Review
The Hi-Mound MK-706
Description
Operation
You will either love or hate the feel of the MK-706. I'll tell you right up front that I hate it! The narrow gap between the paddles feels good, but the that's the only good thing I can say about it. From the picture I saw on the Morse Express website, I kinda assumed that the paddles where made of bakelit. Wrong! The paddles appear to be made out of polyethylene. Maybe I'm hamfisted and don't know it, but to me, paddles should not give after they hit the stops. The feel is just VERY sloppy to me. Unlike the picture on the Morse Express website, the model I received has a single tension adjustment for both paddles. (see the picture below). You might be tempted to think that would be ok, but believe me - it's not. I will NEVER attempt a contact with this set of paddles.
Operation Rating: 0.0 (I can't even give this puppy a 1.0 in this area)
Quality
The construction quality of this key is pretty good. Everything fits ok. I don't like all the plastic, but it is well machined plastic. The biggest quality problem I have with the MK-706 is the front and the back of the steel base has deep saw marks that should have been smoothed out. These are deep gouges that are very noticable. There are adhesive backed rubber feet to cover up the holes where the individual paddle tensions would be if this model still had that feature. How pathetic!
One side note. If you're still a kid like me, (37 year old kid) you might be tempted to take this thing apart You know - see how it's made - what makes it tick. I would tell you not to, but instead, I'm going to tell you to NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!! Those two big Philips head screws hold the top of the bearing block down. It you ignore my advice and remove those two screws, 5 TINY ball bearing will be rolling all over your desk and floor. Now if you lift the paddles 5 more loose ball bearing will fly out of the bottom. I spent one of the more miserable hours of my live getting it all back together again. This is actually a fairly nice bearing block assembly, but it's a total waste on this set of paddles since the soft plastic paddles and the tension spring arrangement make it feel SO bad and SO sloppy.
Quality Rating: 2.5
Vibe
If you don't know what I mean by vibe, see my review of the SOX key for an explanation.
There is a certain visual appeal to the funky, 50s art deco look this think has with it's plastic cover complete with strips. I'm not sure why, but it looks to me like something that would fit well in an old Japanese monster movie. That's about the only good thing I can say about it. The feel of these paddles is so bad that I just can't excited about using it or owning it.
Vibe Rating: 2.0
Value
I'm not sure what the value is of something that looks like a set of iambic paddles, but it sure ain't $120.00. Nuf said.
Value Rating: 1.0
Overview
I collect paddles and keyes so a set of paddles this unusual is a nice addition to my collection, but I would NEVER, NEVER use it on the air. In fact, if I weren't a collector, this bad boy would have been sent back to Colorado.
Overall Rating: 1.4