[Elecraft] Can I rent a K4?

[David Gilbert]

This makes very little sense to me.  I can't see there being any way 
Elecraft could justify the risk and hassle of renting out their 
equipment.  Ask yourself this ... do you think you could make money 
buying a K4 and then renting it to other random hams you don't know?  
Would you be willing to take that kind of risk?  Think of the time it 
would take on your part to administer it.

I suppose, given the purported remote capability of the K4 using a free 
app (as opposed to a piece of dedicated hardware), somebody might be 
willing to offer remote access to a K4 in exchange for a modest fee.  In 
my opinion, if the K4 is as remotable as claimed then it should be 
mostly possible to evaluate it that way.   Even then I suspect that 
Elecraft wouldn't want the hassle of offering that ... maybe somebody 
else would.

Dave   AB7E



On 2/3/2021 10:20 AM, John Harper wrote:
> I wonder if this model would work?
>
> Flex offers a refund for those who try one of their rigs and don't like it.
> But a rental would pose less risk to the manufacturer.
>
> There are (rumored) a small number of K4's in existence - the rest, of
> course, are on hold. But regardless...even after full production has begun:
>
> What if, before plunking down 4 kilodollars, I could rent the rig for two
> weeks?
>
> If I don't like it, I send it back to Elecraft and I'm only out the rental
> fee and the cost to ship (renter pays shipping in both directions).
>
> If I do like it, I keep the rig and pay the balance.
>
> The rental fee would separate the serious potential buyers from those
> simply wanting a two-week joyride. The question is, how much of a rental
> fee would be acceptable for a company to offer such a business model?
>
> John AE5X
> https://ae5x.blogspot.com