| W7GEM |
Rating:  |
2023-09-07 | |
| The best of the best Redeivers |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The FLEX 6700 fills all of my needs. I started with the Kenwood TS-440, moved up to the TS 940 then the TS-590, the TS-990s and eventually the TS-890s. All of these radios taught me how to be a HAM. The greatest and best learning came with the TS-990s which is way more than an excellent receiver and transmitter, it is also a fine test instrument. I have also owned two Elecraft radios, the K3 and K3s which are really excellent receivers but lack the features of the TS-990s. But the only radio that has provided all of the things I have wanted in a transceiver it the FLEX 6700.
FLEX Radio Systems gives me new updates regularly. Receive and transmit excellence are with the best. But the features for pulling out a weak signal and checking all of the bands for DX are the very best I have experienced.
Ease of use with an amplifier and an antenna tuner are the best.
Remote use is so easy and convenient. I love my FLEX 6700 which has not failed me in 6 years of use and gets better with every free upgrade.
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| NN4ZZ |
Rating: |
2022-05-12 | |
| UPDATE: CW OP gives it a Good rating now. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Updates May 2022
----------------------
Time owned - 9 years
Currently running V2.4.10
Up until around 2018 the frequency of software updates with new features was good. Often 2 or more per year. It appears that the priorities have changed and the user requested features and new features have slowed/stopped. Dropping my rating from Great to Good.
END Updates May 2022
--------------------------
Running V1.3 of SSDR at time of this review below.
Caveats: I'm 100% CW so no feedback here on other modes. My main interest is CW DXing -- good RX and CW performance is what I'm looking for. QSK up to 100 WPM is supported and while I'm not going to come close to needing that speed, it shows how well the rig handles CW. The receiver is very good and IMHO it is right up there with the best. (the quantitative reports from QST and Sherwood are not out yet so it remains to be seen how they will rate it). There are requests for additional enhancements to some of the DSP features ( NB, NR, and APF) and to add adaptive predistortion (ADP) that will further enhance the receive and transmit metrics.
With the current software version, memory keying was added and support for CW Skimmer was already there. The user interface coupled with the optional FlexControl is very good. There is also an iPad app to allow more control surface options. Some of our contester friends would like to see additional improvements and better integration with some of the contest loggers. I'm not a contester and my comments are not meant to say contesters won't be happy with the software as it exists now.
My previous radio was a Yaesu FTDX9000. It didn't take me long to forget the knobs and buttons (okay I use the FlexControl for tuning sometimes). The 6700 and SmartSDR user interface is a much better choice for me. (I sold the FTDX9000)
There are still a number of improvements I'd like to see and the Flex community and Yahoo forum are great places to discuss them. Company support is very good and they closely monitory and participate in the FRS community. The Yahoo group is a user operated forum - Link here:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FlexRadioSmartSDR/conversations/messages
Bottom Line --- The software continues to be updated with new features and bug fixes every 3 months or so. I waited for the software features I needed until I could give the radio a 5 rating. With the V1.3 update it's now there for me. There are some exciting new features coming and I'm sure many of the small enhancements we are looking for will be added too.
Regards, Al / NN4ZZ
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com
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| AC5XP |
Rating: |
2021-06-13 | |
| Good radio but not for me as it turned out |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought this radio some years ago, based on QST and Sherwood reviews. It had been on the market for a year already when I bought it. The first unit I received from Flex Radio had a problem with the master oscillator, but Flex corrected this quickly by sending me a new replacement radio immediately. The replacement worked as it should.
The radio does what it promises, multiple slice receivers and multiple pan adapters possible. The spectrum display is amazing, it shows weaker signals without any problem, and you can tailor it to your liking.
But after a while I noticed that this is a radio that gave me little satisfaction. This had multiple reasons. The first one is because of me; not the radio’s fault. This computer-controlled SDR radio concept is not for me as it turns out. I prefer a traditional radio with a dial, physical knobs and all else that comes with such a radio. Yes, I hear you, I could have bought the Maestro controller, but that would have been another $1000+ dollars, on top of the $7500 I already spent. When I found out later that new customers for the 6700 would get a Maestro with it for the same amount that I paid for the 6700 alone, that was a real bummer which lowered the joy of operating this radio even more.
Another issue that turned me off is the latency when you operate it through a local ethernet network (when remoting it through the internet that latency is going to be even worse). If you don’t want that, you have to operate it with the microphone and headset plugged directly into the radio (it has no speaker), using a local display (I used a laptop), but doing that kind of nullifies the whole “networked SDR” thing. Operating it locally with the mike and headphones plugged-in directly felt like using a compromised traditional radio.
As a third, the spectrum display also has a drawback. Granted; one that is not the radio’s fault but my own. Let me explain. I have a tremendous interference level where I live. Above-ground 10kV wiring; neighbors with LED lighting and other crappy switching wall adapters; neighbors with solar panels (the DC to AC choppers that such panels use are the WORST!); variable-speed pool pumps; it all adds up to a point where hamming is limited only to the strongest signals unless you only operate on 15 meter and above (and even there it yields S3 in background noise). When using an SDR with pan adapter view like the 6700, you can see how bad it really is; enormous mountains of noise in the spectrum no matter where you look. Seeing all that, you start to wonder: Why am I even having this hobby. Granted; a traditional radio suffers from the noise just as much, it is not going to do any better. But for such radios, there is an aspect of “what you don’t see does not hurt you” to it. for instance, when I turn on my military man-pack on 20 meters (a radio that does not even have an S-meter), it psychologically feels like much less of a problem. Again; that probably comes back to the fact that I like traditional radios much more as it turns out, so not the 6700’s fault. But it IS an issue I would like potential buyers of a panoramic SDR to think about; if you live in suburbia, you are NOT going to like what you see on that pan adapter.
By the way, the 6700’s noise blanker and the DSP processor did virtually nothing in reducing the noise, I found that to be very ineffective on the 6700. My Icom IC-9100 actually performed better in that area, although not by much.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was a phenomenon I found by accident. My vertical antenna was still tuned at 7 MHz (without me realizing it), when I set the 6700 for checking activity on the 10-meter band. Without the preamp, the 6700 did fine. But when I activated the preamp, a whole bunch of “grass” showed up on the pan adapter, all 5 kHz spaced. At the highest RF gain setting it was even worse; a lot of IMD products. Not just on the pan adapter but also coming out as audio. What I was hearing were IMD products from broadcast in the 40-45-meter band, where the vertical was still tuned at. Not something I had expected from a $7000 radio. When I tuned the vertical resonant to 10 meters, it was gone, even with the preamp at maximum gain (because an ATU works as a front-end bandpass when tuned resonant). So, I repeated the 10-meter test with my Icom IC-9100 (and the vertical again tuned at 7 MHz). Guess what – the Icom 9100 had NO problem whatsoever, even with the radio’s preamp at maximum gain. No IMD noticeable. I think the explanation is actually simple. A direct-sampling SDR uses a (fast) AD-converter almost directly at the RF input. Such ADCs have not the greatest sensitivity (bad nose figure if you want) so therefore a hefty amount of pre-amplification is needed for the receiver to overcome that, especially at the higher bands where the background noise is lower. That is not just the 6700’s problem. That is a problem with all direct-sampling SDRs, ADC technology is just not sufficient (yet?) to tackle this issue. Look at the QST test reports for the direct-sampling SDRs. Especially the blocking dynamic range for these radios is not that great, because of the high amount of preamp gain that they need. And without the preamp they are not very sensitive. It is also the reason why today’s highest-performing radios like the Yaesu FTdx101 have an analog down-mixing front-end with traditional roofing filters. That analog front-end does the heavy lifting in terms of IMD- and blocking dynamic range performance.
In any case, I decided to sell the radio again, hardly ever used, and took a bath in the process. It is a great radio for sure, but for me, it had no soul. I still commend Flex Radio, a US company, to do such a great job designing these radios, even for hams. The radio was built very professionally, when you open it up it feels like you are looking at the innards of a high-end military radio. I therefore still rate it a 4 out of 5. Flex is a company we can be proud of here in America. But direct-sampling SDRs are not for me, unfortunately.
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| WB8YKH |
Rating: |
2019-08-07 | |
| Amazing features and flexability! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| My first few months experience with FlexRadio has been great! The company, their product and their service have exceeded my expectations. Ordering and shipment was fast and friendly. I purchased the 6700 with the Maestro mobile head-unit. I also visited the Apple store and purchased the FlexRadio iOS application for my iPhone and iPad. Initial installation and setup was straight-forward. I was successfully receiving and transmitting within minutes without issue on my PC, my iPhone, my iPad and my Maestro. First impressions... I have used several HF rigs since the early 1970's and never have I heard such a low noise floor. What a pleasure listening for hours on my FlexRadio with no fatigue! And never have I experienced such good adjacent channel rejection. The filtering is amazing. Weak signals clearly pop out of the noise with ease! Time to sell my old equipment as I doubt it will get much use anymore. Talk about flexibility... it's amazing to sit at work and have a quality QSO from my iPhone using my equipment at home! Setting up for digital communications has been great too. Gone are the external cables and hardware! HRD / PSK31 and FT8 worked first try! Given the FlexRadio firmware and software update capabilities, this just might be the last radio I'll ever need to purchase. |
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| W2PP |
Rating:  |
2018-09-25 | |
| Addendum to my review below |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| So, all that I posted below remains the case. However, I, after a brief period of time, found out the NB is very very poor to say the least. The automatic notch filter is poor, and that's being generous. When you turn it on, it knocks the carrier down a bit, but then leaves you with distorted audio so what's the point? Finally, I got a D Star and it doesn't work at all. I'm not saying it works poorly, I'm saying it does not work at all period. Fine, I turned to Flex and found out that they knew about these problems ....some of these for YEARS and are not making the resolution of them a "priority". I did all I could to engage them, along with others, and no resolution or commitment to any kind of timely solution either. The rest of the radio is great, but this is a huge problem. |
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| DL1AIW |
Rating: |
2018-01-21 | |
| Outstanding |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
More than a year ago I changed from Flex 5000 to Flex 6700. It is a hell lot of money but the improvements are remarkable. As always it is completely useless to compare this rig with others that are much less than half the price or even "cheaper". It is not an everyday's purchase and one has to think about it very carefully.
First it had to be taken into consideration that a computer (or the Flex Maestro) is needed to bring the system to work. The pro ist that less computer power is required by the new software than for Power SDR. The computer could perform other tasks while working with Smart SDR compared to the Flex 5000. In my case this means that I can use contest-logging software as well as MixW (or equivalents) on the same computer. With the Flex 5000 this led to complications from time to time.
One of the biggest pros of Smart SDR is the ease to bring digital modes to work.
The performance of this rig is absolutely outstanding, remarkably better than that of the Flex 5000, which was also great. A lot of the features had been mentioned here at Eham, so there is only little use to repeat it here. But the receiver it forms a class of it's own. As I have written in my former review of the Flex 5000 I was abled to work with professional (analogue) rigs with prices of serveral tenthousands of Euros. These cannot stand any competition with this Flexradio.
One of the first things to mention are fantastic filters. Working CW (as most of my QSOs) 100 Hz apart from a big gun and hearing really nothing from it is second to none. The introduction of RTTY-Filters (doubled filters for mark and space) are of great use, although they have been introduced earlier by some high-end ICON rigs.
Implementing digital modes has changed totally compared to the older rigs. It can be done within minutes now and one must not be a computer nerd...
The possibilty to work with a lot of receivers and with antenna diversity expands the possibilities of the rig remarkably though I do not use this frequently, also not during contests.
The internal tuner is of use for an SWR up to approx. 3. So if multiband antennas with ladder line or extreme short verticals are used an additional tuner is necessary, as with most other rigs.
The different features are easy accessible via menu / mouse. Working with Smart SDR is much more intuitive than with the old Power SDR, at last for me.
I do not remember exactly where but in some forums or blogs I read that the Flexradio is not a good contest performer. I can only assume that the authors of this had never tried. I'm using this rig (as well as the old Flex 5000) intensely in contests, when my time allows. Since using Flexradio I took part in the CQWW-RTTY contest on 40 m, which I like very much. 40 m is the most crowded band here in Europe and the conditions of reception are difficult (or even worse). In all these years I won in Germany an end reached good positions europe- or worldwide. This should prove that The 6700 is very well equipped for all needs under difficult conditions. Compared to my early equipment (IC 756 PRO or Rhode and Schwarz) this is a remarkable development.
Though the price is a lot, also for me, I can recommend this rig to everyone. My profession is not that of a prophet, but I think that future of ham and professional radio will be known as SDR. |
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| KM4CQG |
Rating: |
2017-08-24 | |
| Great SDR BUT!!! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I waited 2 years to write this review to make sure I have tested all aspects other then CW.
The receiver is outstanding the filters are good and continue to improve with each software update. Flex says there Brickwall filters I don't believe this is an accurate statement. Software is very easy to control the radio and remote station integration is easily accomplished. Several times in the summer I'm in my pool having both SSB and Digital QSO if that interests you. Audio Quality from the Balance XLR Input jack in the rear simply can't be beat especially if you tune your Microphone via the integrated 8 Band Equalizer Best on the market!
They say Humans learn approximately 80% from visual the rest Sound the Flex provides Pan Adapter display that in my opinion is the best in the current market. Couple this with a set of Bose Companion speakers and you have a excellent visual and audio experience.
Receivers how many do you really need. I started out with the Flex 6500 and 4 receivers this was plenty. But what drove me to the Flex 6700 was the 2nd Spectral Capture unit and Antenna Diversity setting. After playing with Diversity for the past 2 years my opinion is it's not worth the trouble a simple noise Phase shift works almost as well. But as I have progressed in digital modes I find myself leaving 4 to 6 receivers open looking for Band opening and WSPR reporter or PSK reporter.
In actual use I run all 8 Receivers at times.
Dedicated receiver antenna is a plus as is the new FDX feature that lets you receive while another slice is transmitting.
So what's the negative it's Windows and all the updates that come along with it. The only cure I see is to have a dedicated computer just for the Flex Radio and turn off Windows Auto update. This will work for a while but isn't a permanent fix.
DAX seems to have priority issues within Windows and at times becomes corrupted.
Hopefully if your on the fence this will help you decide if the Flex Radio is for you. Flex has introduced new models like the 6400 and 6600 integrating a knob unit like Maestro into it's Front Cabinet. This unit should get more traditional operators into SDR and help Flex increase it's market share.
Good DX and 73s
Ian
KM4CQG
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| WG5D |
Rating: |
2017-04-23 | |
| Awesome Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have only used the Flexradio 6700 for a short time now but am already amazed at the capabilities and performance. The software integrates easily to the other applications that I regularly use such as Ham Radio Deluxe. It also works well with the specialized MARS software that I need to operate MARS digital operations.
It is quite cool to be able to monitor up to eight bands simultaneously as I can see what is going on just about anywhere in the HF spectrum at a glance without having to change bands as I did with my other radios. It only took me a few hours to get used to operating a radio without turning dials and pushing buttons.
The radio is relatively small and very lightweight and is going to save me some back pain when operating Field Day this year. Lugging the IC-7700 to the field is painful. The ability to run the rig with a laptop from just about anywhere is also a plus though my neighbors think I am strange when I sit on the porch with a laptop that has a Heil Pro Headset plugged into it.
I have been quite pleased with the receiver, using the filters and equalizer, I can pull out just about any signal, some that are wo weak that they barely show on the panadapter. Reports that I have received on the audio of the transmitter have all been good as well.
As other folks have mentioned here, the Flexradio support is great. Being a MARS operator I had to get a software mod to allow the radio to operate on MARS frequencies and I used the online support system to open a ticket and I have the mod within a couple of hours – great response time.
Phil - WG5D
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| N9AT |
Rating: |
2017-03-15 | |
| Flex 6700 offers the most flexability |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Hi to everyone:
I purchased a Flex 6700 a little over a year ago. Unfortunately I broke both bones in my leg and could not get into the shack to hook up the radio. No matter, Flex said they would honor my warranty anyway. It turned out I needed to send back the radio for repair after their service tech spent time logged into my machine and said it needed to go in for service. Flex sent me an RMA and return UPS sticker. The radio was delivered back to me after seven calendar days. That, friends, is service.
This radio is fantastic. I also have an Icom 7851 and the noise floor is lower in the Flex and I hear things I don’t in the IC-7851. I will probably not live long enough to enjoy all the features this radio presents. It seems to me Flex has thought of everything possible in the software and still, they continue to update and add to the software capabilities. Download the documentation and see for yourself.
Flex is coming out with a new 1500 watt solid state amp, hopefully this summer, that will integrate with the Flex and allow SO2R with one radio and one amp. I can’t wait to play with this amp. Yes, this is an SDR and you don’t have all the knobs but you need to look at the pan adapter. It is truly unbelievable. No other pan adapter has this much capability and contest functionality. I use a Flex Maestro upstairs in my office late at night if I don’t want to walk downstairs to the shack. It has lots of knobs and works beautifully. Yesterday I turned it on in the afternoon and worked Serbia and Italy in just a few minutes barefoot, 100 watts. There are stations who use the Flex and Maestro together in contest mode.
This is not only a fabulous radio with terrific service but it is a company that is not standing still. They continue to bring new products and opportunities to market for us.
73 Allan, N9AT
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|
| KL2D |
Rating: |
2017-02-27 | |
| Amazing peice of equipment |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
It would be difficult to say how much I really like this radio, and I can hardly compare to some of the excellent reviews already written here. I have had a Flex-6500 for several years (before that was a FTDX-5000MP), and enjoyed it so much I just upgraded to the Flex-6700 in the last couple of weeks. The 6700 is all the radio the 6500 was, times two.
I think that is the best review I could possibly give.
Flex Radio accepted my 6500 in partial trade for the 6700, with a very fair price offered. Their customer service is amazing and extremely responsive.
I am happy enough with Flex that I gladly paid the $1,000 deposit on their upcoming solid state amplifier. If it integrates and works as well as the radios it will be amazing.
Like others have said I do not miss the buttons and knobs at all, and I think the user interface is fare more intuitive in SmartSDR than with a traditional radio. The ability to see what a signal looks like, what the filter shape looks like in comparison to the signal, and visualize so much more of how the audio and RF signals are related has really expanded my understanding of radio.
Digital work is amazingly simple with Flex, no more cables. Everything is connected from the desktop of my computer, and seamlessly integrated. The ability to connect USB peripherals directly to the radio and control from within the software interface has increased this even more.
This weekend I was working SSB phone on 20M, while working digital PSK-31 on 20M at the same time, and monitoring 17M, 15M, 10M, 40M, and 2M. :-) Switching to work another band is as simple as clicking on the signal you want to work on the panadapter... You can literally see just about the entire spectrum at any one time. It's pretty amazing.
I also like that with software updates, new features are continuing to be rolled out and improvements to existing features made.
Just my two cents, but if you are interested in SDR you won't be disappointed with a Flex. |
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