Nov 27th, 2005
Yaesu VX-5R Discontinued
Sadly the VX-5R has been discontinued. I learned this after seeing the VX-5 listed for $200, a closeout price in a AES magazine. The cheapest I had see the radio sold for previously was $260, and when I bought mine I paid over $300, so this immediately sounded an alarm. I then went to the AES website to see if the price was for real, but it was too late they had already sold out and noted that it was discontinued. I then checked out Gigaparts, Hamradio Outlet, Texas Towers, and Universal Radio. They all noted that the radio had been discontinued. The recent release of the VX-6R was to replace the VX-5R. With the VX-6R only being out a month there is a beta release of VX-6 Commander but unfortunately you can not use the software to modify it to transmit out of band. Being able to soft mod the VX-5R was crucial to many people purchasing the radio. The only modification for the VX-6R as of right now is a hardware mod. I’m curious how this will impact the success of the the VX-6R. Personally if I were in the market for a new Yaesu Handheld I would probably spend the extra $60 and purchase the VX-7R which includes the 6m band and the ability to soft mod the radio to transmit out of band.
