Ever Had Buyer's Remorse?

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chrissim

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When I first became interested in amateur radio, I knew nothing. Ignorance played a part in my purchasing decisions. The only Elmer I had was an appliance operator. I was really only aware of the big three and wasn't familiar with companies such as Elecraft or Flex. I was also very impatient and wanted to get started right away.

I basically had a one time opportunity to spend a certain sum knowing it would have to last a number of years. For what I spent on my initial rig and the subsequent back up rig, Heil mics and headsets, and all the accoutrements that went along with them, I realize I could have bought the complete K-Line, or a Yaesu DX 5000 (you get the idea).

I have a competent station, but could have had better had I understood the technology, was more patient, and had proper guidance.

Because my wife has no interest, I turn to this forum to convey my regret and hope that I am not the only one that has made poor and rash decisions in this hobby.
 

mmckenna

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I think most amateurs have.
The rush to buy/procure that first rig is pretty strong. I know I "overbought" the first time, and I see new amateurs doing it here fairly often. The urge to get all the latest bells and/or whistles, highest power output, highest gain, etc seems to drive a lot of decisions.

First radio I ever bought was a dual band handheld, Yaesu FT-470. Way more radio than I needed and more money than I should have spent. Subsequent radios have been toned down quite a bit.
 

MTS2000des

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It happens, part of life. I've done this with not just my radio stuff, but camera, audio equipment...you name it.

I always just list it on the forums for sale/trade and have had great results, only had one local trade go bad where some lid traded me a stolen radio, but otherwise 99.9 percent of the deals always end up resulting in getting what I originally wanted. Even if not, I know I made someone's day giving them a good deal.

and that is what life is all about. Karma.

But yeah, we've all been there.
 

MK

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Due to the high cost of amateur radio equipment, I have not had many experiences with buyer's remorse. Only one such experience, in fact. I spent nearly $3,000 on a transceiver that is very popular and has overwhelming praise in forums.

After I placed the rig on my desk the first thing I noticed was that its build quality was not as good as that from Yaesu or other manufacturers. Prior to ordering the transceiver I was aware of its limitations and how the unit could be viewed as having less value than that of products from other manufacturers. Nevertheless, I proceeded with the order based on the numerous user reviews I had read.

A week later I realized that I was just trying to convince myself that I should like what I bought even though I knew differently. Two weeks after that logic prevailed over emotion. I sold the unit at a loss of several hundred dollars. Hopefully, I will never repeat this experience.
 

PACNWDude

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I have bought two radios that were better before I bought them than after. The first was an Icom PCR-1000 receiver. When I opened the box up and saw the cheap and worthless antenna it came with, I thought "why did they even include this". Then the Bonito software was about worthless too. Only when people started writing control software and versions that could control it from a Palm device did it become useful again.

The second one was a Yaesu VX-3R. This was to replace my VX-2R that had been smashed while on a military deployment. The VX-3R could not be "modified" like the VX-2R. Not a lot of money was spent, but still annoyed to the point that I rebuilt the VX-2R instead. I kept the 3, but am not happy about it. I may give it to a new young amateur radio type if I find one that is not spoiled rotten.
 

n9mxq

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Bought myself a shiny new Kenwood D-710 for my birthday, it arrived a week or so before and I got it all installed and programmed..

Day before my birthday I lost my job.. So ya, I guess I regretted spending money we could have used elsewhere..
 

n5ims

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The key is to do these few things. They'll help keep you sane and happy.

1. A station often costs quite a large sum of money. Don't rush into your purchase (yes, we all are anxious to get our gear and put it on the air, but still, slow down) and research what you need, what you want, what you can afford, and what radios will handle these. Find local hams that have what you may be interested in that will allow you to use their equipment several times. A club station would be ideal if you can find one. Try as many of your choices that you can using this approach.

First visit, have them operate the station while you watch so you can see how it operates. Have them explain what they're doing and why so you can get comfortable with the options and controls. Second visit, operate that station while they're there to help you with the controls. Third (and later) visits, operate the station while they're close enough to help when necessary, but otherwise you're on your own. This will let you discover how the controls fit how you operate. Also you may find that a feature that you thought you'd need isn't really that important, but another you didn't think you need is really important.

2. Once you purchase your station, it's really important that you STOP LOOKING!. It's a near certainty that once you buy, somebody will release something that really looks cool. Ignore it and enjoy your purchase, you'll be happier in the long run.
 

wbswetnam

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Buyers regret? Yeah we've all been down that road. As for me, the week after I invested $1700 in my HF rig and antenna, I got a letter from the IRS saying I owed back taxes of $3000. Bummer...
 

PrimeNumber

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It usually cuts the other way for me: "Why did I walk away from that deal? It was a steal at that price."

Then there was the time I'd just bought a new FT-2900, only to find a good clean 2800 on the for-sale table at the ham club meeting the next week –*for $100 less. (After giving everyone else a chance to look it over, I bought it anyway. Flipped it to a friend who was just getting started a week later.)

Usually though I go into analysis paralysis and get scooped on the great deals. Don't let this happen to you.
 

N0IU

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I know it is heresy to say this, but the only radio I regret buying was a Ten Tec. I had three Icoms before that (each one being an upgrade from the previous model) and enjoyed all of them. But ever since I have been licensed, all I ever heard was that if you want to be a "real ham", you need a Ten Tec. So I bought a Jupiter. Yeah, it worked OK I guess, but I was seriously underwhelmed. Even though it worked as advertised and did what it was supposed to do, I just never understood why everyone was drooling over them.

I don't know if it was karma or just incredibly bad luck on my part, but a storm came rolling through one summer while the antennas were still connected (through gas discharge units), and we took a lightning hit probably within a few hundred yards of our house and the radio (along with several other pieces of electronic stuff in our house) did not survive the hit.

Call it good news or call it bad news, but Ten Tec does not repair equipment that has been damaged by a lightning strike. So I included the radio in my insurance claim and when the check arrived, I went back to an Icom rig and never looked back!
 

MK

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I had a couple similar experiences. Many years ago Ten Tec released the Argonaut 505, which generated a great amount of interest. The 505 established Ten Tec as a leader because the unit was a good QRP transceiver. The 505 worked OK, but during an era in which bands were crowded and high powered rigs were common, an expensive QRP rig was of questionable value. At least I did not have to worry about TVI! About a month after I bought the 505 something destroyed it. I bought a new rig from another manufacturer later on.

Ten Tec has fallen out of favor over the past several years. I won't begin to discuss that subject because it could lead to thread hijacking. However, I see the same popularity trend happening now with Elecraft. Part of the reason seems to be that their products are available in kit form. If I was buying a new transceiver now, Yaesu and Icom would be my top choices.
 

mrweather

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Only regretted buying one radio over the years: a Yaesu FT-7100. I wanted to replace an aging but still serviceable FT-5100 and saw this new dual-band at the local candy store. Looked decent enough and the early reviews while not glowing weren't terrible either. What a mistake. Whoever designed and engineered this turd should have been shot.
 

kj3n

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Only 1 radio I can think of that I regretted. That's because it was such a dismal turd. IC-T8A. Went back to Icom 3 times within the warranty period. The 4th time, they sent a new one instead. That one died as well.

As to HF radios, I can't think of any that I regret. I used Icoms for years, then went to the K3. I still debate whether I should have bought the 2nd RX (I use it rarely), but I don't regret the radio itself. Much better than the Icom IC-746Pro, especially on 160m where the Icom RX would fall apart during the 160m SSB contest.
 

SCPD

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Funny thing, I'm reading all the replies to the OP and got to thinking, I've never bought a NEW radio.
Have had dozen of different ham rigs and mobiles and portables, but always have bought them either at a swap, or someone selling one that I know.

And the beauty is, I'm always able to get what I paid for it, when I decide to sell it.
So I've never really have had the remorse that some people have had.
 

Nasby

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It happens, part of life. I've done this with not just my radio stuff, but camera, audio equipment...you name it.

I always just list it on the forums for sale/trade and have had great results, only had one local trade go bad where some lid traded me a stolen radio, but otherwise 99.9 percent of the deals always end up resulting in getting what I originally wanted. Even if not, I know I made someone's day giving them a good deal.

and that is what life is all about. Karma.

But yeah, we've all been there.

Great refreshing attitude!
You are a cool, cool dude!!!
 

AK9R

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Two cases of buyer's remorse here.

I think I'd been licensed about 6 months. Still thought I knew everything. ;) For some reason, I thought 2m SSB sounded like fun so I bought a brand new Kenwood TR-751A. Within a week, I realized that not only was the radio's user interface not as modern as the TM-241A that I also owned, but that making lots of contacts on 2m SSB without a tower and beam antenna just wasn't going to happen (I lived in a 2nd floor apartment at the time). I boxed up the radio, took it back to the dealer, and ate crow aka the dealer's re-stocking fee.

The other incident was buying a Kenwood TH-78A. That radio never met an overloading or intermodulating signal that it didn't like. It was simply awful in an urban environment even with just a rubber duck antenna. A friend of mine knew a guy in Arizona who really wanted a TH-78, but didn't want to pay the new price. I sold my TH-78 to the guy--made him a heck of a deal. Good riddance to that radio.
 

Robinsmark

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Well for me it was the Heil ICM Microphone I added to my ICOM 706. Signal report after signal report told me it sounded no better that the stock mic that came with the radio. Waste of money...but hey live and learn.
 

beischel

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Everyone has gone through buyer's remorse.

I paid for a multi-year subscription to CQ Magazine and with over a year remaining on the sub, they just stopped sending it to me. Won't send a refund either and for the year before the time they stopped, I got the magazine very late such as getting the December issue in February.

Yeah, I sure regret spending that money.
 

mmiller7

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It usually cuts the other way for me: "Why did I walk away from that deal? It was a steal at that price."

Then there was the time I'd just bought a new FT-2900, only to find a good clean 2800 on the for-sale table at the ham club meeting the next week –*for $100 less. (After giving everyone else a chance to look it over, I bought it anyway. Flipped it to a friend who was just getting started a week later.)

Usually though I go into analysis paralysis and get scooped on the great deals. Don't let this happen to you.

This is me quite frequently. I'll research and consider so much that I'll miss the good deals and then have to pay more.

Most recently, I did this with a radio scanner...RadioShack was going out and had a digital scanner for $299 (sale) + 25% off going-out-of-business-sale. I considered and debated and finally decided to pull the trigger, the sale price ended so it was $399 + 25% off going-out-of-business-sale. Then the day after I got one they jumped to 50% off everything storewide.

I did a similar thing with one of my Yaesu transceivers, I waited and debated and considered...and finally reluctantly decided to shell out the money. By that time it had gone off sale but I was nearing the limit on how long I was willing to wait before committing so I had to pay more.

I'd say 10% of the time my tactic has paid off and I find out I'm really glad I didn't buy something but 90% of the time I'm kicking myself for not impulse-buying when it was a bargain.
 
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