In my previous post about the Xiegu G90, I gave the radio a very positive review. Since then, some things have happened that I feel demand an update to my original review.
After only a few months of regular use, my G90 began to exhibit some very strange behavior when tuning around a band after the radio had warmed up to operating temperature. When tuning, the spectrum/waterfall display would stop moving, while the frequency display would continue to change. Further investigation revealed that in fact the frequency was not changing, just the readout. This made the radio effectively unusable. There are few things more disappointing than a failed summit activation because your radio simply stops tuning.
I reached out the Xiegu via email. A week later, I reached out to Xiegu again. A week after that, a third email went out to Xiegu. This was 5 months ago. Technically, the radio carries a 1-year limited warranty, but Xiegu has no US based service centers, or customer support. I searched for a phone number and found nothing. I was only able to find an email address and a contact form for support in China. All in all, after 5 months and multiple emails, I have not heard a peep from Xiegu in response. Now I have a Yaesu FT-818nd that I use for my activations and portable ops, and the G90 has not been powered on in months.
I’ve cracked the case open and had a look inside, since the warranty is meaningless. I thought this issue seemed like a cold solder joint somewhere in the signal chain between the ARM chip and the Frequency synthesis chip, so I hit all the connections in that path with a heat gun and reflowed them. That seemed to have taken care of the issue, but after a few weeks it came back. I attempted reflow again and met with no success. I may investigate this further at some point in the future, but frankly operating a well-made and fully functional Yaesu FT-818 is a lot more pleasurable for me than prodding around inside of a malfunctioning Chinese SDR.
I still think the G90 is/was a good radio, and I miss it. The internal tuner is fantastic, my LDG Z-817 doesn’t quite compete. The extra output power is nice, and I did ultimately find it easier to make contacts with 15 or 20 watts than at 6 watts. However, with poor quality control like this and complete lack of customer support, I can’t bring myself to recommend Xiegu, or purchase another radio from them. If you are inclined toward any radio from the Xiegu line, do yourself a favor and purchase it from radioddity, as they provide their own warranty for US customers, and actually will replace your defective rig, rather than simply ignore you until you give up.