Beware of cheap underperforming clones

As of 2022 there are many badly performing clones on the market. V2/3GHz NanoVNA uses parts like ADF4350 and AD8342 which are costly and clones have been cutting costs by using salvaged or reject parts.

See official store and look for V2 Plus4/V2 Plus4 Pro versions only to avoid getting a bad clone. We have stopped selling V2.2 versions since October 2020, so all V2 hardware that are not Plus or Plus4 are not made by us and we can not guarantee performance.

NanoVNA V2 Forum

Note: this page is a mirror of https://groups.io/g/NanoVNAV2.
Click here to join and see most recent posts.

Do I have an "approved" version of NanoVNA?


Doug Basberg 2021/01/24 09:36

This is my second message since joining the group.  My first message was locked ? why ?
I just received my VNA from Amazon and I had been reading in this group and user group that there are some bad quality units and some built without designer approval.
My question is how good/bad is the unit I bought?  I looked at the info on the screen of my unit and this is what I found: 'Nano VNA firmware': NanoVNA-V2 v1.01 (should I update?)
Copyright 2019, 2020 Rune B. Broberg @edy555 et al
H/W: OwO Comm
version git-20200617-1a9a11d
build: June192020-11:29:36
board: NanoVNA V2_2
fpu: yes
platform: Bare Metal

It looks great and well shielded with its full metal case.  So much better than my old 900MHz model.  Better display, better buttons, better battery, better N connectors, and better range 3 GHz (wow I can measure 2.4 GHz antennas!)
Any comments welcome, Thanks Doug N8VY

OwO 2021/01/25 01:46

So there are 3 hardware revisions, V2.2, V2.3 (V2 plus), and V2.4 (V2
plus4). V2.2 was open sourced and there are many unofficial versions,
some are listed here: https://nanorfe.com/nanovna-versions.html

V2.2 is no longer sold, so almost all V2.2 you can buy now are clones
(other than a few aliexpress resellers which should also be sold out by
now), but they generally work fine, and with the exception of one vendor
we don't have a problem with these clones being sold. I did post an
explanation about that on the previous thread.

OwO 2021/01/25 02:51

To answer your question: the only reason I locked that thread was to
avoid speculation about the state of affairs around Hugen's clones, it
is nothing against you personally. For users, I don't really care what
version you get, but a lot of people get misled into thinking that
Hugen's V2 clones are approved, when the opposite is true. It is a long
story about anticompetitive acts and acts of sabotage.

We initially were fine with Hugen selling his clone since we did open
source the design, but his later aggressive actions on the market made
open source hardware a nonviable business model (to put it politely), so
we now have no choice but to close source future designs and file patents.

Now the type of device doesn't necessarily tell you who made it, as I've
seen clones of clones and last time I went to aliexpress the most widely
sold 2.8" V2 with metal case was a clone of a clone, so don't worry
about if you got an approved unit or not, but if recommending the V2 to
others please do point them to the official website which has links to
stores that do support the original developers:
https://nanorfe.com/nanovna-v2.html

There are (as of now) still no clones of V2 plus and plus4, so these are
safe options if you want to avoid getting a bad clone.

Doug Basberg 2021/01/24 14:09

Thanks.  That is a helpful explanation.  I expect most of my future posts will not be locked (LOL).
I have built/measured/adjusted an 334 MHz antenna for home automation using my new NanoVNA and it was great.
I worked at Bell Labs in the 70s and 80s and this kind of instrumentation cost $50K in 1970 dollars!  I love where technology has gone!  Now if the bone heads do not kill us all, imagine what we will have in the future!

Doug Basberg 2021/01/24 14:13

Sorry, frequency of my antenna was 433 MHz not 334 MHz (does dyslexia come with old age, I can not remember (LOL)) I am 73 years old.

To reply to this topic, join https://groups.io/g/NanoVNAV2

View this thread on groups.io