Aurora - My patience is wearing thin...

Mark_WS7M

I placed my order for an AU-510 on May 20th. As someone slowly downsizing this seemed like a great radio. I could us it at home where my antenna system is limited. The 500w would help a lot and… I could load it in the car and do a POTA activation with it.

My AU-510 arrived very quickly coming less than a week after the order. For most of two weeks it was flawless and I even commented here how much I was liking the radio and how solid it seemed.

I brought it to Field Day to show off to my ham friends. There we had a great 1.5 to 1 20m vertical and I told my friend to try some 500w FT8 from our field day site. Shortly there after we noticed blue smoke coming from the back vents. We stopped using it and did not use it all weekend.

It went back to flex on a replacement the next week. However it took close to 3 weeks to receive the replacement which was claimed to have gone through a burn in. The replacement arrived on roughly July 16th.

I brought the replacement home, hoping for good results. I ran it into my 80m loop which without tuner is 1.8:1 and decided to give it a test. I ran 300w for a while, then pushed it to 500w. Later I reduced it to 350w. It seemed to be going well. Then after one transmit on FT8 I got the message something about return failed. I can't even remember the message.

I went to the radio and found that I had no RF out. I tried tuning with the ATU and it would click on then off. I tried factory reset, I tried numerous power cycles. Still no power out.

I opened another ticket, it took 10 days for Flex to respond to the ticket and was promised another replacement. On July 28th I was offered an alternative which was to have my dead AU-510 repaired and that might be faster than waiting on a replacement.

I agreed to this and shipped the radio back. It was supposed to go into repair queue as a priority on the 4th of August. I've heard nothing. No updates have been made on the ticket.

I have to wait it out but it is looking like even the repair queue is a month like the replacement queue. I'm approaching 3 weeks here soon.

I understand supply chain issues as I am a manager in a company that produces bio-med equipment. But we keep our customers aware of the issues and delays. It feels like Flex is too busy with all the other things to keep owners aware of the state of things when it comes to repairs and replacements.

Other than that, I tend to find Flex support to be first rate.

I am very hopeful that when I finally get the radio back it will be rock solid for a long time. I am not sure I want to go through another repair/replace cycle with how long they take.

KD8MKG

I totally understand the frustration. I'm considering purchasing the AU-520, a substantial purchase, and your experience does not give me the warm fuzzies.

Receiving one faulty radio… ok, sure. Stuff happens. No product rolls off the line 100% bulletproof. Two faulty units to a single user starts to look like a pattern.

Edit: Even that could be excused, so long as communication is good. If I were Flex, a small company, selling low-quantity, high-dollar units to a small, niche install base, I would view every customer, and every customer interaction as extraordinarily valuable.

In my profession, I receive the most recognition not when things go right, but when they go wrong. This is where the rubber meets the road. To me, your two failures would be an all hands on deck opportunity. I'd want you to walk away from this unfortunate situation saying "Dude, Flex is awesome. They totally went above and beyond."

That said, it's easy to be Monday morning quarterback.

Mark_WS7M

The communication would make it much better that is for sure.

Trucker

Mark, I can just imagine how you must feel. If it were me in that situation, I would almost be tempted to request a refund and tell them once they get communication and quality control under control and working reliability, that I "might " be willing to try one final time. Fortunately, my AU-520M has been rock solid ( crosses fingers) . It hasn't missed a beat since I received it in February. I ordered it when it was announced at Xenia and received it in February of this year. So, 9 months before it was finally born and delivered. I hope they get your radio problem resolved one way or another. The Aurora radios are really something when they are working.

James

WD5GWY

Mark_WS7M

Ticket finally updated yesterday and today (08/18-19). Appears a bad RF cable in the radio caused all the problems. Its in shipping so could get here this week.

Trucker

Glad to hear that you are finally getting your radio back.

James

WD5GWY

W7NGA

Mark, do you still want my Swan Cygnet 270B as backup?

W7NGA - Dan

Mark_WS7M

Dan, let me get the AU-510 here give it a few tests at 500w and maybe I will need that Cygnet backup! LOL

W7NGA

Working the world with my Globe Scout and Hallicrafters SX=110. The wire running thru the screen window and up in our neighbors maple tree really gets my 75 watts out there. I worked Omaha, Nebraska last night. Ham radio is so much fun. Can't wait for all the QSL cards to roll in.

W7NGA

Mark_WS7M

Hi Dan,

After some thought and cooling down I am going to wait out the Aurora. I've shipped it back to Flex and Tim is telling me it could be end of September or into October before they get the parts situation sorted out.

I believe in Flex and the Aurora concept so I've decided to wait it out.

I really like the idea of putting it and a power bank in the car and doing >100w POTA from time to time.