Finally settled on and Eton E5. After many many searches, contacting "The
Source" head office for assistance in finding one "not a demonstrator
model", at their stores, I finally got one "new" in the box with all
accesories.
The first one was picked up at a downtown store where the online site
indicated that they had three.
When I got there the clerk, Hugo, told me that the manager had put two aside
for himself and that the one I was buying was not a demonstrator, yet it
took him 20 minutes to find it in the back room.
I get the thing home and it doesn't work. 'Phoned the store "Circuit City"
and now he tells me that somehow I managed to get one that was supposed to
be sent back for repair. OK......lets return it to a Circuit City store a
little closer to home.
I enter the store and explain my problem and ask for a refund. At that the
clerk opens the till and "voila", he says he doesn't have enough cash and to
come back later.
On hearing that I started to get a little heated.
Go sell something, I told him, or take out a loan. I'm not leaving here
until I get a refund. With that the money mysteriously appeared and I was
on my way, empty handed as they too were out of the E'5s.
I contact someone at customer service and explain all that's been happening
and she tells me that both stores are in for a little training and she will
call me back with her results of a search for an "in box E5".
She phones back shortly and tells me that the store that I have just been in
and received the refund from, do have an E5 "in the box", not a
demonstrator, and to get over there before they loose it. (When I returned
the first radio, they said that they didn't have another E5 and asked me if
I'd like to order one). Strange, strange.
Anyway I picked up the radio, it was not the one I had returned, and it was
as they said, unopened in the box.
I pay for it, tell the manager he's made his profit for the day, turn out
the lights and go home.
Have you noticed lately how little inventory Circuit City acually has at
some of their stores? 'More returns than retail merchandise.
At last I get to try out the E5 and it is as good as the group says. The
sideband signals are coming in loud and clear (6604, 8918, 6501 etc)and
that's just with a 6 foot length of wire clipped to the whip! The 700
memories are a fantastic feature as is the paging and "4 letter" tagging.
Sounds better than one would expect for it's size.
That non-slip finish is great too.
A little noisier with the wall wart but I think I'll just run it from
batteries..........Very good battery life!
Thanks to everyone who responded with their "hands on" comments.
I hope my experiences with these retail outlets (both of them) are an
isolated incident.
Thans again.


The
"Joe Analssandrini" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jun 25, 10:40 pm, "R Jamieson" wrote:
Being new to shortwave listening and looking for a good portable around
$100... what's available.
Are these as good as they say in the ads?
The E 5 looks like it's got all that I could use but not having a chance
to
try it outside the store, how well does it really work? Any problems
with
it?
I look forward to your expert commentary and thanks.

Dear Sir,

With regard to the eHam review of the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, I should have
given you the specific link which is:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1534 .

Sorry about that and I hope you find this interesting.

Best,

Joe