Eton Doesn't Know About the Grundig S450DLX

 

 

 

Readers of this blog know more about Eton products more than Eton (any passion for radios over there?) as evidenced by Paul's investigation:

I had a rather interesting reply from Eton about the Grundig S450DLX (I wrote them, asking for the user's manual):

"This radio is not released yet. It will be released sometime next year, but we do not have a specific release date. We cannot release the manual yet, but please watch our web site. Once it's released you'll be able to download one from there."

 

Comments

[Shawn Patrick]

well, the readers only know of the 450 from what Universal Radio has said about it. Amazing that people are reviewing it before even the product is released. I guess blogs and sites are so quick to the be the "first" to report something, they report phantom products now.

I suspect the photo of the 450 being shown is just a photoshop.

Anyhow, I don't see why the excitement, the CCrane-SW already does everything this radio does including the 5 inch speaker and the raw IF output. And it's probably produced in the same factory.

[Angelo]

This is beyond ridiculous.

[Doug T.]

Whoa! The Amazon page status just switched to "not yet released".

http://www.amazon.com/Grundig-NGS450DLB-Field-Radio-Black/dp/B004FV4ND0/

And yet, Amazon tells me that this radio is enroute to me (I have a tracking number, FedEx already has picked it up.) Something strange is afoot!

Maybe Amazon prematurely released it?

With delivery scheduled Monday, I suppose that a little bit of the mystery will be revealed.

[brandon]

Doug - just an hour or two ago they showed 1 left in stock, I very nearly pulled the trigger on it but didn't. Now I'm kinda wishing I had.

[Angelo]

Doug: Could it be that Amazon shipped the GS350DL to you? It's either that, or they had a few examples of the new 450 that they shouldn't have released and they did.

[Doug T.]

Angelo -- I'll be quite annoyed if they sent me a 350! It seems unlikely, but I'll have to wait until Monday to know for sure what they sent, though.

(Amazon does sell the S350 though: http://www.amazon.com/Grundig-S350-Deluxe-Shortwave-Radio/dp/B000Q5APCC/ )

Also, Universal Radio started shipping at the same time as Amazon, and I find it hard to believe that those guys would mix up the two.

One possibility that occurs to me is that Eton became aware that Amazon was selling the radio (perhaps in response to queries from Herculodge readers) and told Amazon to stop selling it because Eton wanted to roll it out in a coordinated fashion in early 2011.

[Robin]

This is indeed a mystery. Hopefully Doug will not get a S350 from Amazon. Anybody have one coming from Universal radio?

I want to wish everyone (and your families) here a very Merry Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate)!

[Gary]

Maybe Eton will have to confiscate Doug's radio, because it hasn't been released yet.

[Dan]

We celebrate Festivus here.
Just kidding! Merry Christmas everyone!

Dan
KB0RTQ

[Huesby]

Gary;
Hahahahahaaha..you make me laught ..good one !
Happy Xmas to all of you !

[Ed S]

I have one coming from Universal. spoke to their shipping dept yesterday. They said they just got "a couple pallets" of them.

[Angelo]

Doug: If you get the 450---don't be surprised if an Eton SWAT team shows up to recover it, or government guys in dark suits and sunglasses. I have a feeling it's indeed a 450 that wasn't supposed to ship until 2011. I wonder if anyone is going to lose their job over this?

[dorpmuller]

If you get the 450---don't be surprised if an Eton SWAT team shows up to recover it....

The vaporware patrol?

Here's an email I just sent to Eton in my snideness:

Why hasn't your website been updated for years for shortwave radios? Radios are on there that you haven't sold for months/years.

What about the Grundig S450DL? It's all over the Internet blogs, etc. and nothing on your site. What gives? Is it vaporware or not, or are you quitting the shortwave radio business?

[Steve]

What a peculiar debacle! Mark your calendars; one day you will struggle to recall where you were when the Grundig gate story broke.

[Jerry]

I'll tell you what is happening.

Remember the full moon and eclipse that occured at the same time the other day? Well, it looks like that put us in a time warp.

When the full moon and eclipse occured on the day of the winter solstice, it caused a discontinuity or distortion in the flow of time that moved events from one time period to another, and thus, suspended the passage of time.

So, how does that relate to the Grundig S450DLX? Well, the radios probably did ship. But since we are now in a time warp, and according to Eton, they haven't shipped at all. Eton is probably looking at all of their pallets of radios in their warehouse that are ready to ship.

So how did Amazon and Universal Radio accept sales and are shipping radios now? And why is the Amazon status page now showing "Not Yet Released"?

Again, easy answer. The radios that did ship got caught up in the time warp.

The full moon, eclipse and winter solstice happing at the same time is powerful stuff. The last time that happened was back in the mid-1600s, and we all know what happened then. It may be 60-90 days before actual time is back to normal. You may not see or notice it in your every day lives. But problems with the Grundig radio is the type of thing that can happen in a time warp.

Some of the people who ordered and paid for their radios may never see them. Some may receive them next week. It's hard to tell. A time warp is a powerful event.

Hope this helped.