One of the Radio Shacks had a slightly damaged model they were selling
off for half price. Just a line on the display, not even a crack. So I
bought it. $75

I'll play with it for a week before giving it a complete comparison to
the Grundig G6 and Grundig S350DL but either I got a defective G6 or
the G5 is simply that much better with reception. While I never picked
up a longwave beacon on the G6, I've gotten several right off the bat
with the G5 on longwave. And yes, I can actually tune into LSB ham
radio operators now that I couldn't do with the G6. And the sound is
much better on the G5. For now, the G6 and G5 might look the same but
reception wise, they are different animals.

it's also possible that my G6 was sort of defective all along and I
didn't realize it.

I know, the G5 is being phased out......