[Elecraft] K3S Package Discounts

[WILLIE BABER]

I imagine that many persons wanting K3/K3s have one, and so sales may not be as robust as a result. The many improvements over time have created a mature radio--and all essential improvements can be made to an early K3 (same with the K2).  I appreciate Elecraft for this approach to building radios.  However, this does mean that many of us are using aging K3s that work just as well as the new K3s.  I have two K3 radios (so2r), one is about nine years older than the other one but they are both essentially the same.  

It does seem that the prices associated with adding more options to the basic radio is different from the original sales philosophy of Elecraft: a top performing radio at a price that is lower because you buy only what you need and you can save even more by assembling it yourself.

This still applies but not as well as it did with the original K3, first produced some years ago however!

I never thought of Elecraft as an inexpensive radio (it looked inexpensive if you purchased the basic kit and nothing else); rather, I could see the savings in purchasing only what I wanted but still had the performance and I/O for the future. 

Finally, maintaining the K3 is far less expensive (compared to other radios) because many of us can do minor repair ourselves, with instructions provided by Elecraft technicians.

73, Will, wj9b



CWops #1085
CWA Advisor levels II and III
http://cwops.org/

--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 7/29/17, Bill W4ZV <btippett at alum.mit.edu> wrote:

 Subject: [Elecraft] K3S Package Discounts
 To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
 Date: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 5:50 AM
 
 http://www.elecraft.com/K3/K3.htm#K3SPkg
 
 I still question the wisdom of
 bundling the the preamp, USB, 630m
 capabilities, etc into the K3S.  This went
 against Elecraft's original
 philosophy
 of keeping base price low and choosing only the options we
 really
 wanted.  This resulted in inflating
 the base price which put it out of reach
 for
 many folks and further away from competing products
 (IC-7300, Kenwood
 590 and Flex 6300).  That
 must be hurting sales resulting in discounting.
 
 A viable option is to buy a
 recent used K3 and sell/purchase options to
 configure it as you want.  Basic K3 prices are
 in the $1500 making this a
 viable
 alternative IMHO.
 
 73, 
 Bill  W4ZV
 
 
 
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