New 8400 or used 6700?

usafakillian

I have a deposit in on an 8400 (I'm currently running a 6400 which would stay in either case as a spare) but found a 6700 for a great price and was wondering the opinion on getting the new radio vs the 6700?

Mike-VA3MW

If you work in the business, you will find that dealing with contract manufacturers (CM's) is challenging on a good day. The equipment they use to stuff the boards is incredibly expensive, will into the millions.

Like any service, there is always a guy knocking on the door with a better, faster, higher quality, and shorter turnaround time. Essentially, you provide the artwork and specs and they go build it, test it and return you a finished product. In some cases you have them build the board and in others you have them build the final product.

In the 8 years I have been here, I have learned a lot about it. We have had complete radios built, and just boards built and we assembled them, which is what we are doing now. We also do the QA and complete alignment.

FlexRadio has built big boards such as the 6300, 6500, and 6700 and also built sub-assemblies like the 6400, 6600, and 8000 will be. There are advantages to both, however, keep in mind that it costs less to build a series of boards that plug together (cable together) and that also makes it easier to repair. That also means that if you need an out-of-warranty repair, you are paying for the complete radio again like on the 6300, 6500, and 6700.

As I mentioned, if you worked in a similar industry you've got the t-shirt. :)

usafakillian

Well, after much debate with myself (and permission from the XYL) I switched my deposit to an 8600. Especially after I just took delivery of a PGXL and TGXL. Will still keep the 6400 as a backup/barefoot rig for my dad to remote into.

Tony

AK4TF

John WA7UAR

I’ve got the 6700 if you have questions.

usafakillian

I'm just trying to decide if it's worth getting the older radio over the newer one.

It will certainly take up less rack space vs the 4U the 8400 will use up.

I also like the idea of having 2m (the one for sale includes an amp for 2m) since I don't have anything currently in the shack other than hts for vhf/uhf.

Otherwise I don't really know what makes it that much better? Yes I know I could run a bunch of slices at once vs only 2 on the 8400. The only use case I see that being remotely useful for myself is pota hunting, can set up a few slices and quickly just between them to do some hunting.

Internal ATU doesn't matter much to me as I'll be running an amp and external tuner. The 6400 I currently have has the atu option but I was going to skip that on the 8400.

David Decoons, wo2x

Don’t forget the 6700 has two SCUs.

Dave wo2x

usafakillian

I think I have my answer on what I'm going to do. I did some research into why the 6700 was discontinued last year...no surprise parts shortages. Would mean potential issues down the road should something need repair. So I think I'll stick with my deposit on the 8400 and keep my 6400 as a spare/for my dad to remote into

VE7ATJ_Don

Hi usafakillian…it almost sounds like you're pretty close to a decision :-) , but for what it's worth, here's my $0.02…

I have the 6700 and still believe it is 'top of the line' for the flex 6000+ series for all of the reasons you have identified (8 slices, 2m, higher 'resolution' than the 6300/6500, etc.) I didn't see you mention the 6700 has 2 SCU's which allows for receiving signals on two different antennae which allows what is called 'Diversity' reception — great for picking out very weak signals. Personally, I also believe the 6700 has better sensitivity and selectivity than the 6500/6300, but I haven't been able to compare to the 6400/6600.

Also, the 6400/6600 and the 8000 series have better band-pass filters (3rd order vs 7th order on the newer models.) so that's a consideration if you are running multiple rigs on adjacent bands — like in a contest.

The main reason for going with the newer models (I believe) is parts availability. Flex has been quite forthcoming in explaining that there are a number of parts used in the older 6000-series models which are no longer available. While Flex does have some stock, in the future it may become impossible to repair parts of the older radios, which will necessitate a trade-in/upgrade no doubt.

Also, the 8000-series radios have more powerful CPUs/FPGAs which means that more functionality can be built into future generations of the SmartSDR software. It may come to a point where Flex says 'Version ****' is the last one for the 6000-series. We'll do 'bug fixes' but no more new features.' They haven't said that yet, but it is a possibility.

johnn1jm

Why not an 8600?😀

John N1JM

usafakillian

I knew about the spectral capture unit difference.

I contemplated the 8600 if I traded the 6400 in when I initially placed my deposit. The 8600 is just significantly more expensive and only had the funds for the 8400 or this used 6700 I no longer plan to buy.

Benefits of the 8600 would kind of give me the same effect as having the two radios. Being able to run more slices. But having 2 single scu radios gives me the same benefit (for my dad to be able to remotely use my radio) without having to share transmit time.

WX7Y

You still share the single Transmitter with the 8600 BUT it has 4 slices on two different Bands like 10 Meters and say 40 meters as you know.

The Transmitter and built in Antenna Tuner will switch between Antenna Ports to follow the Remote user when he transmits, Works really slick using Flex's "MultiFlex" which is built into SmartSDR so makes it seem like there are 2 Transmitters.

I have two 6700's and they are fantastic radios and still rank amongst the highest on Bob Sherwood's test site, but I will be selling one of them when the 8600 gets released and keep the other as a spare.

Myself I would NOT go back to a single SCU radio but that is just me.

usafakillian

I went through an FTDX101MP, IC-7800, and a TS-990 in the span of about a year and swore I wouldn't go back to a single vfo radio, and also said I'd run just 200 watt radios and no more amps.

I've gone back on that. So the multiple slices would be nice, but the way my antennas are setup currently, I have a vertical for 80/40m and a hexbeam for 40-6m. So the second scu with independent receive doesn't end up doing anything for me. I mean I have a Titan DX I use for 30m if I'm hunting cw pota or a dx commander I could put back up.

But with an amp in line, I wind up using just one antenna port on the radio anyway. I suppose unless I invested in an antenna genius instead of the kit I bought that switches antenna based on band data from the radio.

Trucker

I have contemplated getting a 6700 several times in place of my 6600M. But, I am not sure if I would take advantage of the additional features. ( 8 panadapters and 2 meters) Plus, parts availability for the 6700 may be even more of an issue than my 6600M. Which, should the front panel quite working, Flex Radio doesn't have a drop in replacement available. And even if they do, it may not be worth while financially.

If I were wanting a new Flex Radio it would be one of the new 8000 radios. ( unless a real bargain came along)

James

WD5GWY

Russ Ravella

Something like that is such a personal decision, it's hard to find anything absolute to offer. But here's another perspective.

I started with a 6600. In fact I had three, each replaced by Flex due to failure. When the third also failed, I asked if there was enough difference in the design of the 6700 that I should just try that instead in the hope it might be more reliable. A very smart Flex person who was helping me said he thought it was possible so I paid the difference and tried it. Again, not for the 8 slices or 2M capability, just because it might be a more reliable h/w configuration. I couldn't imagine using more than the 4 slices I was used to.

But after about a day with the 6700, I was hooked. I ended up using at least 6 and often 8 of those slices almost every time I operated. For one thing, diversity reception (not possible with a 6400/8400) consumes a slice and I nearly always use it (it's VERY powerful). So an 8 slice radio basically IS a 4 slice radio from that point of view. And I run slices on various bands to keep an eye on them as well.

As it stands, I don't plan to upgrade to an 8XXX radio unless and until Flex decides to make an 8 slice version. Until then or until my 6700 becomes unrepairable, I'm not going anywhere. By the way, my impression is that Flex has resolved their hardware reliability problems now by bringing final manufacturing and testing in-house.

73 Russ KR6W

Andrew O'Brien

Russ , where was the final manufacturing and testing previously ?

Andy K3UK

Russ Ravella

Hi Andy, I don't remember the story anymore but it was pretty complicated. I know they tried various companies and jumped back and forth some trying to get the best result. Finally, they realized they were going to have to do it in-house if they wanted to fix the problem and just bit the bullet and did it.

They started with the 6400 and 6600 which I believe were giving them the most trouble as I mentioned. The person at Flex who was helping me speculated it was likely due to the connectors connecting the distributed boards in their new design. The 6700 (and presumably the 6300 and 6500 too) were basically on a single board. After they got the 6400/6600 going, they took on the 6700. I actually ended up with the very first one they produced for consumers.

By now I'm guessing they've really got it down and their h/w is very reliable but I have no way of actually knowing.

73 Russ KR6W

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Flex had enough staff at Dayton it looked like they could have built Cray mainframes with people left over.

Mike-VA3MW

Is that a bad thing?

WX7Y

Heaven sake no, If they were just there sitting on their hands that would be one thing, but if they were all busy answering questions, demonstrating and taking orders then that's a great thing and should show how serious Flex is in that Amateur Radio product line.

I wish I could have been there

NY2KW

Both the 6700 and 8600 have 2 SCU's. Is the the 4 slice limit on the new 8600 a software limitation that could be enhanced in future releases or a hardware issue. If hardware, why isnt it available now? Should we wait for a 8700??