I bought an Ares 2 yesterday from undertaker. It was NIB and mint! Only touched by the hands of Mike Scott of Scott's Radios. I watched the video he made while tuning, and out of the box they are so close! Even more so than my AT Q5N2 was.
(By the way, if you buy a radio from undertaker and he says it's NIB, trust me, it is NIB. I've had the pleasure of touring the "room of radios".
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I paired this with the kl 503hd and wow!! What a great match! Without going on and on here, I will say that after using it last night and having close to 15 good QSOs. This radio, so far is my favorite! Constantly getting unsolicited flowers last night. One guy didn't believe me when I told him what I was using. He was on a ICom, sounding choice himself.
Time will tell, but if last night was any indication of how this radio works and is consistent, I'm all in.
@jrd426 - There wasn't any issues with a signal meter glitch on my Ares 2. It works as it should, settleing anywhere between 3 and 7 last night, depending on the noise of the frequency I was on.
Edit: I have to add, the receive on these are great! I keep the NRC on 1 and leave it. But it's not just the NRC. Turn it off and the receive is still cleaner then anything else I have.