Pansat 2500A?

[phoenix94]

I want to explore FTA. I currently have a 10' Unimesh dish hooked up to a 4dtv unit (c-band only). I see several pansat 2500A units over on e-bay at what appear to be reasonable prices (compared to my Skyvision catalog).

Are these still a viable unit? What should I look out for, other than not getting a clone and the unit being in working condition when it was taken out of service? Thanks.

 

[mark_calgary]

I want to explore FTA. I currently have a 10' Unimesh dish hooked up to a 4dtv unit (c-band only). I see several pansat 2500A units over on e-bay at what appear to be reasonable prices (compared to my Skyvision catalog).

Are these still a viable unit? What should I look out for, other than not getting a clone and the unit being in working condition when it was taken out of service? Thanks.

Make sure it has the factory software in it. You don't want any of that crap the criminal element may have loaded in the past.

They are good units. I use one with my c band dish. The blind scan is not the fastest these days compared to all the new units but it is solid. A feature that is rare on FTA units is the polarizer servo skew control that these and other Pansats have. However, if you are just going to slave it off of your 4DTV then you may want to look at the Fortec Lifetime Ultra's that are also on ebay. They seem to go cheaper and are just about equivalent.

I have purchased 3 receivers off of ebay in the last 2 months (2 Fortec and one Pansat 2100) and have watched the prices and bidding for a while on both ebay.com and ebay.ca (Canada). I recommend that you watch both. I found that in most cases there were few or no bidders for these receivers (Fortec Lifetime Ultra and Pansat 2500) on ebay.ca while there were many bidders on ebay.com for similar items. You may save yourself some money by not competing with many people.

 

[Mr Tony]

Make sure it has the factory software in it. You don't want any of that crap the criminal element may have loaded in the past.

you can always flash it back to factory software

They are good units. I use one with my c band dish. The blind scan is not the fastest these days compared to all the new units but it is solid. A feature that is rare on FTA units is the polarizer servo skew control that these and other Pansats have. However, if you are just going to slave it off of your 4DTV then you may want to look at the Fortec Lifetime Ultra's that are also on ebay. They seem to go cheaper and are just about equivalent.

I have the little brother of the 2500 (1500) and I love it. Yes the scan is slow but it picks up stuff my Coolsat flies by.

I have purchased 3 receivers off of ebay in the last 2 months (2 Fortec and one Pansat 2100) and have watched the prices and bidding for a while on both ebay.com and ebay.ca (Canada). I recommend that you watch both. I found that in most cases there were few or no bidders for these receivers (Fortec Lifetime Ultra and Pansat 2500) on ebay.ca while there were many bidders on ebay.com for similar items. You may save yourself some money by not competing with many people.

Have you been able to flash new software into your 2100? I have one and the software wont take. The 2100 doesnt have blind scan so I wouldnt use that as a main unit.

 

[mark_calgary]

you can always flash it back to factory software


I have the little brother of the 2500 (1500) and I love it. Yes the scan is slow but it picks up stuff my Coolsat flies by.


Have you been able to flash new software into your 2100? I have one and the software wont take. The 2100 doesnt have blind scan so I wouldnt use that as a main unit.

I find the Pansat 2500 blind scan is quite good. Even the Fortec's I have miss things the Pansat picks up (with Pansat on IF output of Fortec) and I have to rescan with the Fortec.

I just got the 2100 a week or so ago - I had it sent USPS as it only cost $16 + $16 shipping to Canada. Mostly it will be used as the unit I take out to the dishes for fine tuning so I don't have to disconnect the other 3 units in use (Pansat 2500 and 2 Fortec LT Ultra's) and as a backup to the 2500 because it has polarizer skew control.

I only just turned it on for the first time last weekend to test it and liked what I saw. Simpler of course. I knew it didn't have blind scan when I bought it. I really like the ability to turn off the password. The picture quality through S-video is very good and the info screens seem to be a bit more comprehensive on first glance.

I take it the signal level bar is actually quality?

I haven't looked at the current firmware revision but if it's old I'll try flash it with whatever is current and tell you if it works. It could take me a while to get to it as I have a 6 week old daughter, a 2 year old, and a wife who all need attention leaving little time for my toys. But there is nothing like having a sleeping baby in your arms while blind scanning for feeds (mostly Pas9 at 6AM on the weekends).

 

[phoenix94]

Why are these (2500A's) going so cheaply ($30-$75) for purportedly near new units? New they are about $320 (Skyvision). And what is the advantage of the 2700A over the 2500A? Thanks.

 

[mark_calgary]

Why are these (2500A's) going so cheaply ($30-$75) for purportedly near new units? New they are about $320 (Skyvision). And what is the advantage of the 2700A over the 2500A? Thanks.

The 2500's have been discontinued for a while so there shouldn't be too many new units around. Where did you see that $320 price for a 2500A? I took a quick peek at the skyvision site and they sell a 3500SD for $260.

My impressions from reading are that the 2700 has a much faster processor than the 2500 and thus will blind scan faster, the most important feature of a receiver to me.

 

[tdti1]

.My impressions from reading are that the 2700 has a much faster processor than the 2500 and thus will blind scan faster, the most important feature of a receiver to me.

If you want a fast scan unit go with the Traxis dbs 3500, the 2500a and 2700a seem to both be slow in scanning, I never noticed a difference, I nearly got a 2700a but when I used it at my buddy's place I did not see much of the point in upgrading.

 

[mark_calgary]

If you want a fast scan unit go with the Traxis dbs 3500, the 2500a and 2700a seem to both be slow in scanning, I never noticed a difference, I nearly got a 2700a but when I used it at my buddy's place I did not see much of the point in upgrading.

I'll certainly keep that in mind when I upgrade my main unit in the future (hmmm... my birthday and xmas are coming up. Too bad my wife won't read this) . Does the Traxis have mechanical polarizer control like the Pansats?

 

[tdti1]

Does the Traxis have mechanical polarizer control like the Pansats?

Sadly no

I am not sure if the Pansat 3500SD is any faster in the blind scan than the other models, somebody here must be able to share that info with us?

 

[mark_calgary]

Have you been able to flash new software into your 2100? I have one and the software wont take. The 2100 doesnt have blind scan so I wouldnt use that as a main unit.

Just a followup here. Last night I tried to flash my 2100A. Currently it has version 5.62? (can't remember now) so I used the 5.xx update.

Results: It didn't work. I followed the instructions and it went to the point where it said it was erasing the flash. I let it sit there for a long time at which point I killed the DOS prompt it was running in. My 2100A was still operating properly as nothing had changed.

I can't find a manual for this unit so I can't be sure my RS-232 cable is correct.