| N7ISS |
Rating:  |
2014-08-13 | |
| OK But.... |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I have the x1m and an ft-817. Not fair to compare because they are worlds apart. If you think you need the 817, you should get it. If you are looking for a nice simple qrp rig with all bands and ssb, get the x1m. Build quality is a bit low. The push buttons on the front stick in and you have to push them just right. Output is a solid five watts and pretty good signal. If this is your main rig you will be disappointed, but for qrp its pretty good. I bought my 817 used for the same amount of money on ebay so........
N7ISS |
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| MM0JMI |
Rating: |
2014-05-28 | |
| Great VALUE for money |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I got my X1M pro second hand from someone going QRO: I use it as a portable/SOTA rig mainly on 40m, PSK31 (external eePC) and a bit of local (W. Europe) SSB. If you judge the amount of radio you get per dollar (ie VALUE FOR MONEY), then this deserves a '5', especially with respect to the excellent receiver. Obviously, it is not as physically robust as radios costing 3x as much, but it does fine in my rucksack in a padded tea cosy (seriously! .. what else do you expect the British to use??). The freq change/menu knob is clearly the most fragile part, because it is both rotary and a push switch, but that's fine as long as you treat it gently (bare hands, not hiking gloves!). On SSB I'm getting 5/5s and 5/7s from the continent, which is all I'd expect from QRP, and 599 PSK31 (people don't use much power for PSK31 anyway). I have not tried CW. If you really want a Yaesu 817 or Elecraft K3, save up and buy one because this is not one of those. Not does it compare with my TenTec base station, but why would we expect it to? If you will appreciate what this tiny rig can do for you without costing serious money, I recommend it. |
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| RV3APM |
Rating: |
2014-05-19 | |
| Poor quality |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
If you have luck it will work hi hi
but better to buy FT817
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| KC5PQC |
Rating:  |
2014-05-03 | |
| No good |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Bought the kit at a hamfest. I trust people too much, no longer. Didn't open until I goy home. Guy said just plug in stuff.plug headers not cut , just a solid pièce.unit filters, caps, ,resistors , plus a lot more. Looks like it's all there , except no parts list , where to put parts, even the RF shield is not formed and not mounted . Got me a box of parts and no way to finish. I emailed the US seller, the UK seller . Asked for help , they wished me luck . This is no health kit . Don't buy the kit , don't buy the kit , don't buy the kit. Did I say "don't buy the kit" ? At this point t would not buy the x1m platinum . Will save my money and buy a 817 qrp rig.anybody need a lot of new parts for. A x1m? |
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| KD7HVL |
Rating: |
2014-04-11 | |
| lots of bang for little dollars |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I have 2 one home and one in the truck. I have had a lot of fun, I operate LSB/USB no CW as yet, but its comming (need to make a small Key). I know of no other similiar radio at this price. I use simple antennas resonate type dipoles, end feed wires, a SWR meter, and my tip to you starting out is "look for loud stations". I get a big kick out of them and the stations can't believe I am QRP. Day time I use 20,15,10 and nights I use low bands 75,40. Not FT817 Icom 703 or K2 do not compare them that way. Just a kick to use, plain fun, far from perfect, needs design mods, however very usable as is. Great user group |
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| PA0WKR |
Rating: |
2014-02-24 | |
| X1M OK? |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Since 2 weeks I have an X1M (V.1.021 USA). It is a new version and it seemes to me a nice small QRP rig that I intend to use on CW mainly.RX seems OK and the menu is easy to work with and not as complicated as many other rigs.
But ... the CW sidetone is not just too loud but deafening and cannot be adjusted with the pot as the description mentions probably for older versions. The BNC antenna connector is now a SO-239 but with a different screw thread so the pin of the PL pin has no steady connector and yes I blew op the PA transistor.Wow, it has no protection. And nowadays equipped with a serial connector/cable? In this state of development I don't think that 350 Euro is cheap for Chinese ham equipment. They still have a long way to go.
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| ZS6TT |
Rating: |
2014-02-18 | |
| Great value for money |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I have owned mine for a couple of months and mainly use it as a bed side receiver. However, it has pleasantly surprised me when I used it to transmit and make no mistake - it hears pretty well! No, it does not have AGC or an S meter and the internal keyer is not user friendly. It has some misspelled labeling but, you do get a capable QRP transceiver that will not deplete your budget. It is fun and lend itself to a lot of tinkering to make improvements. Join the Yahoo group and find out! |
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| RW3AUI |
Rating: |
2014-02-17 | |
| Good for tourism. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought this rig in US for a test, but it nice little rig have good audio quality, without high freq crisp and chirp like a 817.
Little video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmjaQg-5ACU
I use x1m only in SSB mode, all hams, make report with good quality signal. I use this rig with a Elecraft T1 tuner. I think, x1m needed internal tuner as option. I use LIFEPO battery 4s2p, and I want make new case for X1M, with battery and tuner inside.
"+"
small, rugged case, qood quality signal, good quality receive audio, good led panel.
"-"
maybe price, 360USD for only CW/SSB HF, used icom 703 is better, have tuner, multimode and DSP ( used price is 400-600 USD) and used 817 is multiband multimode and have diecast case. (used price is 350-550)
I this only for test and I happy with my X1M, chinese brothers can make good rigs, I wait new rigs for test. |
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| N3JSS |
Rating: |
2014-02-10 | |
| NIce QRP Rig! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've only had the radio for a few days but my first impression is that it's a simple to use fun QRP rig. I joined the Yahoo users group for the radio when I ordered it so I knew I was going to be making some changes. Out of the box the only issue I had was that the casting on the mic case was poor enough that the were no openings for either the element or the speaker in the mic. The speaker is not used so I didn't worry about that so much. Looking into the mic case from inside I could see where the casting was supposed to be open for the element. A few seconds with a small drill bit and it was opened up and transmit audio was great. Immediately made ssb contacts in New Hampshire and Cuba with 59 reports. I use a straight key for cw so the previously documented issues with the internal keyer don't really bug me. It does need an agc circuit and I have ordered an audio agc mod through the Yahoo users group to help with that. The receiver is sensitive and switching back and forth between my other rigs and the X1M demonstrated that it "hears" as well as any hf rig I have. It's not refined but it's fun and very, very usable. If something comes up to change my mind I'll amend this review. I gave it a 4 but honestly it should be a 4.5. The user group is awesome and very helpful. No, it's not an 817D but then I never expected it to be.
Jeff
N3JSS
(formerly KB3VXY) |
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| KF6TIL |
Rating: |
2014-01-19 | |
| Very cheaply made |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I was very disappointed in the quality of the radio when I received it considering how many people gave the radio a "5" in their review. The buttons feel cheap and wimpy, as if a firm press might break them. The pots felt rough and sticky. The bnc connector in the back was loose. All the plugs were flimsy and cheap, the one on the mike was delivered broken. The labels on front and back were misspelled. The plastic cover over the LCD display was crooked. Just everything about the radio's external appearance and functionality felt cheap, poorly assembled and unlikely to survive daily use. It's really a shame as I suspect the radio has a lot of potential and had the manufacturer spent just a few more dollars on quality components and the builders a few more minutes on assembling things more carefully, the radio might really be worth keeping. I gave this radio a "2" rating because I think it does have potential and if you like tinkering and modifying radios you might find this a worthwhile project.
On the plus side, shipping from Import Communications was very fast (got it the next business day after I ordered it) and I had no problems when returning it for a refund. |
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