D Peter Maus wrote:
John S. wrote:
D Peter Maus wrote:
John S. wrote:
junius wrote:
I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been
Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and
that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether
Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably
isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied
during production.
Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than
Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in
producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with
constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th
generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It
became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy
looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain.

It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to
be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control
applied.
The 800 was overhyped vaporware for a very long time. When it was
finally delivered the quality was poor especially considering the
price. Given the multiple failed deliveries I would fault Grundig/Eton
as much as the manufacturer. They appear to be little more than a
marketing and distribution company.
'


Grundig AG is neither involved with, nor do they acknowledge the 800.

That's certainly convenient for Grundig AG. They sold the rights to
the Grundig name in a geographical area but refuse to acknowlege the
cheap radios the distributor puts the name on.


The reason they do not acknowledge the 800 is precisely because of
the poor quality. It's also the reason they did not let Lex market it as
a Grundig outside of North America. It was, according to one Grundig AG
designer I corresponded with, who was on the original German Satellit
team, "an embarrassment."

Lex also tried to slide it past EU regulations by declaring it CE
compliant, which is required for European marketing. They even had CE
stamped into the case. They did not submit Sat 800 for CE evaluation,
however, and the CE had to be removed from existing castings, and
remaining cases recast. As a counter move, Lex bought and distributed a
number of CE compliant power supplies with 800 models. Some 800's made
it overseas. None through legitimate channels.



And the Grundig to which you refer is actually Lextronix. Lextronix
bought the right to use the Grundig name in North America, later calling
themselves Grundig of North America, and Grundig USA, before being
acquired by Eton. It was Lextronix which commissioned the creation of
the 800.

And you are correct, they are a marketing and distribution company.
Lex was the North American distributor for products of Grundig AG.


I'm really amazed that Grundig AG so completely squandered the value of
that brand name in noth america. It was apparently sold with few
restrictions on it's use. I can only guess that the german Grundig was
hurting for cash at the time.