In this month's Practical Wireless is a review of the Chinese Xiegu X6100 transceiver. Like many things made in China, quality still seems to be a bit "hit and miss". They report an issue with the auto-ATU that is not fixed with the latest firmware. What seems clear is these are low cost.
My concern is what happens if it goes wrong? Who will fix it? Is the guarantee really worth it? Given time, I am sure the major Japanese manufacturers like Yaesu, ICOM and Kenwood will feel a chill, with more, better quality, and far lower cost offerings starting to appear from China and other countries.
I am quite surprised that one (or more) of the major Japanese manufacturers is still there if I am honest. It all hinges on volumes and markets. I would expect to see items that could sell in high volumes worldwide coming from China rather than niche products. Over time, quality will shoot up.
At the moment I still feel nervous about buying Chinese amateur radio products. But...
They are coming......
I bought a Baofung UV5R new at a radio rally. It never worked properly. Money down the drain. I bought a second hand Yaesu FT60 and wished I had bought one in the first place. It is all too easy to go for cheapest and best bang per buck while ignoring cost over life and the cost of inconvenience due to dodgy build quality, not to mention electronic landfill.
ReplyDeleteThe McHF design was duplicated in China. Poor Chris didn't get a penny from any of the those Chinese copy cats pumping out thousands of reduced spec, sub-standard rip offs. Perhaps his V8.0 will be released eventually but it's tough when his market has been taken from him. Hans at QRP Labs saw this danger and decided not to go the open source route. I think his boards are made in China at the moment but his team quality test them all.
Chinese factories have shown greater scale, speed and agility than local producers. They seem to have fewer impediments to get in the way, which is unusual for a country run by a communist dictatorship. Change is already underway. Labour costs are still rising and there are moral and strategic concerns. Offshore manufacturing is moving to countries like Thailand and Vietnam for example, while others are reshoring and trying to reduce the length of their supply chains.
SDRPlay have had their radios made in the UK since day one. Hats off to them.