Xiegu X6100 HF/50 MHz transceiver

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......

New Chinese portable transceiver?

It looks like the Chinese manufacturer Xiegu is going to launch a new product called the X6100. 

Apparently their quality control on earlier products was not good. At the moment this still puts me off Chinese made amateur radio products. If I was spending good money I would expect it to be reliable. 

They'll get there, but still not there yet.