"M.Todd Miskel" wrote:
>
> Hello all, NOTE: This is not a bashing, but rather a concern. In the last 24
> hrs I have heard 2 more people have returned their Orions to Ten tec.
> The biggest complaints I have heard is that the Orion was an
> unfinished product and released too early with many little bugs in it, > No
> color display, (which to me is no big detail) and non-linearity on > the
> spectrum display. These people claimed to both be engineers with
> one supposedly having a Phd in EE.
Unfinished? They finished mine. There've been a number of firmware
improvements. Those have all improved the Orion. I downloaded them and
had a better transceiver nearly instantly. I paid nothing extra for the
new firmware.
No color display? That sounds like a stretch in searching for a reason
to return the equipment since it was never stated that the Orion had a
color display.
Nonlinear spectrum display? Mine seems quite accurate though it isn't a
stand-alone spectrum analyzer.
> Their disappointment mainly was that for the cost of the radio, they
> shouldn't have to be finishing Ten Tec's Beta testing for them out of > their
> own pockets.
Sounds like another stretch. Ten-Tec doesn't charge for firmware
upgrades.
> One Gentleman said he will put his money down on 2 Brand X 7800's > (which is
> pricey!) but at least he knows he will have a finished > product when it
> arrives.
Sure, he'll buy two :-) Sure, he'll have a finished product when he
trades them on the '7800ProII. He'll have to pay to beta test the '7800
out of his own pocket :-)
> I personally would like an Orion, but the more I hear of these same
> complaints makes me continue to be cautious and stick with my Omni 6+.
I sold my Omni VI, option 3 to help finance the Orion. I'm not sorry
that I did so.
> I know not everyone wants the same thing from a radio, but is there > any
> info on how many Orions have been sold Vs. how many have been > returned?
I don't believe that data is available. If I owned a manufacturing
plant, I'd not make this information available to the general public.
> For me,
> this would be a good barometer on when the Orion has matured.
Mine has been aging quite well since April. Firmware updates have
slowed but I don't expect them to stop and I've submitted suggestions
for a couple of things I'd like to see.
> I would buy TT before another brand, but $3500 for me is an investment > I
> don't want to be dissatisfied with. 73. Todd
I've owned Ten-Tec gear since R.L. Drake left the amateur radio market.
In all of that time, I've not been dissatisfied with any Ten-Tec
product. An Orion is a big investment but the price of an FT-1000D is
also quite high. The price of the FT-1000MP and MkV's was quite high
just a few years ago. None of those rigs can be upgraded for free. The
price of an IC-7800 will be astonishing (but some folks seem to have the
price of a couple of them lying about.
Don't let the rumor mill scare you off, Todd.
Dave Heil K8MN
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