It is hard to express my extreme disappointment with the FT818. Auto ATU? No. Speech processor? No. Lithium Ion batteries? No. And on and on. This is a development done on the cheap by a company that looks to be in trouble.
Recommendation? Do not waste your money, unless (like the FT991A) they have second thoughts and produce a 21st century transceiver we deserve.
Yaesu - what the heck were you thinking? This is crap.
FT-817 is a proven and successful product. It is compact and has served you well.
ReplyDeleteElecraft X series are much more expensive and arguably less robust, so there is less uptake in the UK than in it's home market.
You would like SDR, speech processing and a spectrum display.
Yaesu have to consider that markets such as the USA are far bigger than the UK, so the Elecraft product will dominate there. The cheapest way to maintain a product that does the job, covering most useful bands in one unit, with no plug in boards is to retain the existing hardware and to adapt the circuitry to address obsolescence of various components. The upgrade is more of a revision. It's unambitious but pragmatic. If you want speech processing and audio filtering you can add third party modules.
Then there is the question of power budget. All those additions require additional current draw.
If they spent a small fortune on a new design at a low point of the solar cycle, that's a gamble. Camera manufacturers also have these dilemmas.
Thanks for your comments. My view is that Yaesu has become reactive these days rather than setting the pace. My view is this is a company in DEEP trouble. I hope I am wrong!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile neither Kenwood nor Icom produce anything to compete in this segment at all. They presumably decided they couldn't or wouldn't compete.
ReplyDeleteI know the FT-817 does a lot but the compromises put me off given the price.
Ironically, although we in the UK regard 5W CW and 10W SSB as the QRP limits,there are still plenty who will still argue that over 5W SSB is QRO...
Presumably the FT-818 will not appear in the QRP section of eham.net unlike the FT-817.