Xiegu X6100 HF Radio Transceiver, 10W Full Mode SDR Radio Supports BT with 4" LCD Screen

Good news! Now that the Xiegu X6200 has arrived, its predecessor, the X6100 is selling at a deep discount. I've been closely following reviews for the X6100 since the beginning, and truth be told, a lot of those early reviews were not favorable. Flash forward 2 years, and a number of firmware updates later, and this little radio rocks! With a fully charged battery, I found the radio can stay powered on for up to 3 hours, (with minimal transmitting and screen off.) The X6100's internal battery recharges fully to 8.4V in about 4 hours. My X6100 arrived with a well written (slim) manual that explains many of the radio's features. In addition, an updated 149 page operating manual is available online for download. Other items you'll find in the box, include a full featured keypad microphone, the X6100's battery charger/power wall wart, a data transfer cable, and an extra DC power cable suitable for use with an external power source. The X6100's, easy-on-the-eyes, 4" screen is the darling of this radio. The LCD screen has a resolution of 800x480 and is bright and beautiful. The display includes all the operating information you could possibly want or need. The radio's digital noise reduction filter is surprisingly good and compares very favorably to my FT-991A's DNF. The rig's small speaker can be made decently loud and sounds quite pleasing at normal volumes. The X6100 includes a built in ATU and a very useful SWR analyzer. Without touching on every feature of the radio, I'll just say, at its current bargain price, you can't beat the value. For a guy who would never consider paying a thousand dollars for the ICOM alternative this compact QRP radio is a dream. In my opinion, the X6100 has matured into a capable and currently very affordable QRP radio. If you are considering adding the X6100 to your shack, now is the time to snap one up before they are gone.5 MONTH UPDATE: I still like the looks and functionality of this little portable radio. The ATU and DNF work well. Battery life is decent. It has a good receiver except, now I'm clearly aware of the many birdies the radio generates, as discussed in other reviews. That's very disappointing. Honestly, I haven't made a single contact using the radio, likely due to a poor antenna set up and my location. I am leaving my review at 5 stars because the radio has likeable features and doesn't cost a small fortune to own. However, knowing what I know now, I would seriously recommend skipping the X6100 and buying something with a better design like the FT-891 or FT-991A. If ultra portability is your priority the FT-891 is the way to go. If you need a portable radio with a built-in ATU then the 991A is the way to go.

Delivery was excellent and the radio is more than I hoped for being QRP. The internal speaker is junk, but using a cheap set of headphones or a powered speaker using a 1/8" phone cable, the sound far exceeds my FTDX10 especially with the Noise filter on. I used this for Winter Field Day along with my FTDX10 and I must say that 5-Watts vs 50-Watts made no difference and the clarity of the receiver was top notch. The other downside is the internal battery doesn't last too long. Don't listen to the negative reviews about the birdies. I don't find this an issue.

The media could not be loaded. I’ve had this radio for three months then I started having issues with the receiver and audio would just shut down for no reason it would just like freeze up. Sometimes you could turn the radio off and back on. It would start working again other times you have to let it sit for a long period of time and then turn it on and it would start working. It would play for 30 minutes and then just shut down again and when I say shut down, I mean it freezes the display of freezes no audio you can tune the frequency to other bands, but it doesn’t do anything.It worked good for the first three months but after that, not impressed, I would wouldn’t waste my money on this radio again. I would save up for two or three more hundred dollars and get a good radio. Update on my radio, radioddity did replace my radio and it was pretty seamless. The new radio seems to be playing perfectly fine.

Good radio, small form factor great for beginner or for QRP. But the most impressive part was the customer service. I had an issue with cat control and the service rep spent 3 days with actual troubleshooting tips and when the troubleshooting failed i had a replacement radio within the week

This radio runs Linux under the hood. Installed some custom firmware and now have full FT8 TX and RX built in without needing a PC,10 Watts on battery, Open TX etc. Being battery operated the SWR scanner removes the need for an antenna analyzer, Great for setting antennas up outdoors. Yes, there are birdies, but they are mostly on 50 MHz. If one happens to appear on your frequency just get rid of it with the notch filter. CW and RTTY can be decoded. The custom firmware I use seems more accurate with the decode. You can install custom firmware on an SD card. This keeps it separate from the radio's built in firmware, So you can switch by plugging in or unplugging the SD card.