hardware release

Harald Waltisberg

Is this really serious that perhaps the Maestro is only available again in September ..... I wait now since last October on my Maestro which I have since paid.
That is just ridiculous

Craig Williams

My guess is it doesn't work right yet. No industry parts shortages and plenty of board stuffing houses in Austin. Sort of like talking about V2 of the software for years. I think they need to take a breath and get their priorities in order.

Steve K9ZW

As Harald HB9TRH is likely buying from a EU based distributor I am wondering what they have told him when he asks? I'd think you've followed up along the way? Exports are particularly less straight forward than domestic sales. Reverse direction but I had some prepaid 4o3a gear held up because US Customs for several months this last year. Ditto with a personal import from SP7IDX - held at customs for four months! @Craig - not certain where your guess comes from, as have three Maestros in use, one daily on most of the time, since they came out. Any basis for your speculation? The FRS team is off to Hamvention as one would anticipate will be some of the EU distribution folk, so FRS might not get a reply off to you until next week. 73 Steve K9ZW

Marc Lalonde

HI  " No industry parts shortages  "

you must have miss all the supplier notice  ;-)  ,i got one last week that even resistor is now 30 week  lead time  ,yup  on resistor really ...  , same for memory chip  and some CPU

not to mention that "LCD display' was also very volatile 

i own a board stuffing house , and trust me build something like flex radio do is supply nightmare 
lot of part  and many is not so common part  and when even resistor have lead time  good luck ;-)


Lead Times for Passives Extend into the Twilight Zone  https://www.ttiinc.com/content/ttiinc/en/resources/marketeye/categories/passives/me-zogbi-20170330.h...


Marc  VE2OLM 

Ross - K9COX

http://cart.flexradio.com/Maestro-Control-Console-for-the-FLEX-6000_p_994.html

Ernest

I own Flex gears for many years and have had NO ISSUES.
My only problem were cause by not following instructions: Or not keeping Windows software up to date.
Bad language or insults are not necessary to express your feelings either. 

spopiela

I have ro agree with you. Keep life simple and just update and follow the rules! I have had no major issues in owning a 6300 and 6500. Both great radios ! Unfortunately, you may often have routers and modems in between the mike and the transmitter and the radio and the display. All of which are out of Flex control! Stan N1THL

Harry W0LS

I have had my order in the queue and paid for the Maestro since December. I can understand the issues with suppliers and what can happen. But what bothers me is that Flex has posted the "due to high demand" caveat when trying to buy a Maestro until the last week or so when they probably had a pretty good idea this was going to be something more. So they continued to take orders knowing that it could be a big issue. Somewhere I remember seeing info that said it was a parts out of spec problem but the whole issue was not posted in their "buy" link. I do not particularly care about political correct posts as people get frustrated. I only wish we are kept informed about what is going on. Maybe that is not good for business at the time but in the long run it might prevent some of these comments. I am a huge Flex supporter and want them to succeed in every way and **** the doors off the competition. I hate seeing negative posts. I agree that we need to see current problems given the utmost attention and there are a number of current issues that need to rise to the top.

Marc Lalonde

Hi  more likely that for got decent  "price" need to build in in batch. 
and need to wait to have some order for start a new batch + waiting for lead timed part  

if you build 500 instead of 100 unit that may change cost of 30%or more
i no sure that flex may put hundred of radio and maestro upfront on the storage shelve
and it for sure not viable to build in less that 100 unit

same for SPE ,inovantenna , StepIR  ,and most other ,shipping delay was quite long 

Gerald-K5SDR

Here are all the facts regarding Maestro delivery: 1. We successfully shipped a VERY large number of Maestros between May and September of last year. 2. A very well known supplier changed their spec on a key component we use. We redesigned our PCB and software to meet the new specification and were ready for production in October. 3. We discovered right before production that there were critical but subtle problems with their component. We contacted their engineering team after we confirmed to the best of our ability that they did not meet their own specification. 4. We have spent at least 8 man months both attempting to work around the problem and running test after test at their request. 5. I personally escalated the problem to the company's Senior VP/GM back in January and started to get increased momentum. They even got their suppliers involved, which slowly but ultimately led to a solution. They eventually put a team of their top engineers on the problem. 6. Even power supply chips have firmware these days that can have bugs from the vendors - very well known ones. 7. No, we did not have the option to change out the component without scrapping a huge value in other components. We can change after we expend the current inventory sitting at the factory. 8. On May 15 we received engineering and management buy in to deliver new firmware that has been tested on Maestro and resolves two of the three spec issues we reported. Our testing indicates that the most critical problems are fixed with this firmware. 9. The third and final issue can be worked around on our PCB with added components and cost to us. 10. We have added the new circuit to the board and are moving to build a new prototype to test confirm the changes. After that we will release to production. 11. Given the need for the new PCB spin, our best estimate now for delivery to begin is August/September. 12. With the exception of the added components we have all parts in stock to complete our current backlog. 13. The statement on the website about demand goes back to before we discovered the problem. It is an oversight that it remained there. 14. If you already have a Maestro, this has no effect on you. If you have an order in place, please accept my most sincere apology. Gerald, K5SDR President and CEO

Harry W0LS

Thanks Gerald with you very candid assessment of the problems involved with the Maestro. None of the major manufacturers of ham radio equipment would have done the same. I would not want your job or the responsibilities and headaches like you must have to deal with on a day to day basis. I am sure you also get a lot of good feed back. My major concern was your point number 13. Every one that ordered a Maestro or was contemplating an order should have been more informed as to what was going on. With Hamvention almost here there is a lot of excitement as to what new products might be announced and that  is great. But as you know there is also a lot of concern over problems that still exist in the current SSDR release like the lockups and a few other issues.  I  really do not hear much from Flex on what is being done to solve these issues or even any acknowledgement that Flex takes ownership to the problem. I am rambling, hope the best for Hamvention and I am looking forward to the AMP ....and .....fixes for current issues with SSDR...and 2.0

73,
Harry
W0LS

Craig Williams

WOW! I stand corrected. 

Watts - K4QJZ

The very fact that Flex's management will take the time to answer such a concern with the full story on short notice and with the pressures of Dayton before them is a major part of what makes them stand out in such a positive light. Thanks for the effort and understand why it was important. Have a great show! Watts K4QJZ