Underrated and overrated radios.

[Mudslinger]

Sorry if this has been done before, but I was just having a think about this, what are your most overrated and underrated radios?

For me the top overrated radios are as follows.

1/ Cobra 200 GTL-DX, awful tacky looks, bad build quality and poor reliability.
2/Anything Ranger other than the early 3900's. Drift, dodgy build and on most really ugly looks.
3/Those Stryker things, they look sort of ok (if you squint a bit) but internally they are very similar to the CRE-8900 but cost 3 x the price.
4/ Prestige Cybernet UK40 sets. Awful squelch, "Pinched" TX audio and suffer from bleedover.
5/Modern President Radios. This has been discussed to death so I will leave it there.

Underrated radios.

1/ Maxcom 30E, love the looks, TX audio is really good and not too bad for bleedover due to the Crystal filters
2/My Early 3900E, it works better and has nicer RX than my superstar 360FM, hardly drifts at all and despite being well worn keeps going.
3/President George. They seem less desirable than the Lincoln, but apart from a bit of distortion on strong SSB signals to me they seem to work much better.
4/Old Maxon AM sets. The RX on them is just superb.

[Admiral]

Overrated, in their day and now:

HI Jumbo, just an MM2 or Concorde2 if you were lucky in a big ugly box with a crap PSU, awful radio.
NATO 2000, lot's of channels, UK muppets but on a par with the Fidelity 1000 for bleedover.

Underrated:

Anyclone 5555, lots of negativity for a great value radio.
Amstrad 900/901 Jap version, looked tacky but had an excellent front-end on it, probably the best thing Lord Sugar ever stuck his badge on.

[Mudslinger]

Agree with you on the Jumbo and MM2, in fact you could say similar about any Cybernet SSB...

[Admiral]

The Lafayettes looked really cool with the oversized knobs, but was pretty average.

[Buick Mackane]

Overrated, in their day and now:

HI Jumbo, just an MM2 or Concorde2 if you were lucky in a big ugly box with a crap PSU, awful radio.
NATO 2000, lot's of channels, UK muppets but on a par with the Fidelity 1000 for bleedover.

Underrated:

Anyclone 5555, lots of negativity for a great value radio.
Amstrad 900/901 Jap version, looked tacky but had an excellent front-end on it, probably the best thing Lord Sugar ever stuck his badge on.

I agree with the above apart from amstrads looking tacky, I think they looked modern back in the day compared with other radios, That said its one of those radios you either love or hate and iv'e always loved them, My all time favorite legal box

[Auldgeek]

I agree with the above apart from amstrads looking tacky, I think they looked modern back in the day compared with other radios, That said its one of those radios you either love or hate and iv'e always loved them, My all time favorite legal box

Back in the day, my mate had a 901 and it could hear stations no other legal UK 40 could. He had an Avanti Sigma IV at the time and we tried a few different makes, Most were able to hear everything on the same channel but the 901 and one or two others were excellent, particularly the 901,

[recoil]

been using a Amstrad 901 mobile for a few weeks far better radio than the thunderpole t800 and crt one I had in before.

[Mudslinger]

I have a Japanese Amstrad 900 here that I haven't even bothered to use, as I normally listen on the SSB.

Will have to dig it out. I know the transmit audio sounds better than most other cybernets as I know someone who has a few of them.

[beamer320i]

When I first got back on the air in '98 I picked up an Amstrad 901 that had been 'mid-blocked'. I've yet to find a UK FM rig that could match it on RX and TX, absolutely cracking radio. I've had more Yorks, Harriers, Audiolines, Unidens etc. than you can shake a walking stick at but never as good as that particular radio.

Over-rated? For me it has to be the 148 GTL-DX - WAIT! Before you put out a contract on me, let me explain - I never had one back in the day so don't have any fond, 80's tinted memories of one. Firstly I don't think there is anything wrong with them, in fact they were (and are) a damn good radio. But, having had a few there is nothing that they can do than a Dirland 3900B can't do. I had probably the cleanest one you will EVER find and it worked brilliantly, but I just didn't 'love' it, if you know what I mean. I know I'm in the minority (i.e. just me!) but I just don't get it when well hacked 148's fetch £130+++ when you can get a clean 3900B for £80 that has more blocks.

If I'd had a 148 BITD then I'd probably feel different - Example, my first SSB set was a Colt 1200DX, I LOVED that radio, First radio I worked 'proper' DX on and so on, etc etc. I have one now that is near mint, legal boarded and all necessary mods done. It works superbly. But spec wise, my President Lincoln beats it hands down so it has to go.

I still rate the President Adams as one of the best 80's radio's but the lack of FM and extra channels prevent it from staying with me. Yes I know you can mod them but where do you stop? I also seem to be getting a bit OCD in my old age and preferring radio's that are stock with the controls doing what they are meant for but that's my hang-up and I can't help it!

[astradyne]

The President George for me is vastly underrated. Years ahead of its time both in looks and its multi norm programming. My all time favourite radio. The one I own is currently in its 16th year with me after being purchased new from Knights back in 2001. £239 is the price on the receipt. I also think the Anyclone's get too much bad press. Sure, the first few revisions were crap. But they took note, made improvements and the V6 is an excellent radio for the money. The Grant 2 Premium is also a decent radio. I've witnessed far too many people laying into them without owning or even using one. The President/Uniden Madison. Well, they're just a thing to behold. Superb in every way. A thing of beauty.

I've always found the President Adams to be overrated. I've owned a few and found them to be nothing special at all. The factory mod is so bad the channels don't line up with the frequencies correctly. The President Jackson 2 is utter crap. I'll leave that there.

[Admiral]

I agree with the above apart from amstrads looking tacky

Just a personal bias as I hate fairy lights with a passion.

I love the look and ergonomics of the Midland Precision Series, but again, the performance didn't quite match the looks.
Another sheep in wolf's clothing was the Galaxy DX-2547 which was a Ranger, looked well hard, drifted more than the Mary Celeste and a front-end like a barn door.

[dt307]

over rated
cobra 200 crap in nearly every way apart from looks (owned one a few weeks)
cobra 2000 gtl looks nice and works good just over rated (i own 2)
jumbo just never been a fan (owned lots)
lincoln mk1 useless on am,smeter off its tits and the span over ahhh (owned lots, a chipswitched one is great )

under rated
anytone at5555/6666 for the money and the bang for the buck cant fault them (owned lots)
grant (pc999) stable,great tx audio,great solid "goto rig" (owned loads and have 1)
cybernet ge superbase stunning tx audio great rx, i love this radio (one of the last cb radios made where they cared more for the customer then money, own 1)
mk1 148 gtl dx ...i would have a mk1 over a mk2 anyday (own 1)
magnium 257 awesome little radio

[Mudslinger]

The President George for me is vastly underrated. Years ahead of its time both in looks and its multi norm programming. My all time favourite radio. The one I own is currently in its 16th year with me after being purchased new from Knights back in 2001. £239 is the price on the receipt. I also think the Anyclone's get too much bad press. Sure, the first few revisions were crap. But they took note, made improvements and the V6 is an excellent radio for the money. The Grant 2 Premium is also a decent radio. I've witnessed far too many people laying into them without owning or even using one. The President/Uniden Madison. Well, they're just a thing to behold. Superb in every way. A thing of beauty.

I've always found the President Adams to be overrated. I've owned a few and found them to be nothing special at all. The factory mod is so bad the channels don't line up with the frequencies correctly. The President Jackson 2 is utter crap. I'll leave that there.

I agree about the Adams. I had one for a while and I was very underwhelmed by it.

Another radio I didn't like was the Dirland DSS-9000, apart from the looks I found the performance to be pretty dire. Fm receive was terrible and it drifted all over the place. It was as if they had tried to improve on the 3900, but only succeeded in making it much worse.

I agree with Chris above about the Magnum 257, they are great little radio, but I disagree about the Lincoln. They are a bit flat on AM, but otherwise they are a very good radio. The Mk1 Cobra is certainly an underrated set, but that sufferered flat AM receive as well.

[dt307]

prob was a bit hard on the lincoln and yes the george is a great radio.
i left out adams and mk2 148 and a jackson as i am on the fence with these

[Mudslinger]

I find the performance of the Jackson pretty similar to the Lincoln.