I have two of these radios. They are all over the map when it comes to software bugs. Be very careful with them. Even the hardware QC has been problematic. Power transmission is all over the map too. On UHF and upper VHF it’s less than 10 W. The power settings do not transmit what is set on the screen. Regardless of what you set them at. Extremely buggy software. Customer support is also very poor. Once again, I’ve had these for over a year and a half and they have neither once worked as advertised in marketing material. I would love to recommend these to people but in good conscience I can’t as of right now. It was such a mess I made YT videos describing the issues.
@TheTechPrepper, love your vids. I'm trying to build an 857D man-pack but dang the noise floor on my 857D is like S9 even after a factory reset and regardless of what antenna I'm using. Do you experience this as well?
@guygore3794 I haven't seen this. I'm in a rural area, and my noise floor is usually around an S3 or lower. Both my units are fine. Yaesu is pretty good about providing service, but I've never tried support on a discontinued rig. You might want to try them. Good luck with your build. I hope you figure this one out.
@TheTechPrepper, face palm moment... I had the outer dial of the knob on the top left set to SQL which meant the alternate setting for it (RF Gain) was locked at its previously stored value of 100% 😂😂. Once I used menu 80 to change to RF Gain and adjusted it the noise floor dropped to almost nil. 🎉
I have an Icom 7200, an alpha antenna promaster vertical element on a tripod, 2 x bioenno 12AH, and a CF 33 toughpad, all in a falcon bag....and all that together was the same price as this rig. It is unjustifiable to be charging this much for a q900 that someone hot glued into an aluminum box.
It summons Lord Xenu's Brother, Emperor Meun. He is a milder version of Lord Xenu, but still really bad. He put thermal nuclear bombs on Earthquake faults, instead of volcanoes.
Very interesting unit. I suspect that they'll have many on the shelves available for ordering. I'll just keep m y G90 and get a can of Rustoleum od green. Thanks for doing this review!! Way cool.
You can buy three or four real military 20 watt radios, admittedly '80s and '90s models, for the same price that will last significantly longer and are far higher quality. As we're suggested this really is a larping toy or for gullible preppers.
I have noticed a trend. This type of thing usually releases with an impossible to read/tiny display, then 4-8 weeks later they release a touch screen add-on, and now you’re dealing with a radio that costs more than a 705.
Josh, as always, thank you this video. The idea of $$$cost vs perceived value is a personal one. The initial “cool points” are high - in your words “second kinda cool”. My mobile setup is HUGE in comparison, but, it works and everything is 100watts on HF @and 50watts VHF/UHF - and - already paid for. Again, thank you - your are appreciated. KQ4IXD
I think I'll stick with my KX2, KX3, IC-705, or FT-818. :) I do question the quality of that keypad. It will need to be quite robust to give years of reliable service since--let's face it--you're going to be pushing a LOT of buttons to do pretty much anything. Thanks for this review, Josh! -Thomas
People have lost their mind pricing radios this days. Not even $500 I’ll pay for that thing. Maybe $200 and still not sure. It will drive me crazy to scroll the bands with just push buttons.
The antenna system and built in tuner is sweet. Evidently it can also do frequency hopping that is timed via built-in GPS. But there appear to be a couple not so great reviews.
One might get a used AN/PRC-515 Collins designed for half this price....or a British RT-320 Clansman with all ancillaries. Both will survive immersion.
Those connectors look like Hirose connectors but they might be Lemo connectors used on the Marconi-Bowman PRR squad radios the were used by the British military and the US Marines. As for the Air Force they did make a man pack portable used by the FO's in Vietnam to call in airstrikes on difficult to locate targets.
South American para military here... That radio is NOT marketed for hams. It's being used all throughout South America by para military and NGO (others) on NON Ham bands. The folks using this stuff... know what they are doing.
Its a poor quality radio, and guohetec has very bad customer support. Even in the niche market of manpack radios you are better off getting something like a G90 that is going to have better sound than this radio at a much cheaper price point. Not to mention you can find actual used military manpacks from time to time going for the $3000 price range. This is just a q900 glued into an aluminum case. It is way overpriced for what it is. If it were half its current price it may be worth it, but even then the radio has allot of issues.
I'm seeing prices from $3,000 to $5,000 for this radio. Given it's Chinese junk that's astonishing. But it reaffirms my consistent belief that RU-vidrs work in a different currency than we normies do. Because every price they ever give is always 1/3rd what the cheapest available price online is. That or they see you guys post then triple the price to gouge even harder.
Are you seeing the link to their homepage for $1800? I gave the lowest price that I LINKED in the description. Why all this speculation about RU-vidrs?
Yaesu 857d for the win. Beyond that literally any other HF right that’s substantially less expensive will prove to be a better rig. This radio basically targets a specific consumer base(the preppers) and/or fantasy militias. I think it will likely fall flat.
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I understand the 2nd cool parlance, even though I'm "just another dumbass civilian". I enjoy the idea of radios with different form factors. Maybe someone should make one that is actually built into a case.
This hog really does scream cool! I'm pretty new whilst stumbling through the world of antennas I keep coming across the exact words you said "80M through 10M" relative to a typical secondary option of "60M through 10" which is usually the higher cost. I grock most other things about antennas besides some of these numerologists most commonly used for ranges.
Always start at the top end of the foldable antenna when extending it and breaking it down! Actually, you can extend it by just throwing it down onto the ground and let the spring tension flick it together but in the long run that's not good for it. Same style we used with the PRC-77 man pack rigs in the Army. Thanks! 73 - Dino KLøS
Knew the reference from the title. Back before he went a little to ramble ramble for me I used to watch his stuff more. Neat radio, Not my jam exactly. It's close. Get 1.25 in there or more power or less money. Just not tickling me at the features and price point, I'd rather a G90 built into a manpack and decent HT or rally several other combinations of 2 radios you could do for the cost or 891 though a bit bigger obviously. Yea idk I feel like it's close to something maybe a version 2 with a slightly better price point, not half price mind just maybe a couple hundred less and polished up. If the included antenna was on par with one of the popular coils....Also for sure we need a vfo knob, like volume in a car it's no negotiable. Ramble over, probably.
In this video, you mentioned that your father was in the Air Force and was stationed in Thailand at the same Air Force base as my dad was. How cool is that?
You can attach a keyboard to this and type in CW real-time using the little short dongle. That short dongle is primarily for uploading binary upgrades. It weighs 25 lbs with battery attached.
Reminds me of when I was in the military and that was what we carried out in the field. In fact the radios carried in my day were probably heavier. Cool radio. Sweet video. Thanks for showing it. If I had spare cash to use I would buy it. But you are right it’s a very specific type of radio for very specific type of operator. Again, sweet video and thanks for sharing.
This radio is made to LOOK like the radio you carried in the military to get you to pay more for it. It's a total scam, it's a $400 radio they literally hot glued into an aluminum case.
Finally a radio hitting on what a large majority of people are looking for right now. A complete ready to operate emergency kit with antennas, case and battery. I’m sure it needs some refinements
If they could only deliver on it. The potential is really there. Also a potential market nowadays. Just the delivery on specifically the software and QC of the hardware is a mess. I own two and would LOVE for them to function as promised. Just appears that the team writing and QA the software are really not getting it done. Google the videos about this from non-Guohetec. You will see the experience that we have had with this and the family of radios from this manufacturer. Shame because they could really be on to something, if they just brought in top tier developers, they could own this market space.
@Uncle_Buzz check again it's $2100, you're probably looking at their "secret keys" which is a proprietary "encryption" method where you have to pay them $300 for an "encryption key" and once it is assigned can't ever change it. Of course you need 2 of the $2000 radio and two of the keys for it to work. It's a total scam, the company is full of scammers
So i have a USMC ILBE rucksack on the way right now and they have a radio pouch for inside the pack.....You timed this terribly with the cool factor. However the price helped deter me 110%.
