PGXL April 2019 Updates

Richard

Thread is to ask those that have ordered the PGXL and have Received the Amplifier a few questions.  All hoping that those that have received the Amp can give others some answers to many asked questions.

Upon your receipt of the "Greatest Amp In Ham Radio History".....
-  When did you order it?
-  What was your PO Number
-  When did you get it?
-  How was the Setting Up?
-  First Impressions?

Will stop asking these questions when the units start to ship on a regular bases...

Thanks

Jon_KF2E

Nothing will motivate Flex into action like rehashing the same stuff over and over in the forum.

KC2QMA_John

I have been thinking about of getting a new HF amp,  If I were to order a PGXL today how long would it take to ship it out to Tennessee?

David-N5PSM

John, I have been tracking the data and the ReceiveDate subtracted from the OrderDate so far says 704 days.  However that data is assuming you ordered before the delays and problems of the past months.   Only flex can say whet the expected delay will be for an amp ordered today, ! Give them a call and by all means let us know ! :-)

Mike Presnell

I placed an order 730 days ago, and was told it will be another 6 months.  That would put it over 910 days....     I don't think 704 days is presently valid.

David-N5PSM

Thank you mike,  I was basing it on an order placed 4/28/2017  and received 4/2/2019

Was your order before that?
Just talked to flex........
My order is expected in 4-5 mo and I ordered it in may 2018
(that is 455-486 days from reservation date)

Glad I have my KPA500/KAT500 till then.

KF4HR

True, but I am looking forward to seeing Dewy's latest consolidated PG-XL Order listing.

Mike Presnell

David,

My order was on 4 April 2017, and I was told today that it will be 6 more months 

 I am terribly disappointed to say the least (particularly if they delivered one ordered weeks after mine was ordered), .... and they tell you a 4 months wait, and I ordered mine more than a year before you . -   so i just cancelled my order and asked for my deposit to be returned.  

Good luck, it does appear to be a nice amp, but I will opt for a more established product and reliable delivery.

I am using an Alpha 9500 that is a work horse, and also a PalStar LA-1K which was a nice surprise - it can put out about 1100-1150 watts and is very simple to use.


r/Mike

Dewey WØYWW

As requested above, here is all I could find from prior posts:
Note: I deleted those not heard from, whose PO dates preceded those recently shipped.

PO Date  PO #   Callsign         Name                         Rcv'd
02/08/17  11643   K9SO            Fred Glenn                  ~1/4/19
02/08/17  11650   KG5MGN      Wayne Westfield         Paid 3/20/19
02/08/17  11652   N7ZO            Bob                            Paid 3/20/19
02/09/17  11667   W8MM          Michael Valentine       Del'd 3/21/19
02/10/17  11682   WØYWW      Dewey Treanor          Del'd 3/26/19
02/11/17  11703   N4RWG         Richard                      Del'd 3/25/19
02/13/17  11713   N3VE            Jeff Kerber                Del'd 3/25/19
02/15/17  11722   WW3N          Daniel Flynn               Ship'd 3/21/19
02/22/17  11767   W9TVX         Dargahi Ross             Ship'd 3/21/19
04/28/17  12043   W9TTH        Dale Johnson              Ph Call 3/27/19
04/04/17                                   Mike Presnell
05/09/17  12080   WA5YOM     Timothy Vandagriff
05/26/17  12297   K4QXX         Burch
06/06/17  12388   K6LJ             Ray DeVreugd
12/10/17  14460   KJ8OO         KJ
12/30/17  14573   N4RZ           Rick Roberson
Dec 2017              KF4HR         Ralph Quallich, Jr
05/09/18  15543   N5PSM         David Mitchell

73, Dewey, WØYWW

KF4HR

Thanks Dewey!

KF4HR

Six more months to wait for your April 2017 Order?  Wow, I was hoping for a summer 2019 delivery for my December 2017 Order.  Based on your information I guess that won't be happening.  (Thankfully my Alpha is working great.)

I'm looking forward to reading Gerald's next Power Genius Update, to find out what the hold up is now.

KC2QMA_John

Looks like there is still a very long wait for a PGXL. Maybe ill just wait till they are shipping on a regular basis. I may take a look at the Elecraft KPA1500 $1000 less than a PGXL and free shipping, not the same amp but would suit me well.

FRED W9TB

I just ordered a KPA1500  5 to 7 days for shipping.

KC2QMA_John

I don't do much remote operation so I think the KPA1500 would work just fine for me. One of the many things that is a nice feature of the PGXL is the built-in control and monitoring of the amp in SSDR.

[Deleted User]

I love my KPA 1500. It works beautifully. And while it is not integrated in Smart SDR they have a remote program where you can operate it from any computer in the shack via lan

[Deleted User]

Fred . . . You're gonna love the amp. It's quiet and the internal tuner works well. I like mine. One of the best decisions i made. . . . Well other than marring my wife.

KC2QMA_John

 I don't mean to insult FRS or tell them how to run their business but maybe in the future wait till the product is ready or very close to ready to ship before making a public announcement and taking deposits. Not only is this a public relations nightmare it also makes for a lot of unhappy customers.

I feel bad for those who put down a deposits and have had to wait so long but for those who can and are willing to wait it out I’m sure they will be very happy with their new PGXL amps.

Steve K9ZW

Projecting future delivery based on delays in development seems rather an unsound methodology. Some things to also consider is while each individual’s order is a separate end user transaction, production and shipping appear to be in batches. If a new individual order just makes in into a batch in process the order might be fulfilled much earlier than simple day-counting projections suggest, and likewise an individual order that came in too late to be included in batches in process might take significantly longer. Ask FRS directly when you are prepared to place your order. Back in the Flex-5000A roll out I asked FRS what my expected delivery would be, but I didn’t place the order on the spot choosing to smooth the XYL’s skepticism first. That took my a couple weeks to settle down, and when I placed my actual order I had missed the batch cutoff and had to wait much longer for the second production run. Lesson learned. Hopefully the development cycle delays seen to date will disappear. And eventually the backlog issues will come out of the the lead time. One thing that does seem pretty clear is you have to have a reservation and deposit to have any sort of delivery date. Reflect on that simple fact that no matter how long it takes to fulfill your individual order you have to be in the game to get a new PGXL anytime soon. 73 Steve K9ZW

David-N5PSM

Steve,  I agree with all you have said, especially "Projecting future delivery based on delays in development seems rather an unsound methodology. "  Unfortunately, we do not have any other tools to predict what is going on. Flex does not publish  order to batch assignment.   we are all anxious to have the "greatest production amp ever made to date"...my words.

73 & Cheers
N5PSM

KF4HR

Now that the bugs have been worked out of the PG-XL it seems FRS/4o3A could provide some sort of production schedule, well.. unless the production news is really bad.  Will we eventually see a PG-XL April 2021 Update thread?

Bill -VA3WTB

I don't think we have heard anything since Geralds letter telling about some amps not meeting specs, and that he was investegating the problem at the factory.  Correct?

But several members on the community have received theirs lately, that must have been the batch he talked about being ready.

KF4HR

Correct(?) is a darn a good question Bill.  The last FRS PG-XL Update I received was back in February and it seemed a bit confusing to me.  If I remember correctly it mentioned 4o3A had been cleared to restart production.  But additional changes had been identified and are being worked out with 4o3A.  And three dozen PG-XL's were suppose to ship in the coming month.

At this point I'm not sure whether to be disappointed my PG-XL hasn't shipped yet, or be thankful I'm further down on the waiting list.

Bill -VA3WTB

All I know is, according to the ones that stuck it, they are really glad they did. The PGXL it not your standard amp.

Richard

Thanks Dewey...

Richard

Jon...  The point of this thread is not a "bitching" session but one of information that John KC2QMA gets....  Allows those that are waiting for their PGXL a better idea of the What is Shipping and When their Orders were made.

Burt Fisher

They are running their business just fine,, hundreds of thousands of dollars of interest free money. 

Burt Fisher

From their site:
ESTIMATED SHIP DATE FOR NEW INTEREST: LATE 2019
thus by the end of the year you will all have yours.

KC2QMA_John

You are correct Burt.
All I can say is "Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me"

KC2QMA_John

I'm sure the PGXL is and will be an amazing HF amp but what a terrible way to launch a new product.

Jon_KF2E

Estimated does not equal will.

Burt Fisher

Example SmartSDR 3.x .
They are so good at customer service and design and so bad at promises. I predict there will never be a 4.0 and the tuner for PGXL is 2 years out.  
The PGXL defines crème de la crème however.