GoFastBroncos.com

I run cb and when I plan to go vhf/uhf, I plan on going with Rugged Radios. They are local to me and have given a lot of interested folks to the 4 Wheel To Heal Booth at King of The Hammers. Also, Poison Spyder and GenRight, who support 4 Wheel To Heal, also use Rugged Radio products in their race communications and they have no problems whatsoever. I try and stay local and support local businesses in my community. But to each his own.

You revived a forgotten thread that hasn't seen light in 8 months pointing out rugged radios prior poor business decision in an attempt to defend them?

I recommend pci and their sister hamb radio shops. I've purchased multiple times from them and have nothing but great things to say about them and the folks who work for them.

Funny thing, this all blew up on RDC. Rugged was vilified, and rightly so. Fast forward, rugged now has huge banner adds on RDC. I guess money does fix everything...

rugged was vilified with the MEMBERS of RDC. Not sure if the OWNERS as well. Big difference between those paying the bills/running the site and those complaining I think.

That thread has nothing to do with Klaus, The Martelli Brothers, or any RDC itself. It was all an issue with them buying a PCI domain name.

PCI is my favorite but mostly because Shar makes me drinks at the races. Also because they fix/make my crap work all the time and rarely ever charge me for their time.

Rugged has had good customer service the few times I've dealt with them.

Rugged and Zadenburg have about the same ideals when it comes to marketing.

philofab wrote:That thread has nothing to do with Klaus, The Martelli Brothers, or any RDC itself. It was all an issue with them buying a PCI domain name.

My point exactly.

BDKW1 wrote:Rugged and Zadenburg have about the same ideals when it comes to marketing.

haha - yup.

The practice's Rugged was doing back a year ago was kind of a little shady. Since then it seems they have kept their nose clean and gained a better following. The only problem I have seen is a radio interface cable for a Kenwood not wired properly. I moved the pins for a guy and got it working. One race later the guy had me do my race mods with a Weather Pak Connector for the power and the same metal mobile 5Pin that PIC uses.

I was fortunate to learn how to work on kenwoods from Scott and Bob from PCI and they have always been helpful, even knowing I was not a big dollar customer. When ever I refurbish a radio and someone asks me to recommend an intercom or helmet kits I point them to PCI. Bob has just been around longer and has a good track record.

I use to be a dealer for Racer X when Mike owned it but the customer service fell off in a big way.

funny how the OP link is dead now on RDC since rugged is a sponsor.

That's Business politics.

If only all of the real truths could be told... If only.

There are things that should never be brought to light, but the fact that "Rugged made PCI intercoms" or that "Rugged could buy out PCI" (circa 2011) made me laugh. At one point in time before the internet scandal (2006?-2008?) they tried to co-exist and help each other, PCI handling the intercoms - Rugged the cables etc... Rugged chose to stick with China made stuff that was (and still does) having quality control issues, while PCI chose to focus on quality and go a different route.


Here's a fun game in case you were looking for something to do during tech at your next big race.... Take a look at the intercom equipment in Bryce Menzies, Jesse Jones, TJ Flores, RPM etc etc. (Sponsored Rugged teams is what I'm getting at) Take note of the manufacture of equipment. Report back to this thread with pictures as bonus points.

I throw away more Rugged helmet wiring kits than I care to shake a stick at. $15 kits that Rugged puts in their "athletes" helmets that run multi-million dollar race teams that rely on communications in the car. Not to mention the driver spent probably $4-1200 on a paint job alone.