IMO that’s a tad unfair. Shipping is always expensive, regardless of which rig you buy, unless you live in the country of origin. It just shows up as worse because individual items are being shipped, so it’s not hidden in the overall price. In fact if there was a UK distributor, you would almost certainly pay extra shipping from them to you.
I can’t see the difference between paying $250 for a repair direct to Elecraft or to a local (UK or European) facility. They’re not going to differ by much. It’s unlikely there will be much difference in repair cost for any other manufacturer’s rig. I've spoken with Carlo Bianconi and he’s willing to carry out warranty and non-warranty repairs, even if you did not buy your K4 from him. I’ve not checked but shipping (for repairs) may well be cheaper than shipping to/from the USA. Elecraft have already stated that they're in negotiation with Moonraker and others to distribute and repair their products in the UK. If a prospective buyer is really concerned, perhaps they should wait for the outcome. I know of one local Amateur who has returned his K4D directly to Elecraft for repair under warranty. I’ve no doubt that his experience will appear on the K4 reflector before too long, so anyone sitting on the (purchase a K4) fence should perhaps wait for that report before deciding. ISTM that the closest thing to a K4 is Flex, although they are different animals. I was involved in purchasing a Flex 6600 for our local club, around the time that Elecraft first started taking orders for the K4. I regret that involvement and knowing what I know now, I would have strongly resisted. Not only was there the cost of the 6600, there was the extra expense of a Maestro unit to run it. Remote software for Windows is free but clunky. Software for iPhone costs money and software for Mac is around £300. Flex have been promising this, that and the other for years and still no sign of fulfilment. At least Elecraft are fulfilling their promises, albeit a bit slower than some impatient Hams would like. Again, I’ve not investigated, but I can’t see repair or shipping of Flex to be much different from Elecraft. One thing for sure, I would not want to be beholden to a manufacturer’s flaky server for remote operation, such as was experienced recently with Flex. I’d put money on the K4 remote facility being 100% reliable and secure from the start. In my book, if you want the best you have to pay “the best’s” money. 73, Alan - G4GNX South Coast UK Elecraft K4D / KPA500 / KAT500 / IC-9700 > On 22 Oct 2023, at 11:05, Dave <dave.g4...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Here in the UK, Waters and Stanton sold Elecraft products and provided a > limited level of service. However, W&S are now owned by Moonraker who have > no real service facilities (as far as I know), and neither are currently > listed as distributors on the Elecraft web site. > > Given the lack of a service manual for more recent products, the huge > shipping charges to/from overseas, plus at least $250 for repair, it looks > to me as if Elecraft are going to struggle with sales outside the USA on > anything more complex than a simple kit. > > I am a long term Elecraft fan, having a K1, K2, KX3, K4D and KPA500. I was > also an early K3 adopter, which was sold when I bought the K4D. > > I like my K4D and it is QRV most days, but I cannot recommend that anyone > in the UK buys one, unless they are prepared to pay out a considerable > amount should it develop a fault, either in, or out, of warranty. > > 73 Dave G4AON > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to g4...@g4gnx.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
