manual is
pretty close to instructions for the RS-918.
The RS-918SSB is a large color screen reminescent of the IC-7000 and is a full SDR.
So far there isn't much info on charging the X-5105 Li-on battery, any help on that?
The power source failure on transmit loss of power is scary in the field with the tubular power connector,alligator clips, etc. Very odd.
As usual Eric (HRC) has done a yoeman's job, thanks so m uch!!
Garry
W9WHF

 

Ah, I overlooked that, and didn't even look at your call. Sorry for the confusion, my mistake.

 

Boy do I agree. You can get a Yaesu 450D for about the same!

I agree on the external audio filter, they always come in handy even with today's radios.

 

Wind blows tree onto power line. Substation breaker trips. Good bye radio. That's not operator error.
-Bob

 

From what I am reading at sites advertising this rig it is NOT SDR, that is DSP at the antenna level. It states there are optional IF filters, normally not needed in SDR or IF DSP. I also see it stating it is AF DSP. so not sure what is real.

 

way too much money...don`t get sucked in.......

 

Ft 891. $575 what else do you want?