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write your own review of the Hazer Glen Martin Engineering.
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K1TQK
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 19, 2005 17:29
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First Rate
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Found the basic Hazer to be of top quality and
very easy to install on the Rohn 25.
Supports a Cushcraft mini beam at 35 feet with a
Yaesu 450. Nice set up and works great..
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KD6WD
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Rating: 2/5
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Jul 19, 2005 14:29
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tolerable
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Initially I thought that having a hazer would be a great addition to my tower. I had heard that others just loved having a hazer. Well I can tell you all that glitters is not gold. I purchased the hazer 2 which is $360.95. This is their biggest aluminum hazer. Unfortunatly the hazer is not as pictured on their web site. The guide blocks are not included in the price you pay. So after you have tried to crank it up the tower you realize that you need to order the optional roller set which is $64.95 to keep it from catching on the tower leg bolts as you crank it up the tower. It does not end there. You realize when you place your order that the standard 1/8th inch cable is marginal at best so you order it with 5/32nds cable which is an additional $42.00 added to the base price.
Any one who has had a free wheeling winch realizes the danger of a 100 or more pound load getting out of control as you crank the antenna and hazer down so you add the optional break winch. This adds another 43.45 to the price. By this time you figure your stuck with the product and you add the messenger line kit at 76.00.
When I placed the order for the messenger cable they told me they are out of stock on the thrust bearing they offer and have now discontinued it. All in all the hazer exercise will have cost me over $600.00 with shipping. What finally ticked me off was them being less than candid on shipping. It started with the basic hazer. They said they were in stock and could ship this week. A full week went by so I called. They said it had been shipped. Well dumb old me I believed them. I finally called again the next week and they said it shipped yesterday. Well checking the shipping dates with UPS they were off again. Finally yesterday I decide I could not live with the sticking of the hazer as it went up and down and caught on the bolts on the tower legs I ordered the wheel bearings. Since I had the tower guy coming out out this afternoon I figured I would spend the extra bucks and have them ship them out next day. UPS came by twice but nothing was there for me. They must make up these Polish jokes about people like me so I called Glen Martin again. They said the wheels had been shipped. This time I demanded the UPS shipping number. They put me on hold twice and finally admitted that they had not been shipped but were now in a box ready to go. The problem is that from their location and the time I know that UPS next day was most likely impossible. I said "now ship them ground". The person I spoke to seemed offended that I expected credit for the next day shipping they had charged to my credit card. Would I purchase another hazer from Glen Martin? The answer is NO!!!! I don't know if the people at Glen Martin were scared to just say no. However everyone else I have dealt with such as Ten-Tec, The Wireman, Radioworks, AES, HRO, Etc have always been up front about deliveries and what was included and what was not included in the purchase price.
One final note. I had to order a thrust bearing from Texas Towers. The holes in the Hazer were not on the same bolt centers as the thrust bearing so 4 additional holes had to be drilled in the hazer top plate.
My suggestion to other hams is to look at building your own hazer. Its not really that complicated. My guess is that the aluminum cost is under a hundred dollars. A worm gear winch from harbor freight is 20.00. You can purchase a a power hacksaw with metal cutting blades, a drill press and bolts and some casters and be 300 bucks under what I spent. In fact, even though I am in a wheel chair, I plan to do just that. Its obvious that neither CQ nor QST would publish an article on a homebrew hazer and risk loosing advertising revenue. So my solution is to form a group on Yahoo which will describe the building of a homebrew hazer which I hope can be superior to the one I have.
73's
John kd6wd/4
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