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Reviews For: LDG Z-100 Low Cost Autotuner

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : LDG Z-100 Low Cost Autotuner
Reviews: 116MSRP: 149
Description:
Low cost 0.1 to 125 watt autotuner. 200 memories, zero power consumption when not tuning, latching relays, interfaces for all popular radios and 160 thru 6 meter coverage.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ldgelectronics.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
151164.5
N3ORX Rating: 2006-05-11
Outstanding Customer Service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this great little tuner for over a year now and have been completely satisfied. I was using it with an ICOM 706 MK IIG and the one touch tuning using the ICOM's tune button was one of the nice little side benefits of having this tuner. I took the plunge and bought an ICOM 7000, only to find that the tuner would not work with the tune button. I called LDG, and they said they had already developed a fix for that. They said they would send me the chip to replace the one I had so that my tuner would work with the new radio. Well, when I gave them the version number on the PCB, they said that if I sent in the whole tuner, they would put in a new chip and an upgraded version of the board, too. So I sent it in. Turnaround time was less than a week! And all of it was no charge except for me to ship it to them. The emails which I got from them showed their committment to customer satisfaction and their pride in their products. I highly recommend them.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N3ORX on 2004-03-01

I just got mine on Sat. Initial set up and connections to IC-706MKIIG was very easy. Manual was clear and well written. Performance was as anticipated.... very good. It enabled me to use my G5RV on all bands 75-10 mtrs. Would not tune the G5RV on 6 meters, but I didn't expect it to, just tried it to see if it would. I like the memory feature...makes for fast band changes! It was smaller and lighter than I expected, but I am pleased with that. Workmanship appears to be very high quality. I hope I am this happy with it a year from now.
N9PUZ Rating: 2006-04-05
Excellent Value Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is my second LDG product. I also have an older Z-11 (not PRO) tuner for my QRP station. I had high expectations for the Z-100 and was not disappointed.

I've used this tuner with and without the LDG balun to tune dipoles, long wires, NVIS loops, etc. and have been very pleased. Mine has the internal battery mod from W4RT Electronics and in about a year of weekly use I have yet to need to change the batteries.

Why only a "4" rating? If it were possible my rating would have been a 4.8 or so but eHam doesn't work that way. The unit works exactly as described but...

I wish the case were slightly larger so that the balun required for some types of antennas could be internal with a set of binding posts on the rear in addition to the SO-239.
KD6MTU Rating: 2006-03-27
WOW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received it last weekend and was in a hurry so hooked it up to my FT-817 and a 11 meter halfwave mobile antenna. It tuned all the way down to 40 meters. Worked even better on 20 meters with two contacts one on the east coast and one in texas,and the above bands was no sweat either !!!...

I put a pro-am 20 meter antenna on today and was able to tune all bands except 160m and 15m (tuned to around 2.5 on 160m)(never could get 15m to tune period).

For the price and the ease of use this is the biggest bang my buck could have gotten !!! Again WOW what a tuner...

Guy KD6MTU
W4CDF Rating: 2006-03-16
A $139 Paper weight Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased one new from Gigaparts two weeks ago.Hosed it up to my two G5RV's and it would not bring the SWR on either below 2.5 to 1. The nice folks at Gigaparts promptly replaced it with another unit. This one only brings the swr down to 1.5 on 40 and 1.7 on 20. All the other bands are still above 2.5. My Mity Fine Junk 949E tunes all bands down to 1.2. I wanted to be able to push a button and have a good swr. Oh buy the way. It does work well on my Hustler 5BVT but it is allready resonant on the freqs I use
N1GXC Rating: 2006-03-15
It's A Keeper! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I also think that the Z-100 is a much better tuner than the one in my IC-746. It will also do 40m-10m on my A-99 antenna. I'm using it with an IC-706MKIIG into a W3FF Buddipole antenna for portable use. Quick, sure and very easy to use. It's a great little lightweight tuner that does everything well. This is a 'must have' item for anyone with a mobile style HF rig.

73, Dan
N2RFY Rating: 2006-03-05
Nice Little Tuner! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had my LDG Z100 for about a year now. I bought it to use on my Yeasu FT 840. It does a great job for the most part, I am very content with it and would recommend it to others. It is extremely easy to use and operate, I am running it on two 9v batteries in series and they say you can get 1000 tunes from it before needing to change them. Small and compact so it does not take up much room. Seems to be pretty rugged. My only negative would be that while it does work with the FT 840, it does not allow you to use the tune button on the rig, you need to use the tune button on the tuner itself. No big deal though, a button is a button, so it does not matter. It tunes my G5RV on 10m through 80m, does a fine job, seems to be a little higher on 10m though 20m, best tuning seems to be at 40m and 80m. All in all, good tuner and simple to use.
KB3RMX Rating: 2006-03-05
AMAZING LITTLE TUNER Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had this little tuner for about 8 months now. It's a very outstanding tuner for the money. I've got it hooked to my Icom-718 and it tunes my Antron A-99 from 40-10 meters. I was very impressed with its tuning abilities. The autotuner in my Icom-746 Pro can only tune my A-99 from 17 to 10 meters. I'm purchasing a Yaesu fT-897d this spring for portable use and I will purchase another Z-100 for it. Great investment. No hassle, easy to hookup and go.
AD6ZJ Rating: 2006-01-20
why did I wait so long Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased my Z-100 primarily for camping. While waiting for warmer months I hooked it up in the shack. The unit is amazingly fast at getting a descent match on multiple bands and antennas. It will tune my tri-bander from 10M to 6M without any trouble at all. It will tune my vertical from 160M to 6M. As an added bonus, I put it between my rig and Heathkit SB201 and it improved the match for full power on all bands. The only trouble is now I need a second one to take camping. BTW - I use it with my Icom 706MKIIG and it works with the icom tune button - press once to tune and again to bypass.
KG4SPA Rating: 2005-10-23
Great Tunner! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought the Z-100 Ultra model from W4RT with the internal batteries. It works great tunning my G5RV and 20-10m beam antennas to my Yaesu FT-817ND.

It does have one problem. "By-pass" mode really isn't "by-pass". If you put the tuner in by-pass mode and try to feed a VHF/UHF signal through to a downstream VHF/UHV antenna, the Z-100 filters out the VHF/UHF signal and nothing get out. I understand that the Z-100 is an HF tunner and does not work with VHF/UHF, but in by-pass mode the tunner shouldn't block ANY signal. It should act as if the Z-100 isn't there. This limitation isn't mentioned in the manual.

The work around is simple for 817 uses: connect the VHF/UHF antenna to the front antenna connector.

Even with this small problem I still rate it a 5/5.

I have three LDG tunners; the Z-100 was the first one I bought. I liked it so much that I replaced my other tunners with LDG auto tunners. I now have three.
KD5SKV Rating: 2005-09-02
Great performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I tried the MFJ 949E and got a refund. I am not saying it was a bad unit, it just didn't do what I needed it to do. I got the LDG Z-100 and I have had 100% success. I use simple dipoles and a random wire. It tunes them up in no time and holds solid. I use the optional balun for the random wire and it will tune 10 - 80 M at 110'. This unit is forgiving and remembers tunings just like it is advertised. The SWR LED is actually quite accurate as well. It matches up with my IC-718 SWR report.

Before I got it, I heard some complain of a confusing interface...no way. My 6 year old could learn it in 5 minutes if so inclined.

Complaints: none.