Questions of the new 3.0 Signature Series software

wa4wab

The cut off date for a free upgrade to the new to be anownced 3.0 is Oct 1, 2018, when while this be formally relessed? I have owned my new 6400m for less than six months (Sept 21, 2018) and I will have to pay the $199? You are still on 2.49!

KF4HR

WX7Y

Ken Hansen

Pure speculation, but assuming a 6 month window for 'included'/gratis upgrades to SmartSDR it would appear it will ship approx. Apr. 1st, as that would be about 6 months after the upgrade cutoff. That 6 month window is a guess, as is the delivery date, based on your announced cutoff date of Oct. 1. As always, SSDR is a feature update that included fixes/improvements to the SSDR 2.0 base. All fixes that impact features in SSDR 1.x or SSDR 2.x will be released as version-appropriate updates soon after SSDR 3.x is available. You only need to buy SSDR 3.x if you want the new features it includes, it is not needed to correct any known issues in SSDR 1.x or SSDR 2.x. With a purchase date of Sept. 18, the announced Oct. 1 cutoff would mean you would have to pay the fee if you wanted to upgrade your radio to include the NEW features in SSDR 3.x., or you could wait for the upcoming SSDR 2.x update to correct any issues addressed in SSDR 3.x that are NOT new features.

Mike-VA3MW

The only cutoff date is if you bought your radio prior to October 1, 2018. Mike

WB4SQC

wa4wab

Kevin

"you only need to pay if you want the 3.0 features"

Hearing that from those in the community - meh, their opinion and so much of that is questionable.

Hearing that from Flex? That is a totally lousy answer.

It's the 1/2 of a worm left in that delicious apple you just bit into. totally lousy.

73,
Kev K4VD

Tom N5MOA

Lionel

I’ll decide when I see the full upgrade info, new stuff, bugs killed, existing features improved.

David Decoons, wo2x

Right now MultiFlex is the main option in 3.0. This allows different people to share a radio.


Future 3.x releases may include additional features which have not been made public yet. If the initial release of 3.0 doesn't have features that are useful to you, then hold off purchasing the upgrade when there are features you feel are worth the money. 

Your radio will continue with the current version you are running.

Dave wo2x

Clay N9IO

Have read through this thread and question the "Beware" in the title. kj4nkn I get your purchase time frame issue BUT 2.49 is a full and robust, not like someone took a hammer to the radio. We're all good on it. It's exactly what you and I bought in to. Now in the natural progression of things Flex programmers have been working on Ver 3 for quite some time. At long last It's about ready for primetime. I have understood since WAAAAY back that Ver 3 was going to begin Multiclient. I have been looking forward to that single feature for a long time now. I want to use the Maestro along with SSDR on the PC, period. Of course it will be capable of much more as it too progresses.. Point is that it had to happen eventually. If Multiclient is something you can live without then seriously not to worry Ver 2.4.9 is not going to disappoint. You're whole on this my friend. Just saying I fail to see where you've been done wrong. Clay N9IO

Scott N8UMW

If no existing features improved, then not worth the money.

Steve - N4TTY

What Clay said!

Steve K9ZW

Kind of unfair thread title and an inconsiderate assertion that v3 should be delayed because it is personally bad timing for ham purchases close to the cutoff. There is always going to be a cutoff date. I’m excited to see version 3 launch, and I have to pay to upgrade my radios. It’s going to be fun using version 3! I’m also awake enough to notice that FRS said there will be another v2 version this year. Also awake to notice that FRS is confident enough about the game changing capabilities of v3 to be running an expensive PR campaign in the run up. Understanding the emotions behind the premise I emphasize with the concerns, but after paying for my upgrades just to test v3 as part of the Alpha team that sympathy is pretty limited. I knew buying a Flex that the one thing I was certain not to experience is a static feature set - that the radio and user interface software were planned and promised to change. A lot of change too! And to ride on that train I’d have to buy upgrades. Them’s the facts. 73 Steve K9ZW

Steve - N4TTY

What Steve said! I'm beginning to sound like a parrot here. :-)

bahillen

Mike VE3CKO

Bill -VA3WTB

wa4wab

Ken Hansen

$199.95 represents no more than 10% of the purchase price for a 6000-series Radio ($1999.95 for the 6400 new), it is less than 3% of the current purchase price of the 6700 - I leave it to the reader to decide what is and is not a significant investment and whether or not the upgrades offered are worth the price. A reminder, anyone that previously opted out of V2 of SSDR will get those updates as well as V3 updates by buying the V3 updates once released.

wa4wab

George KF2T

Sir, please let it go. You bought the radio you wanted, at the price you were willing to pay, and it was delivered to you. No reasonable interpretation of what you have described leads to you being “shortchanged.” If a new product (3.0) comes out, and you want to buy it, then do. If not, don’t.

Bill -VA3WTB

KI4P

My goodness, go buy a knob radio and see how often it gets updated, when you buy another knob radio,

Bill -VA3WTB

Flex themselves strongly recomends against buying any update unless you benefit from it. They do not want people buy something that has little value to them.

Kevin

Then again...

There are some that still think Flex has taken the wrong approach and it is alienating some users. This COMMUNITY sure does a good job of making people feel their opinion doesn't matter.

Not paying for useless (to me) features at the expense of falling behind on fixes and other, lesser features I might desire isn't a solution. Not one I think will work for FRS in the long term. There have to be better ways.

Sir, please don't discount other's concerns because you don't share them. I hope he doesn't let it go and Flex listens and looks at alternatives again.

If I didn't go from 1.x to 2.x I wouldn't have gotten pull out windows which I had wanted for a long time. Was it worth $200. No. It wasn't. And it upsets me that I paid it every time I try to pull out the last panadaptor only to find it is still stuck in the main window.

The last release for the supposedly supported 1.x versions was 2016? No more bugs? Really? Amazing. 

Don't discount other people's concerns. You don't have to support his request but don't turn him away.

Besides... it's the weekend. What better time to **** off steam?

Kev

Kevin

 You mean like this?

Ted VE3TRQ

Too few knobs :-)

Ken Hansen

The 'devalued' radios still hold their value as well or better than other brands IMHO. The difference between a Flex-6500 w/ SSDR 1.x and a Flex-6500 w/ SSDR 2.x is on the order of $200, which equals the cost of the upgrade. The alternative would be without the ability to upgrade, the non-upgradeable radio would suffer a much greater devaluation. I'm not going to get worked up over a Radio with fewer features/functions having a lower value than the same radio with additional features - Remember, an SSDSr V1.x radio that has not been upgraded can be upgraded to include all V2.x features PLUS all V3.x features for one $199 upgrade to V3.x of SSDR, making them a potential bargain!

Jim KJ7S