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Reviews For: Lab599 TX-500

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Lab599 TX-500
Reviews: 4MSRP: $899.95
Description:
(From QST Review, August 2021) The Lab599 Discovery TX-500 is an attractive and very rugged transceiver that covers the ham bands from 160 to 6 meters, along with a general-coverage receiver that tunes continuously from 500 kHz to 56 MHz. It’s hard to find any online comments about the TX-500 that don’t describe it as being built like a tank. The housing is a heavy machined aluminum chassis. Left- and right-side front-panel extensions protect the display and all controls from being damaged if dropped. The transceiver is also water resistant because of its liquid-protected housing, encoders with sealing rings, and water-resistant connectors
Product is in production
More Info: https://lab599.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0042.3
KI5BMK Rating: 2023-11-28
Nice Try on a Little QRP Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had high hopes for this little brick...but almost as soon as I brought it home I was disappointed.

First off the cables are absolute junk...The solid feel is nice but that wears off after you listen and operate the unit. I couldn't get it to power up with my 12volt lipo battery packs for some reason. Tried 3 packs and no go. Worked with my power supply. I did attach the packs to 3 other mobiles and no issue...

And having one US office in AZ that is extremely hard to get ahold of scared me...plus that cool battery they introduced a few years back is basically vapor wear.

I took mine back and bought a ICOM 705....
KK4ODA Rating: 2023-11-27
Great radio-nonexistent customer support Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I loved my TX-500. Took it out on SOTA activations and performed flawlessly until...the audio died about 1.5 years into buying the unit. Customer support answered my initial email but ceased to answer any follow up emails. I now have a dead aluminum brick sitting on the shelf.
K7KRY Rating: 2023-02-12
Dead after light use Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the radio for less than two years and used it only occasionally. Recently, I turned it on and was greeted with the white screen. Being out of warranty, I did some research and all of the easy fixes did nothing to help. It looks like I'll need a new main board and getting one now is tricky so I'm basically left with a hugely expensive door stop.
W8MQW Rating: 2021-09-26
Robust but sophisticated Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This little tank is a KX2 killer. The menu system is the most well thought out that I have ever used --- a user manual is hardly necessary. It has a charming LCD panadapter with surprising resolution. The IMD on SSB transmit is a stunning 48 dB down (using the on-board harmonically related two-tone generator). The receiver is pleasant to listen to. An honest 10 watts out. All the bells and whistles one should expect from a modern SDR.

Light weight (19.4 oz) yet really, really substantial --- did I say tank-like?

One problem: it has two TX spikes centered about the carrier 48 kHz on either side that are down about 45 dB. This is certainly no problem when QRP. When I use the unit to drive a QRO 22-dB amp, the amplifier often faults. I have not yet determined if this is from an onset spike or from these offset 48-kHz spikes. (Update: There is no onset spike. The QRO amp fault does not occur when on a dummy load. Thus it appears these +- 48 kHz spikes are causing the fault when on a resonant antenna.)

The speaker in the included speaker/mic is loud and fairly clean. It also comes with a breakout cord with 3.5mm jacks for an electret mic, earphones, and it also has a little PTT button.

Just a delight! I like it more than the KX2 I once had and more than my KX3 and Elad Duo. But it is not in the same league as my SunSDR2 plus, SunSDR2 QRP, or especially my Anan Orion mk II, which are after all, not camping rigs.