Yes, indeed, Tony! Yesterday morning, Ian and I discussed your point as well.
It is very expensive to send a large, heavy, high end "early production lot" radio back to the brand X manufacturer's US location to "upgrade" a hardware feature that didn't work right in the early units (and how did it pass through their testing)... and they sold them anyway. (Don't ask me how I know this.) That, and a shabby spec on a previous radio from the same company - all the units have a roofing filter so far out of spec that it may as well consitute false advertising - so you can be sure that 1) I will never be an early adopter of anything from that company again, and 2) even after shakedown, I am less likely to buy from them at all. So, how likely am I to contribute to their sales and profits in the future? Exactly to your point, Tony, that high end radio, while now "fixed", still has related issues that will linger permanently. Contrast that with Elecraft. I had the chance to meet and chat with Wayne for a few minutes at Dayton last year. He more than gave me the time of day, even though I was not at the time a customer and his booth was packed with people who were actually spending money. What impressed me most, however, was he thought and spoke the way the very best (not average) hardware and software engineers do - that spoke volumes to me. Then, in Huntsville, I had a chance to meet and spend some time with Eric. He reminded me of the great group of folks that started a leading edge high tech firm I worked for many years ago. Then I talked to a bunch of knowledgeable local hams and checked the forums. Great engineering (get it right) and great business practices (customer first, thus sales and profits will take care of themselves). Why don't we see that all the time? So, despite being burned twice by brand X, I pre-ordered a KX3 with all the trimmings and expect to do the same with a K3 later this year. Recently I ordered a couple of their Mini-Module kits (they finally got some of my money!) and I was impressed by their customer communication, shipping, and the quality of the kits. Stick to your excellent ways of doing business Elecraft! We can wait for your quality! Even if we do "bug" you about taking our orders, providing advance info, and... ship dates! Your business model is great! On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 6:34 PM, Tony Estep <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 9:51 AM, Ian Kahn <[email protected]> wrote: > >....more concerned with getting a product right the first time than > > meeting hard release dates.... > ============= > One might add that it's also better than providing an endless series > of fixes and updates only to have a product that never quite works > right, a situation we all have heard of many times. > > Tony KT0NY > > > > > -- > http://www.isb.edu/faculty/facultydir.aspx?ddlFaculty=352 > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
