Stay away from WOUXUN

[countywacker]

WOUXUN KG –UV920P-A

After a nine month battle with Wouxun, there radio failed and they refuse to replace or refund there product. Do not buy their radios; they will not stand behind them. Customer service is absolutely poor.

I bought this radio in January of 2014 from a dealer that was retiring and was liquidating his inventory. The radio was a Fall 2013 version which was the newest at the time and had a one year factory warranty. I was advise that if there were any issues that Wouxun would take care of it.

I received the radio, installed it and programmed it up. Everything was working fine for approximate 6 weeks. Then one day I tried to transmit on the radio and no one was hearing me. The receive was fine but no one could hear me. So I put it on a meter and the radio was transmitting way less than a half a watt, after a friend of mine examined the radio it was determined the driver went bad and the radio had no transmit power.

So I contacted the dealer I bought the radio from and he put me in contact with Wouxun direct so they can fix the problem.

After several emails back and forth I was not getting anywhere with them to fix the radio. When I was at the International Wireless conference in Las Vegas in March I even tried to talk to the people from Wouxun to see if we could fix the problem, basically we couldn’t understand each other and they took my contact information.

Sometime after more than dozens of emails later, they agreed to send me a replacement PCM at a cost of $45 shipping that I had to pay. (Great warranty right). I received that in about three weeks, I got the package and got everything put back together and reinstalled in my truck. The radio now does not program with the software. I tried every software that they have on their website. NO luck!!! Ugh!

So here goes the emails again. Dozens and dozens more, they try to work through so many solutions that do not work as usual.

Well sometime in June they refer me to another Wouxun dealer state side, they wanted me to ship the radio to them, which I did at $15 my cost. Once that dealer received the radio they did verify that there was a problem with the radio and it needed another PCM.

Now this was in June, They got the PCM from Wouxun in October. Installed it and I guess still had problems communicating with the radio. Then…as per the work order, they got it to program with some sort of software on a disk. So they shipped me the radio back and software on this disk…um ok. O the radio now has bent volume knobs by the way. It was not liked this when I shipped it to them.

Soooo.. I get the radio try to program it again and it does NOT program still! So I try loading this “special” software they sent me that suppose to work. Right! After I load this software onto my PC, it looks like nothing more than the regular software that they have online, but the stuff they sent me looks like a blank excel sheet. All the lettering is missing from the software. O and it still does not work.

So I email Wouxun again and explain everything to them, they copy the repair facility to try to figure out what’s wrong. The repair facility stated it was programming fine when they had it on the bench and I had to use the software that sent me, which is not even the right software since I sent it to Wouxun and they said it was the wrong version. So someone is lying here……Bottom line is that this repair facility did not want to get in the middle of this since they did not sell me the radio. Wouxun more or less dumped this on their lap.

So after several more emails back and forth Wouxun said that I could pay for another PCM to be shipped to me. I said hell no!! I am not dumping anymore money into this thing. I have paid way too much to get this fix. I either need a total new replacement or refund.

They denied me and said no that they could not help me anymore. So I’m SOL and out of $335. Great!

Bottom line, their radios are junk and even though there is a warranty, they do not stand behind it. No wonder why so many Wouxun dealers are dropping the products. Even when I talk to some of the dealers, they have issues working with the company and Wouxun expects the dealer to absorb most of the repair cost and replacement.

They are a cheap product!!!!! Stay away!!!!!!!

PS - I have all the emails saved about this as my proof.

 

[iMONITOR]

CFM = Crap from CHINA

 

[bryan_herbert]

That is why wouxun.us no longer sells Wouxun radios. Read the red banner at the top of their website.

 

[pinballwiz86]

I wouldn't spend more than $100 on these Chinese radios. Lesson learned? Sorry you had to find out the hard way.

 

[prcguy]

I've bought a fair amount of Chinese radios from Wouxun, Baofeng, TYT and Anytone. In my opinion your local dealer and their promise to take care of warranty problems is key to your cheap radio remaining a cheap investment. Otherwise consider the radio completely disposable at any time and decide on how much that is worth to you.

Wouxun had some of the first cheap dual band handhelds available and not a bad deal in the $100 range. A Baofeng UV-5R is a fantastic deal in the $30 range and the newer Wouxun UV-8D, Anytone handhelds and TYT 9800 seem to be very good radios ranging from the low $100 range to mid $200.

Above that and I would be looking at a product from Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, etc, and $330 invested in a Chinese radio is not in the cheap and disposable category.
prcguy

 

[baltimorecs]

I have seen the issues others have had but we have sixteen KG-UV6D radios and they have worked well. We basically beat them up and treat them as disposable (in case we lose one).

I agree with the point that when they work they are great. When they break the HT's are throw away--but I definitely agree that a $300+ radio is not really in throw away prive range.

 

[Moondoog]

All I can say is you get what you pay for. I have a Kenwood TH-6a and have had no problems with it.

 

[SCPD]

Did you try CHIRP?Easier to program these chinese radios.

These new radios all suffer from the new EPA friendly solder that seems to deteriorate over time,in my opinion I wouldnt expect anything nowadays to last too long based on this.Why would you buy a new one if it lasted?

 

[jonwienke]

Your story is one of the reasons Wouxun radios are no longer available at wouxun.us.

 

[mmckenna]

Consider it an expensive lesson learned. Buying a cheap radio from a company based in China really opens up the consumer to this sort of experience.
While I've seen and heard a lot of good reviews of these radios, I've stayed away from them. Glad I have. Sometimes spending a bit more comes out cheaper in the long run.

 

[vagrant]

This is a very unfortunate description when working with that manufacture. When it comes to VHF/UHF mobile radios, like the model posted by the op, I avoid the lower cost versions. I enjoy reliability with several Kenwood D710's and a Yaesu 7800. Now, there was a filter issue with an older D710, but Kenwood repaired it for free and it took less than a week to get it back.

There is a premium to be paid for mobile radios and unfortunately the OP found out the concequences of going the other way. Were these VHF/UHF mobile radios under $100 like the HT's I think many would give them a go, but the potential for hassles as noted is not worth it for their current price point. Roulette has a better pay out.

Now, a $30 HT that's made to be water-resistant with a ziplock bag is a fantastic buy, but I keep a Kenwood HT in my backpack too.

 

[MTS2000des]

yep, you don't get what you don't pay for.

Cheap disposable radios with no product support. They fail? Chunk em and buy a new one.

A warranty is only as good as who stands behind it. Remember Ginsu knives?

"Lifetime ever sharp warranty"

This is the main reason I stay away from Chinese radios. They do produce a good product when they work, but when they don't, you're SOL, UNLESS you buy it from a reputable dealer like HRO/AES/etc.

And who knows how long those dealers will sell and support a subpar product with high defect rates. Read this and you see why Wouxun are the turd of turds from someone who lost thousands as one of the first dealers in the USA:

Good-Bye-Wouxun

 

[ASAD]

I never have luck with Kenwood equipment for some reason. Every time I buy Kenwood, there's something wrong. I recently purchased some Kenwood NX-300. The auxiliary key on one of them went dead in less than a week. I sent it in for repair. It's been 3 weeks and no updates yet.

 

[SCPD]

Picked up a KG-UVD1P about a year and a half ago and so far it's worked great. Purchased another battery and the leather (or fake leather) case. I think there were some production runs that were good and some that had lots of problems. For $50 it's not a bad radio but programming is a pain without software. When it decides to break, will just send it to the recycling bin. The wouxun.us guy gives a real good explanation of the issues and quality of these radios and why he quit selling them. You get what you pay for...

 

[jk77]

It seems like a few posters here are piling on the anti-Chinese radio bandwagon and not even realizing that the radio in question is a mobile radio and not an HT. The issue is that the OP did NOT get what he paid for. These Chinese mobile radios, unlike their HTs, are not cheap. They might be perhaps $50 cheaper than other radios and maybe not if you know how to shop. They are not 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of their competitors like the HTs are.

I like Chinese HTs, but I really wouldn't buy a Chinese mobile just to save $50.

 

[RAD909]

When a deal is not a deal....

As a dealer, this is exactly why we don't carry these brands. We have had bad experiences dealing with these low-cost brands. The fact is they don't have good quality control at their factories, and they don't have product support for a warranty process.

Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, Vertex Standard, Motorola, etc. have good quality control. AND when something does go wrong they stand behind their products. Of course, this does add cost into the product.

Asad, sorry to hear about your problems but that should have been taken care of by your dealer. I would suggest you contact them.

Quality Two-Way Radios

 

[FFPM571]

You get what you pay for...

 

[baltimorecs]

You get what you pay for...

I got sixteen cheap radios that have been beat up all of the way to Afghanistan and back. They still work great. What is your point?

 

[SCPD]

Lol I hope they weren't used in Afghanistan I'd prefer at least something with adp over there at minimal lol but good expression. They are decent radios when they work I'd never pay over 30 to 40 for these China radios. Once they break toss it and get another. It is a nice addition to have with actual brand name comms. They come in handy specially with a dual channel monitor it does good in monitoring conv duplex that isn't repeated.

 

[SCPD]

You get what you pay for...

I agree in comms if you go cheap it's a toss up. If it works good if not be prepared to toss it and buy another. Too many expect motorola factory quality or icom quality with these candy radios. They are dime a dozen and handy but once one goes out its a toss and get new. You can't beat it for ham low cost comms to learn or to have for a small business. Mission critical I'd never use one not even the mission critical ebay stuff (laughing) until it is checked out and certified by a shop. But there is deals you cross and sometimes when having the actual thing they come in handy as a side radio or ham radio for uses. I still have 2 China radios both work. Mainly for monitoring and ham but they are decent for the low cost 30 bucks a pop and once it goes toss it. Be sure to get the latest chirp though as the older version many were cloning a old firmware China radio to a newer firmware radio and having issues the new chirp prevents the cross from throwing a old firmware image onto a new firmware radio image.