Russ Flop-Sweating Over His Purchase of the $300 Grundig Satellit 750

 

(Re-post)

I was underwhelmed by my Grundig S750 and sold it. Russ seems to dislike his as well. Today he writes:

UPS delivered the Grundig Satellit 750 today. I couldn't wait to open the box and try it out. When the UPS driver handed me the box, I thought it was empty it was so light. After unboxing the Satellit, it seemed much smaller than my expectations and it is extremely light. One reason for this is the thin and flimsy plastic the cabinet is made from.

I started to get flop sweat because I spent $300 on this thing. I thought if it performed really well, I would feel a lot better about it. Alas, the Grundig Satellit 750 isn't worth anywhere near $300. I wouldn't even pay $100 for it. 

The AM performance was disgraceful. I needed my Select-a-Tenna to clearly pick up anything I was used to receiving routinely. FM sensitivity was not much better even with an external antenna. This surprised me based on comments I have read here. The sound has also been described in this blog as being pretty good and able to sound good playing in a backyard. That must have been a pretty small yard because there is nowhere near enough power output to even come close to the performance of the Sangean Lunchbox.

I didn't even try shortwave because I had already seen more than enough. The cheap feel of the Satellit made me feel extremely ripped off and there was nothing positive about the set to change my mind. I called Amazon and talked to "Amanda" who admitted they get a large percentage of these radios returned and refunded for the same reason I am sending mine back. The perceived value and performance is not even close to being worth their price of $300. It retails at some places for $400. You've got to be kidding me!

I guess I'm spoiled by the performance of the Sangean Lunchbox and U3 along with my vintage radios which all perform much better than this thing. I'm also sure I don't have a defective unit. These things are simply overpriced junk. If this review helps someone avoid wasting their money on a Satellit 750, then this whole fiasco will have at least one positive aspect. Phooey!

Russ Defends Doing a Flash Impression

As far as one day reviews go, after 45 years of being into radios, I know a loser when I hear and see one. The lightness of the radio means that it was deliberately designed to be made as cheaply as possible which means no heavy duty or quality parts. The comment about retailers demanding lighter radios because of shipping costs is ridiculous when talking about high-end gear. A serious radio designer will make a radio that performs well and charge accordingly, including shipping charges. This argument makes sense with Coca-Cola and the change from glass to plastic bottles, but not for a $300 radio aimed at the upper tier of the Shortwave market. This radio is more at home being sold at Walmart next to the Coby and GPX electronic junk. I have to laugh at the comments about how it has metal knobs now. Oooooh! But that doesn't help it perform any better, does it? Maybe they should add a bunch of blue LEDs everywhere to attract even more clueless purchasers. I'm sorry but cognitive dissonance won't cut it for $300. The S750 has been judged and found guilty of impersonating serious radio gear.

 

Comments

[Shawn Patrick]

The reviewer didn't even try it on shortwave, which is the INTENDED purpose of this radio. Hummm... The majority of users on amazon give the 750 a 5-star rating and those who actually use the radio on shortwave rave about it's performance, especially when used with an external antenna (which is what REAL shortwave listeners use). For those who think adding thicker layers of plastic adds to the toughness of a radio, it's false. And for listening to sideband ham transmissions, the 750 really shines.

No one in their right mind is going to buy this radio for AM and FM only, there way better and cheaper radios for that. Thus, this review has to be thrown into the muck... Sorry guys.

[Ron]

I have to agree with you Shawn. You hear very little complaining from SW listeners that own this radio. This is a radio I've thought about getting for myself, and everything I've read about it is that it's a SW machine.

Some radios are AM/FM with Shortwave; some are Shortwave with AM/FM. I'd suggest this one is the latter. I don't know if I'd like to use this as a portable to haul around every day, but when you consider most of the SW listeners that bought this are going to have it permanently on a table or night stand, hooked up to an external antenna, the most important part of build quality is going to be the buttons and knobs. Comparing it to a Sangean Lunchbox is like comparing a Coupe de Ville to a Land Rover.

And let's put this in perspective. Yep, $300 is definitely a high end AM/FM radio. $300 is kind of a midpoint price for a good SW radio though, I don't think a lot of non-SW listeners get that. This $300 (now more like $240) radio gives a $600+ tabletop a run for its money.

[Sean]

I cannot agree enough with both of you Ron and Shawn. The radio on SW performs rather well and I enjoy using the radio every day. For 250-300 USD it is well worth the cash.

[Terry]

I think I'd go for the Icom R-75 instead.