Tecsun PL 380 and Eton Grundig S350 SW Radios

[sgautam]

Dear FMs, bought the above two and they are on their way now. Got the PL380 from Hongkong and it should reach in 15-20 days. Price 3080/- thru Ebay Singapore site.



Second one an Eton S350 field radio is a used one bought from Ebay Canada. Total cost incl shipping is around 9k. I loved the design and the design bought many old memories back. It seems to be well looked after. Many glowing reviews for sensitivity and sound quality. Seemingly built to last and has a good fan following. Oy downside is it drifts a bit but it should be ok, who cares if it needs to be poked once in half hour, that's what radios are meant for anyway...



Will revert with my feedback shortly

the PL 380 has great reviews for its all chip based quality circuit. I am very excited to have bought the grundig at that price, old unused units are costing upto 30k now. I am sure that it will be worth keeping as a reminder of the SW era, it looks so good for me.

 

[sgautam]

Update: Received the Eton SL350, very quick dispatch since I ordered it only 10 days ago from Canada. As expected had to pay custom duty of around 3k and the radio cost 12k in total still much cheaper than getting a brand new one which would exceeded 20k.



The radio is beautiful to look at and has a old world charm with all buttons made of solid metal. Its built well and all buttons and switches work like charm. The performance is exceptional in FM and SW and very good in MW. It has easily beaten the much touted sangean pr d5 which I had briefly.



There are gain and bandwidth controls which work actually work, I never knew that these things realy help in locking the weak signals. I just dropped four AA batteries to test and after two days of non stop running it still shows full battery.



I will be getting the pl380 soon, will do a comparison and post

 

[sgautam]

some pictures, these are taken from the listing on ebay. i will add mine during the comparison test

 

[sgautam]

Tecsun PL380 got stuck in customs and some form was needed to be filled up. I sent a message to the seller and waiting for his response. The radio is in Chennai customs. Hope it doesn't get stuck.



If I don't get delivery due to customs whose fault is that and in such case will paypal refund my money, anyone has an idea, I need to revisit paypal page.



thanks

.

 

[sgautam]

After placing order the Tecsun PL380 took two months to finally reach today. Long story short - the customs held it for 40 days for some reason and released it a week ago. Postal dept was quick in delivery but again I had to pay 652/- towards customs. Just a mention of the ebay seller ANON CO who offered full refund after I raised a paypal complaint two days ago. They were pleased to know that i got it and offered a 20% discount on my next purchase at their store.

Coming to the small bombshell I have no doubt whatsoever that its a wonder in hand held radios and the FM & SW sensitivity is OUTSTANDING, simply outrageous since its receiving 3 chennai stations 104.8, 100.5 etc in stereo. The NAD in comparison has lot of noise even after a good coaxial T type antenna. Other tuners simply skip these stations. SW is extremely good and ironically matches the Grundig which is 4 times costlier.Ofcourse the Grundig is in diff league SQ wise and whole lot bigger. I have not even attached the antennas yet, will check tonight with the antennas attached.

If I have to draw a parallel, its the Tripath Amp among the radios. The negatives if I have to pick is that its very small and the speaker sounds tinny. The build is light and the buttons take some effort to press but again at 4K it leaves many tuners and radios behind and I have seen a fair share of them. But the SQ improves thru the headphones.

The total cost came to 3.7K and there is a Ebay listing thru GEB for 4.7K, any member not having Paypal may simply choose to buy thru the link. It worth evry penny if you can live with a very small radio and tinny sound. Will post more later, Thanks

 

[Naturelover]

Congratulations, Gautam. You seem to have an obsession for radios and tuners . Please do a full comparison between these two.

 

[sgautam]

Yes thanks, hope that my obsession for radios and tuners is cured for good now. Getting the NAD 402 was exciting and it surely sounds very good. I paired it with wharf diamond 10.1 with the Tripath amp driving them. The setup sounds very good in the bedroom.

Now will focus on the antennas now, particularly at my native. The forum was helpful as always. I will do a comparison but the Eton is with Father so cannot do right away.

 

[philipreji]

Congrats Gautam! Waiting to hear about your antenna adventures..

Reji

 

[Jitu613]

At fist congratulation Gautam..
I want also buy Tecsun Pl-660 from Anon Co (Hongkong).
This is my first international deal so I want to know that how much custom duty on tecsun radio? And where to pay this custom duty, Any nearest custom office or State's Main custom office?

 

[sgautam]

hi, customs will be collected by the postman while delivering. dont worry, i paid 652/- towards custioms. it will be around 25-30% of the cost. happy buying