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Reviews For: NanoVNA

Category: Antenna Analyzers

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Review Summary For : NanoVNA
Reviews: 36MSRP: 30-80
Description:
Very Tiny Palmtop 50 kHz - 900 MHz Vector Network Analyzer (two port) or use one port as an Antenna Analyzer
Product is in production
More Info: https://groups.io/g/nanovna-users
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
33.3364.4
KD7RDZI2 Rating: 2023-01-30
Great tool Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have a 3ghz version. Great to peak filters and ameliorate homebrew stuff especially above 1 Ghz. My unit needs to be calibrated every time and that requires about 1 minute. Comparing a VNA with a SNA is not fair, but up to 150 Mhz I find the indian Antuino more convenient to use in most of the cases. More Antuino seems more rugged and can be eventually repaired by the op. Because of this, the NanoVNA deserves 5 stars instead of 6 :)
KT4WO Rating: 2023-01-17
Maybe 2 years now. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Using it for ~2 years now. Best $50 bucks I have spent.
YMMV.
BTW--- bought from R&L(in USA), not a clone
from Ebay.
K6ITR Rating: 2023-01-16
Junk. Failed at six months, it's a $50 paperweight. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I wanted to like this thing. On paper, it looked (and performed) like a higher-priced analyzer, and it is very portable and versatile. And I did like it, right up until it gave me an absolutely flat 1:1 SWR reading at 50 ohms on a 2-meter ground plane antenna across every band from 80 meters to 70 cm. No amount of calibrating would fix it. There is no way I will ever again trust a cheap Chinese toy like this to analyze antennas connected to a $700 radio. Do yourself a favor and listen to your inner common sense voice when it tells you that you cannot expect a $50 Chinese toy that comes with a guitar pick for a stylus to come anywhere close to replacing an antenna analyzer costing at least four times as much. Youi're seriously better off with the plain-old cross-needle SWR meter in your tuner than you are with this thing.
KD8DVR Rating: 2022-07-02
Excellent device Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I must say this is one handy device! Swr, coax length, coax loss and a ton of other features we will never use. $59 on Amazon. Makes many swr meters and antenna analyzers obsolete. There have been several firmware updates since it first came out. It operates smoothly, without bugs. Highly recommend.
WB0RXL Rating: 2022-05-29
Great VNA Package Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased one of early smaller screen versions and though the unit has its quirks, it's an amazing device for the money. Since others have focused upon what it does well, I will talk about what you might need be be careful about. I never use the thumb wheel - just the touch screen. However, it's very responsive and accurate with a soft stylus, so no problems. I'm used to using N-connectors, so the SMA's seem delicate, but being careful I've had no issues. One great advantage is the parts are small. One disadvantage is the parts are small. Someday I know I'm going to drop one of the calibration standards in the grass. Speaking of that, the we checked the calibration kit I had with another kit we have. The 50 ohm was a bit off, but again, considering the price point, acceptable. One of my engineering colleagues decided to compare it with our company's Copper Mountain VNA. He reported back that the Nano tracks very closely with the Copper Mountain up to around 300 MHz. (Remember this is an early unit we are using.) It's so close our boss is thinking about keeping the Copper Mountain VNA in the lab and buying each of us a Nano-VNA for quick and dirty checks in the field. Bottom line - it's well worth the investment.
K1KIM Rating: 2021-12-04
Almost Too Good To Be True For The Price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have both the smaller and larger screen versions that I primarily use for antenna analysis with the NanoVNA Saver program on my PC.

I only wish that there was equivalent software to use on an iPad as the size and portability is far more convenient that lugging my large laptop into the field.

If just doing a quick check without any need for the Smith charts and other data, I use my MFJ-259B.

Calibrating is easy and fast with more than acceptable accuracy.
W6SSP Rating: 2021-12-04
Fantastic value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Much of my engineering career was working in the HP
division that designed and built VNA's. The ultra expensive
ones. I'm very familiar with how they work and how
to use them. The nanoVNA blows me away! It certainly
has its software quirks and there have been times when
you have to give up on a setup and start from scratch.
And these can be very frustrating to those not familiar
with VNA's but if you have the patience to power
through the bugs, you'll have a very powerful and
accurate instrument for a tiny fraction of the big boys.
W3IRE Rating: 2021-11-30
Very hard to use. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I got this back in August at a Hamfest. All in all it's very compact and I like the color screen. I feel bad it very hard and cumbersome to set up and use. Take quite some time to calibrate and set up. Very confusing and a lot of steps to get it to work. I know a lot of my fellow ham friends like it, but I'll have to pass. I don't want to spend time setting this thing up to test an antenna. I want to test the antenna and get on the air. I will sell this and get a real antenna tuner.
EI7II Rating: 2021-08-06
Should be mandatory in every HamShack! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As everything about the NanoVNA has already been said.... I will keep this brief. I have the V2 version in the steel case and with the N type connectors. This one has the 4" screen.
I mainly use it for checking out antennas..and for that purpose it is just about unbeatable. Works great with my Win10 PC and allows me to keep a printed record of the graphs. It is IMPERATIVE that you calibrate the unit for the frequency range(s) you want to sweep, unless you do the results will not be accurate.
This unit should have a mandatory presence in every hamshack. Do join the OFFICIAL NanoVNA usergroup... an absolute Goldmine of information.
Just a quick footnote here: Depending on yr needs you might also wish to consider the RigExpert units. More expensive, significantly so, but they are worth a good look at.
Albert
EI7II.
2E0EUG Rating: 2021-07-06
Just plain Horrible Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hated it at first, its clunky but once you get it setup its great !