1st of 5 said:
I have read some rather disappointing reviews, submitted by various users, of the Eton (a substandard Chicom copy of a Grundig), Tecsun and Kaito brand SW receivers in G Hauser's DXLD website. I would rather stick with a brand that has or had a good reputation for quality, like Sangean, Sony and Grundig. There's a pretty good offer for the G4000A going on now at Universal Radio. I like my Grundig Mini300, but it has no SSB, limited band coverage and frequency drift. I was just wondering if the G4000A suffers from the same freq drift, since they are all made in China now.
Your comment broadbrushes the Tecsun and Kaito brands and you are wrong about the Eton/Grundig relationship. Let me enlighten you a bit:
1) It depends on which Tecsun radio you buy and what you use it for. The new PL-310 and PL-380 (and Grundig G8 - made by Tecsun) models are unbeatable when it comes to FM reception. Seriously head and shoulders above the G4000A (I know because I have the PL-310 and I have a G4000A). As far as AM reception goes, some complain about the soft mute function of the PL-310 - but I find the AM and SW reception to be fine. tecsun just came out with a PL-390, which I am dying to find out more about.
2) Kaito doesn't make any radios - most are rebranded Chinese Degen radios. And some of the Kaito/Degen radios have pretty good performance. The KA1103/DE1103 has a funky layout but performs very well. The KA1101/DE1101 is okay; the KA1102/DE1102 is one of the least expensive radios to offer SSB and it performs very well on AM and SW - ok on FM.
3) The Eton corporation bought the naming rights to Grundig. They rebranded former Eton radios as Grundig in the USA; but they are still sold as Eton in Europe (where they don't own the Grundig trademark). Furthermore, the Grundigs are all made in China, including your G4000A. And, there's nothing wrong with that because the Chinese are coming out with some of the best and most innovative radios right now. The Grundig G3 and G5 are made by Degen, the G8 is a rebranded Tecsun and I am not sure who makes the G6. But Degen, Tecsun and Redsun are often made side by side in the PRC.
4) Many of those reviews are full of crap - if I may be so blunt. In other words, some are written by people who have little context as to what's good and what's not or, on the other hand, who have unrealistic expectations. Do a little more research and check out eham.net's review section. It seems to be more accurate than the website that you cited - perhaps because of the number of reviews listed there. Check out dxer.ca too.
Opinions are what they are. And, whether a given radio is "good" or not depends on what sort of dxing you want to do and even where you live. Remember, some radios shine when you're far away from strong transmitters because they are very sensitive, but not selective; others are great even in an area crowded with strong signals. It is in this latter environment that the most recent Tecsun models seem to be head and shoulders of the rest.
Personally, I find the G4000A to be just okay. It's a competent radio which offers decent reception. It's not my best radio and it's far from my worst. It's somewhat selective and pretty sensitive, but not as good as a radio with a DSP chip. The speaker has a nice sound, which is good. But, it's not fun to use. The digital tuning and resultant chuffing while tuning are tiresome and have me reaching for my G5 or Tecsun PL-600, each of which have equally good reception (if not better) - yet with a tuning knob. That's just my opinion. The G4000A is nice, but there are other options out there. It all depends on what you want to do.
But your view of Eton/Grundig/Tecsun, etc is not correct. They are putting out some pretty decent radios.
