QRP Head 2 Head Episode 7: KX2 vs TX 500 

Agree 100%. My KX2 is my go to radio. Also have the Xiegu6100 and G90. Got tired of being promised features and them not being delivered. 73 de W3PDW.

I own the Lab599 and I do like it a lot. I have the BP-500 battery pack and a MAT-10 ATU. The one thing that is a PITA is having to connect the speaker mic to listen. Another gripe is the connectors - I have built new cables for my digirig, key and power based on terminating commercially made GX cable assemblies. The CW key adaptor supplied with the Lab599 is pretty dire - that could have been much improved. However it all fits in a reasonably small Pelicase. KX2 - the display is excellent. Really nicely thought out, custom LCD glass that gives you everything you need. I've spent a lot of years without a panadaptor so can easily live without it. The fact that you have a fine and course VFO control is a real winner here - it pretty much makes the panadaptor of less real use because you can sweep the bands easily. Having some kind of speaker in the radio is ace and it seems to me that Elecraft put a LOT of time and effort into the user interface which is one of my gripes with many radio's. I'm a CW novice and watching Thomas K4SWL video's the decoder seem to be pretty good. The fact that you can load it with a battery pack and an ATU is great - it is truly a shack-in-the-box. Having 6m is great for occasions and the ability to cover 160m for a lot of folks in the field is probably unnecessary. Most of the operating that I do is in fine weather and I always protect and look after my equipment, so falling off rocks and operating in snow are not issues. The downside was that I couldn't get KX2 easily in the UK and the wait lists are / were longer than the Lab599. Evan, I'm not sure if the bezel is acrylic but if it is, there is a product called "Polywatch" which is used to get rid of scratches on acrylic watch crystals. I've used it to tidy up the screen of an FT-817 but not really deep scratches unless you want to spend hours buffing it out. As for Yaesu, they seem to have given up trying to disrupt the amateur market. I've ALWAYS been a Yaesu fan but that is a different subject. Great video again, Evan. Thanks for putting the time into putting it together.

I own them both. When I bought the TX-500 I was convinced it would be my go to radio and considered selling the KX2. A year and a half later... I hardly use the TX-500 (unless the weather is really lousy in which case I don't fee like going out anyway 😀) and I always reach for the KX2. It's a phenomenal radio and deserves its reputation IMHO.

Loved the series. Can't say that I am surprised. Guess I will be stuck carrying all the extra junk around with my TX-500. With that said I still love that radio and glad that I bought it. Guess I will wait until somebody comes out with the KX2 / TX-500 crossbreed that you talked about. Thanks for all the videos!! 73

I would buy a KX2 instantly, if the build quality would be better. This radio has a lot of nice features, but it's full of flaws, some of them you mentioned already. A friend of mine had to exchange twice the VFO encoder, and it's again faulty. Will the PCB survive a third desoldering job? Elecraft selects the cheapest parts for this radio and charges a high price. What amazes me that one hardly hears negative voices about this radio. I own a TX-500 since about two years and it's far from perfect, with shortcomings you mentioned as well. But I like it for several reasons, like its robustness and usability. The battery pack is a joke. I still dream that LAB599 creates a TX-500 MK2 (not the manpack version that lacks a VFO knob) or that Yaesu comes out with a cool FT-818 successor.

I really enjoyed the series!

Thanks. I have my heart set on a KX2 and have been searching for one for a while. I almost said screw it, let's go with the Lab599. This video was very timely. I really want the KX2 for all the reasons you said. Not a bunch of other stuff to bring. I've got other QRP rigs, but by the time I add the extras, they're not as minimal as I'd like.

I have both of these rigs, as well other QRP rigs. The KX2 is FRAGILE, compared to any other radio. While its compact size is an advantage, its fragility negates this, because it must be better protected. I never worry about this with the Lab 599 or the Ft-818.

Elecraft ,unfortunately,don’t have a UK importer anymore,so unless you pay the import fees which makes it even more expensive,they are almost impossible to get.Which is a real shame.So for us in the UK the options are TX500 v IC705 v G90 v X6100 and that’s pretty much it 😢

Field radio that is designed and made by a serious field operator.