TenTec
[Top] [All Lists]

[TenTec] ORION Returns

To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: [TenTec] ORION Returns
From: nq5t@comcast.net (Grant Youngman)
Date: Sat Aug 2 14:10:56 2003
> Hello all, NOTE: This is not a bashing, but rather a concern. In the
> last 24 hrs I have heard 2 more people have returned their Orions to
> Ten tec. 

It's not possible to please everyone.   We all have our own biases, 
likes, dislikes, and etc.  If I was "concerned" about products which 
had had returns, I'd be living in a cave with no material possessions 
of any kind :-)

> The biggest complaints I have heard is that the Orion was an
> unfinished product and released too early with many little bugs in it,

It is true that there were some firmware issues when the radio was 
released.  A lot has changed in the last 4 months.

> No color display, (which to me is no big detail) and non-linearity on
> the spectrum display. 

I'm personally indifferent to both of these.  But for those who can't 
live without a color display, then by all means, there are plenty of 
color displays to choose from.

> These people claimed to both be engineers with
> one supposedly having a Phd in EE. Their disappointment mainly was
> that for the cost of the radio, they shouldn't have to be finishing
> Ten Tec's Beta testing for them out of their own pockets. 

If you can't handle the "cost" of waiting for the next firmware 
upgrade to fix a problem .. that's a problem.  I have yet to see it take 
anything out of my pocket.

A PhD in EE (or any subject) guarantees training in the conduct of 
formal research, and a very narrow field of specialized knowledge 
(although Field Exams do at least demonstrate a little knowledge 
about a wider range of material).  I'm not, for the record, PhD 
bashing.  But there's no reason to presume credence or even 
rational thought  because of the intials attached to one's name or 
because one is an "engineer" :-)

> One
> Gentleman said he will put his money down on 2 Brand X 7800's (which
> is pricey!) but at least he knows he will have a finished product when
> it arrives. 

Perhaps.  If I could rationalize it or didn't have to eat, I'd probably 
have two of them, too.  So far, a few firmware updates have not cost 
me the difference between an Orion and the undelivered brand X.  


> I personally would like an Orion, but the more I hear of
> these same complaints makes me continue to be cautious and stick with
> my Omni 6+. I know not everyone wants the same thing from a radio, but
> is there any info on how many Orions have been sold Vs. how many have
> been returned? 

Who knows?  Every Orion owner and every person who has 
returned one may not hang around these lists, although the guys 
who have sent them back do seem to really like to rag on it.  All I 
can say is that with all of this talk about how the Orion was 
"unfinished", the brand X box better be absolutely positively without-
a-single-bit-out-of-place perfect in every respect and the for it's 
entire useful life the day it ships.  But that hasn't been brand X's 
history, any more than it has been the history of any other radio 
product I've ever touched.  This whole topic is a bit of red herring. 
Since software is, by definition, really never finished, one has to 
wonder how a software-intensive radio could be, either.

Grant/NQ5T
A happy Orion owner



-------------------------------
Grant Youngman /NQ5T
http://www.globeking.com
nq5t@comcast.net < == NEW
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>