Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Heathkit. It’s kind of funny because I was thinking about them just the other day. A couple of years ago, there was all this hype about a “new” Heathkit and how they were going to start designing new kits as well as revive popular old designs.
Then, nothing. They went completely quiet—until yesterday. In an e-mail sent to their “insiders,” they say:
Dear Heathkit Insider,
“What I really hope Heathkit will produce,” a Silicon Valley colleague recently told me, “is a new radio kit with a beautiful finish, maybe in rosewood.” Something great to enjoy building and learn from, and also visually stunning, so he could put it in his living room and keep it forever.
Today, my friend gets his wish.
Exciting news. More on that in a moment.
They then go on to explain all of the work they’ve been doing in relocating Heathkit to Santa Cruz, CA, acquiring a second company, and securing all the intellectual property rights to the old Heathkit manuals and logos (meaning no more bootleg copies on the Internet).
They go on, though:
That’s a lot, but there’s more. We’ve designed and developed a wide range of entirely new kit products. We authored the manuals for these kits, complete with the beautiful line art you rely on, preserving and respecting our iconic historic Heathkit style. We developed many new inventions and filed patents on them……We built the back office infrastructure, vendor and supply chain relationships, systems, procedures, operations methods, and well-thought-out corporate structure that a manufacturing company needs to support its customers, to allow us to scale instantly the day we resume major kit sales. All this effort enables us to introduce a fleet of new kits and helps ensure Heathkit can grow, prosper, and continue to bring you great new products for a very long time.
So, what’s the exciting news? A new QRP transceiver? Maybe a shortwave radio? A new 100-in-1 experimenter kit for Makers?
Uh-uh. Sorry. The “exciting” news is a tuned radio frequency (TRF) AM band (yes, I said AM band) radio kit that costs $150. Not only is that crazy expensive for an AM radio, it doesn’t even come with a speaker. On top of that, there’s no soldering. You screw all of the components to the board. I’m speechless (well, figuratively, not literally).
I’m not sure what the target market is for this product. It’s certainly not amateur radio operators, who expect a lot more (in terms of both functionality and “fun”) for their money. Nor is it the “Maker” folks. I think that if I took this to show off at the local Ann Arbor Maker group, they’d laugh me out of the place.
I really hope that they got something better up their sleeves.
That is a bizarre set of design decisions. It doesn’t have a scale for the band. The knob doesn’t even have a pointer. It does have a reduction drive, which is nice.
If you want a scale and a speaker, you can get an AM BCB TRF kit for $18. But no rosewood.
https://www.electronickits.com/two-ic-radio-kit/
I’m with you. This is a real head scratcher. I wish them well, but if this is any example of what we can expect, I can’t hold much hope for their longevity.
Not only that, you get to do some actual soldering!
That’s disappointing. For that kind of price, I was expecting tubes, not transistors.
Why are they so secretive? The president gives only his first name and does not give a contact email address. Did you notice the emotional language designed to appeal to OM like me who built Heathkits in the 60s?
When I wrote a note to their Santa Cruz CA address, it was returned to me as undeliverable.
I need another AM receiver like a hole in the head. I’m not holding my breath for a 5, 10 or 20 watt tube transceiver or a low power tube stereo amp. I hope they surprise me.
Robert VA3AOD
Yes, I did notice all the emotional langauge. Instead of spending so much time on the verbage, they should spent a little more time developing a more attractive kit.
The “new HeathKit” already exists…it’s called “Elecraft” and most of their customers don’t actually build (or assemble) anything. Like you and the others, I can’t for the life of me understand the target audience is.
If these guys actually ship something–anything–it will exceed my expectations.
And if they’re just floating a trial balloon, I think they already have their answer.
Are you sure this wasn’t dated April 1?
This new Heathkit is just bizarre. They’ve got zero sales and they’re building this world class corporate infrastructure in anticipation of big things. Either someone has some deep pockets or it’s a lot of BS.
I’m baffled by this product choice. Heathkit and amateur radio went hand-in-hand. This is an AM broadcast receiver. They would have been better off offering a one transistor QRP CW transmitter.
They’re developing inventions and filing patents? Seriously? Just develop and release a kit that makes sense and cut the BS already.
When I saw the kit on the website I thought it was a kit from the 1970s or something. Nope. I was wrong. That’s what they’re offering today.
If they’re trying to go for the consumer electronics crowd, they might have offered a wifi internet radio or something.
There are new heathkits: Elecraft and DZ Kits, to say nothing of the cottage industry Maker crowd, Adafruit, etc.
Here’s Hack-a-Day’s take on this: Heathkit: Live, Die, Repeat.
Their website is an example of ‘marketing-speak’ – it all sounds great, but has little substance behind the verbage. Doubt if many will pay $150 for a solder-free AM radio kit (I know I would NOT!). I love Heathkits and cut my teeth on a few including a DX60 transmitter that my dad and I built, which I used as a novice in the late 60’s. This new group appears to be someone trying to capitalize on the rich history of a once great company that designed and produced quality kits of the day. The new Heathkit appears to be a wanna be with some folks simply trying to make money rather than help and educate people like the original company did. Hope they do everything they claim or plan to, it will be a surprise to me if they actually do.
For that amount of money, I would have expected a MW/SW regen receiver.
Bob de K9CWP
For Heathkit to make/develop a typical solder kit as from the 60’s would be cost-prohibitive, but they should suck it up and do it anyway…. Most original unbuilt Heathkits have been selling on EBay for roughly 10 times the original cost- I for one, would pay alot more for a kit that requires soldering than the screw together “kits” that Elecraft puts out. Doesn’t have to have all the unnecessary bells and whistles that today’s radios have, and in my opinion, a kit doesn’t need that crap- just some honest-to-goodness soldering wire-cutting, and a little ingenuity. My .02 worth (Come on, “Heathkit”, prove yourself !! )
I honestly think the new “Heathkit” is a joke, perpetrated by a wealthy ex-CB er. The primary product demonstrates total ignorance of marketing and consumer needs.
Why on earth would someone release a $150 partial AM radio? It’s insulting! No speaker, no audio amplifier, no tuning display and no soldering.
The other “products” appear to be left-over items from someone’s junk box, that would otherwise be available on e-bay.
The whole thing actually is disrespectful to what once was a fine company.
It would have been better to let the venerable Heathkit rest in peace, than to denigrate the good Heathkit name.
73, WB2LKO
I think they are a scam. I orderd their digital clock. Never got it. First ship was late Aug. That never happened. Then they said week of Sept 19. That never happened. No reply to emails or their phone. Tried to contact them today via their website and it is not there.
Sorry to hear that you’re not having any luck getting your Heathkit clock. I hadn’t even heard about that kit. Heathkit.Com seems to be up this morning, and when I called the phone number on their website, their system answered. I didn’t actually try to connect with anyone, as it’s 6:15 am in the morning there. :)
I’d say to give them another try later today.
I ordered a first-production run GC-1006 clock in late August. It arrived in late October. I just put it together yesterday (November 12, 2016) and was pleasantly surprised that it lit up when I applied power and did everything it was supposed to. There were a few what I thought to be odd design choices, but overall it was fun to put together. It’s now the UTC clock for my shack. I hope the new Heathkit is successful; I look forward to more fun and useful kits from them.
As far as Elecraft is concerned most of their kits are full fledge solder kits. I’ve built several K2s with most options and they are every bit a solder the parts kit. Their K3 transceiver is a screw together kit. The quality of their kits and documentation are excellent. I just ordered and received a K1 with options. Their kits are everything we would hope Heathkit could be again someday.