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Reviews For: American Morse Equipment Mini-B Single Lever Paddle

Category: Keys & Paddles

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Review Summary For : American Morse Equipment Mini-B Single Lever Paddle
Reviews: 4MSRP: $95 + $4 sah
Description:
Introducing the smallest single-lever paddle on the market! The Mini-B is a miniaturized version of our Bushwhacker paddle, retaining the precision, feel, and unique adjustability of the Bushwhacker, including variable paddle ratio! Beautiful anodized finish is durable and Mil.Spec certified. Incredibly solid, fully adjustable feel; Gap, Spring Force, & Lever Ratio! Small size, only 2.5 ounces – 3 ¼ x 1 x 1 inches CNC machined from Aircraft Grade Aluminum No machining required - fully finished Stainless Steel fasteners throughout Simple, Reliable, in easy-to-assemble kit form or assembled Base drilled & tapped for mounting, fits Leg Mount, Qwikmount, and Porta Paddle Desk Base Manufactured in the USA, with LIFETIME UNCONDITIONAL WARRANTY! We designed the Mini-B in response to requests for a more trail-friendly version of the Bushwhacker. The Mini-B was designed with small size and round corners to be truly pocketable. With it's tiny footprint, the Mini-B has a little less range but maintains the feel & adjustabilty of the Bushwhacker. Fully enclosed for protection, the Mini-B nonetheless allows instant adjustment without removing the top cover. The pocket machined into the Mini-B's underside protects cable and connections. The Mini-B may be mounted on any of our mounting systems or bolted to your rig or any other convenient location. The paddle lever may be installed either "Up" or "Down". The most trail-friendly paddle on the planet!
Product is in production
More Info: http://americanmorse.com/minib.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1544.3
K9VIC Rating: 2023-03-12
Feels Great, Solid Build Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
i bought the assembled model (my eyes aren't what they used to be and didn't want to mess with small parts) along with the leg mount.

Wow! This feels great! Tension was adjustable right where I want it, and I got the gap set very tight. This thing is very well built and solid.

I made a few contacts using it on my leg in the shack, and will try it out on a couple POTA activations in the next week or so. We'll see if it develops the contact/spring issues noted by another reviewer.
W1ND Rating: 2021-09-16
When it works, it’s ok Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had high hopes for this to fill the space left by Palm Paddles closing down.

I designed and 3D printed a custom mag base for the paddle, this allows me to have it stay put on my custom flight board with a steel plate epoxied to it. That part works.

The contacts are steel machine screws that have been ground down and must be constantly cleaned with sandpaper to keep it working. The spring mechanism is intermittent at best and to date, this is the only Morse device that has ever repeatedly failed on me in the field. I can’t tell you how upsetting it is to have your paddle fail when working a pileup on a SOTA or POTA activation, miles away from your vehicle. Luckily I’ve always carried another Morse device to save the day.

This paddle gets very little use from me and sits in a small tin. I do bring it with me for field work when I am near my truck. I also carry my Palm Mono Paddle as well, though I prefer the Palm over the AME.
K7SHR Rating: 2021-07-01
Clever Design that Works Great Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I was looking for a paddle that was light and could be mounted inside my go-box/shack-in-the-box without taking up a lot of space or adding a lot of weight. The Mini-B Single Lever Paddle fit the bill perfectly. It’s a cleverly designed paddle that is surprisingly precise. The machining is very nice, it has a nice finish, and all the parts fit together smoothly.

The instructions tell you everything you need to do. It’s all there, one step at a time. I just had to get out of “ham mode” and actually read and follow the instructions.

The Mini-B is now mounted on the righthand side of my go-box, under the bottom shelf using two-sided adhesive hanging tape between the top of the key and the bottom of the shelf. The key has a very nice action for such a tiny paddle. I sandwiched some adhesive vinyl disks on both sides of the paddle (two on each side) for a little more width between my fingers. That’s my personal preference, and I’m really happy with the outcome. I send with the Mini-B (at 20 WPM) as well as I do with my other, more expensive paddles. So the heavy paddles stay at home where I enjoy them, and the Mini-B comes with me inside the go-box. It was really nice to find a paddle that was exactly what I needed.
KC7YRA Rating: 2020-08-15
Surprising little key kit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just received this little kit in the mail and am pleasantly surprised. The kit took about an hour to leisurely assemble using the instructions available at the American Morse website.

A couple things about assembly. There are legitimately small components involved. So small that, if dropped, some would be impossible to find on anything but a perfectly clean hard floor. I used forceps in order to manipulate some of the parts into position. None of the tasks were particularly difficult but they did require you to take your time and make sure you were installing things correctly.

After adding a cable, I fired it up and jumped onto 20 meters where I was able to work a few stations in short order. Having never used a single lever paddle, I occasionally flubbed but was surprised to cruise happily along at 25wpm within just a minute or two.

The build quality is nice and the components fit well. It isn't a high priced Ferrari or something that you'll use in place of a full size key at home, but it wasn't designed or marketed for that. Of all the keys I've tried and price points from minimal to insane, this key is nicely situated to give you a good value. And it seems to be a perfect SOTA/QRP/POTA type key, which is why I purchased it. Only time will tell but I believe it will hold up in a backpack and will keep the adjustments just fine.

Overall: Good little paddle that you get to build yourself.