Dave,
I returned my Orion during the 30 day evaluation period.
I will say first that I felt the receiver and transmitter performance were
truly top notch.
That said, why did I return the Orion?
For me it was the lack of polish to the product. In my opinion, the product
that was being sold (in August, at least), was, at best, very early beta
test quality. I develop (and test) software for a living so I'm probably
more picky than others might be. In just the first few hours playing with
the radio, and without even trying, I found several areas where the radio
did not perform as documented. One of them I mentioned this morning: by
going into Binaural Rx mode and then changing the audio routing, it was
possible to get into a mode where there was no audio from the radio,
requiring you to go back into Bin Rx and undo what you had done.
There were other places where the user interface just didn't seem as
polished as one would expect. For example, there were a couple of places
where a display element would pop up over the screen, but when it went away,
it didn't completely erase itself.
There was at least one area where I feel that the hardware design was short
changed. One of the widely touted features is that you can select which
audio (main or sub) goes to which output (speaker, headphone left, headphone
right). However, there is no way to select which audio output goes to the
aux jack on the back of the radio (for digital connection) and the audio
that goes to that connection is not related directly any of the other output
routing choices. In fact, with some audio routings, it is possible that no
audio is routed to the aux jack. I discussed this with Gary B. at TenTec
and he said that there was no hardware to control the audio routing to the
aux jack. There are two audio output pins on the AUX jack. Apparently, each
one is directly connected to one of the two DACs in the Orion.
I also found that the user interface was cumbersome in places. There are
some functions that one uses frequently that required going to the menu to
change.
For a standard of comparison, I use the Icom 756 (and it's progeny). After a
very short learning curve, the interface becomes second nature. Things just
seem to be set up to be used in real life operating. Granted, I only had
the Orion a few weeks, but that wasn't happening with its interface. I know
some people might say that I didn't give the radio a chance and that it is
so different that it takes a long time to get used to, but I feel that I
pretty much understood how things worked (or didn't work) for me.
There were also a couple of real big negatives for me:
1) The spectrum scanning display was very poorly done. On the 756, when you
narrowed the scan width, the resolution ( in terms of frequency point per
horizontal division ) got finer. On the Orion, the resolution stayed the
same, the vertical lines of signal strength became wider and wider bars. I
also was disappointed that the spectrum scope only works with the main
receiver and thus can't be used for general coverage reception (I do some
SWL in addition to being a ham).
2) The voice recorder (DVR) is a joke. There are two 'permanant' memories
that are remembered when the radio is powered off. These can only record a
message of about 4.5 seconds (as opposed to 15 for the 756 Pro). Also, to
'save' these memories, after you record them, takes around 25 seconds.
Finally, there is no way to adjust the playback level other than to
re-record.
Granted, these are trivial features in the scope of the transceiver, but I
feel that if you're going to do something in a product, you must do it well.
I probably would have had better feelings about the Orion if these two
features hadn't been included at all, as opposed to having them done poorly.
I think TenTec is working out some of the issues and I appreciate the fact
that to get the latest features, I would just have to download an update.
With the 756 I would have to buy a new radio (Pro, then Pro II).
I will also mention an issue about the firmware updates. Again, I realize
the complexity of a major software project (which basically is what the
Orion has become for TT), but there were an update during the period that I
had the radio. On that update, certain bugs were fixed and new features were
added, but some features that had worked were now broken. This is likely in
any software project, but I found some of these in just a matter of minutes
working with the Orion after the udpate. I can't believe that this would
have passed any kind of QC testing and I have to asume the the updates were
being released without such testing. You can see comments on the reflector
today where folks have stayed at an older revision because certain things
that mattered to them were worse after the update.
The bottom line for me was that I didn't feel like I wanted to pay $3.5K (I
got the internal tuner) to be a beta tester. In a year or so, when the bugs
are worked out, I may wind up buying another one. As I said, I really liked
both the receiver and transmitter.
Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Sublette" <k4to@arrl.net>
To: "Ten Tec Reflector" <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 10:36 AM
Subject: [TenTec] Orion issues
> Good morning all,
>
> I have been subscribed to this reflector for less than a week. I signed
> up because I am the owner of an OMNI VI+ and I am contemplating the
> purchase of an Orion. Just this morning I noticed two people mention in
> passing that they had once owned an Orion but no longer had one.
>
> Without trying to stir up controversy, I am curious to know the reason
> that you chose to sell your Orion. I have looked at one at the Ten Tec
> factory and have read the specs. I am aware that there have been mods
> made to the operating system based on customer suggestions and bugs that
> have been discovered. To further my education, I'd like to know why
> someone would want to get rid of their Orion. I don't want to know any
> personal or financial problem details. If it was for either of those
> reasons, just say so and I will understand.
>
> If I continue to have an interest in the Orion, you will be seeing a
> posting for my OMNI VI+ for sale in less than six months.
>
> Thanks and 73,
>
> Dave, K4TO
>
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>
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