I've had a couple of people email me to ask why I hadn't posted reviews yet of the Anytone AT-6666, Maxlog M8800 or M8900.
Two things - # 1 I've had a very busy summer with a number of work and home related things happening so my time to write has been very limited.
# 2 With all of the issues with first run radios I wanted to really give the radios a good long test before posting. With the older more traditional radios I could usually tell in a matter of minutes how a radio would perform and what I could expect long term. With the newer radios however there is more to go wrong and the build quality from brand to brand can differ greatly. I also am more cautious in giving a stamp of approval on a radio after both CRE 8900's I had kicked the bucket.
So far I can say the M8900 didn't impress me a whole lot which I talked about in that thread. The M8800 has been pretty solid and easy to operate. The Anytone AT-6666 is getting a lot of good use and aside from the volume issue on my first run radio (which apparently was fixed on later models) it has really been a fun radio with the best audio of the bunch.
The Lincoln II still has the best build quality of the recent radios and overall is the one I enjoy using the most, however the large knob and simple buttons on the AT-6666 makes it a close second.
I plan to continue to run and test all three radios for another month or so before getting the reviews done. I haven't had any nasty surprises with them but I've giving them a good workout each day and have been rotating them in the mobile.
Later this winter I'm hoping to move my site over to a wordpress format. As I have hundreds of pages it's going to be quite a bit of work but it will make posting and maintaining the site much easier and I'll also have the ability to have other authors contribute more easily so perhaps some of our more experienced users here will want to do some writing.
Best wishes to everyone and hope you've been enjoying the summer and the good DX these last couple of weeks!
Two things - # 1 I've had a very busy summer with a number of work and home related things happening so my time to write has been very limited.
# 2 With all of the issues with first run radios I wanted to really give the radios a good long test before posting. With the older more traditional radios I could usually tell in a matter of minutes how a radio would perform and what I could expect long term. With the newer radios however there is more to go wrong and the build quality from brand to brand can differ greatly. I also am more cautious in giving a stamp of approval on a radio after both CRE 8900's I had kicked the bucket.
So far I can say the M8900 didn't impress me a whole lot which I talked about in that thread. The M8800 has been pretty solid and easy to operate. The Anytone AT-6666 is getting a lot of good use and aside from the volume issue on my first run radio (which apparently was fixed on later models) it has really been a fun radio with the best audio of the bunch.
The Lincoln II still has the best build quality of the recent radios and overall is the one I enjoy using the most, however the large knob and simple buttons on the AT-6666 makes it a close second.
I plan to continue to run and test all three radios for another month or so before getting the reviews done. I haven't had any nasty surprises with them but I've giving them a good workout each day and have been rotating them in the mobile.
Later this winter I'm hoping to move my site over to a wordpress format. As I have hundreds of pages it's going to be quite a bit of work but it will make posting and maintaining the site much easier and I'll also have the ability to have other authors contribute more easily so perhaps some of our more experienced users here will want to do some writing.
Best wishes to everyone and hope you've been enjoying the summer and the good DX these last couple of weeks!
