Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and supporter, Dan Robinson, who shares the following review:

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Tecsun Delivers The S-2200X – New Life For A 16-Year-Old Cabinet Design

by Dan Robinson

Note: Please see an addendum of updates at the end of this post.

Some months ago, I learned from Anon-co that Tecsun planned to release an update to the S-2000 receiver, which for the past 16 years also sold under other names such as the Grundig Satellit 750 and later the Eton Satellit 750 and Eton Elite 750.

To say that this radio was long in the tooth is an understatement.

I remember seeing one when they first came out back in 2008 and I was never very impressed.  To me, the radio looked like a toy, and the performance did not impress.  The standout feature was the top-mounted rotatable antenna for MW/LW reception.  That was popular with those of us who own the Panasonic RF-2200 and it’s a great tool for MW.

While popular with a certain segment of the listening hobby – beginners liked the 750 and even some veteran SWLs appreciated the retro design — the receiver was plagued by annoying issues, such as the famous wobbly tuning knob.  It also had limited selectivity, no synchronous mode, and mediocre SSB.

In 2013, The Monitoring Times (Larry Van Horn) took another look at the radio with the following memorable comments:

[MONITORING TIMES 2013]

“Needless to say some folks were not happy with our review of the 750 including Etón. In retrospect, over four years later, I would not change one single word I wrote in that review.  I believe we honestly gave a fair assessment of the unit that was shipped to us for review. If you read my previous review closely, you would see that most of my concerns back then had to do with quality control issues and most in our industry fully acknowledge that we were seeing some nasty stuff coming out of China back in 2008.”

So, measuring from 2008 when the first Eton 750 came out we’re now in 2024 and Tecsun has decided to preserve the cabinet design of the original radio while substantially upgrading the internals.

Enter the S-2200x

Reviewers have obtained units from the first production run.  Tecsun has provided long-needed upgrades that put this radio on the same playing field as the very popular H-501 and PL-990 portables.

The 2200x adds a dedicated SYNC mode with its own front panel button.  AIR band is retained, though sadly coverage doesn’t extend up to give us the NOAA WEATHER frequencies.

My initial testing of the S-2200x shows that performance is excellent on SW, AM, and FM.  In contrast with portables from other manufacturers, SSB performance is excellent – in USB and LSB, tuning is smooth with no “warbling” and using the fine tuning control is a pleasure. Continue reading →