I’m new to SOTA, but have some previous experience with HF radios. I’m also a broke college student without much money to spend on radio equipment. All other systems (battery, resonant antenna) being the same, is the G90 worth the $200 or so more for the increased transmitter power and antenna tuner I probably won’t use?
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In terms of “fun quotient”? No, probably not worth the extra outlay. Of course, if you’re really a starving student, the QRP-Labs QMX or variants offers pretty similar functionality to a G106 for substantially fewer shekels. You’ve already identified the biggest “utility” of the G90 - the inbuilt tuner. If you’re self-disciplined enough to split speaker wire for every band you might want to operate, that advantage disappears 
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Many sota operators use end fed half wave EFHW antennas on a light mast (6m or so), or 1/4 telescopic antennas. They don’t require a tuner and are easy to setup.
So do you need a tuner ? Maybe not.
Do you need waterfall display ? As an activator it’s not useful, your are not scanning the band like you would do at home to find activity.
What you might want to look at is the weight of the device. G90 is heavy af. This + antenna part, you might have a 3kg load of radio gear only. Depending on the type of hike you want to do, this can be a concern.
Maybe you have other options to explore such as fx4cr, or qmx if you don’t mind soldering and doing a bit …
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The G90 was my first HF radio. I did buy it mainly to use at home, and so the waterfall was nice and I felt like the 20W was useful, as at home, I’m not the DX.
The ATU was nice as I could match my EFHW - cut for 40/20/15/10 - to any band from 160m onwards.
When I started SOTA, I took it with me. It’s a bit heavier than most portable radios but it’s not that bad. I enjoyed the convenience of a random wire and the ATU.
I also bought it used, so that saved some money. Which is my suggestion…see what used portable radios are available near you/online.
The QMX radios are very affordable but you either have to build it yourself - maybe a step too far? Or you have no time for that or you just want to use it - in which case buying built has quite a long queue.
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I’m with Alex.
Having a tuner is so handy. Of course it depends on your activation style:
Simple climbs or drive on hills, in nice weather. You can spend all day up there messing with single band resonant antennas with gain. You will be carrying a larger battery as well.
Long days, multiple summits, winter weather. Nothing beats throwing a 41’ wire up a carbon pole and pressing “tune”. You will still easily work enough stations to qualify a summit, providing the sun isn’t too angry.
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The G90 is a beast! Whilst I have a couple of other HF radios, the G90 is my go to radio for serious SOTA. Whilst the ATU is very good, I don’t use it regularly. My regular antennas are a switched dipole, EFHW and a Super Antenna. The recieve is excellent and having the choice of 20w is a bonus. With the built in compressor, I am regularly complimented on my audio.
To give you a balanced opinion, the cons are that it is heavy compared to some other SOTA favourites.
My personal challenge for SOTA is getting S2Ss, so I am happy to carry a bit more weight for a radio that will deliver the goods!
If you haven’t guessed I am a fan
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Welcome @KM7CSS.
I’ve had a brief play (twice) with a G90 but not owned one. I’ve owned a G106 (which I sold). I’m not as keen/regular with activations as some folk on here, but here’s my take:
G90: Seems to be very well regarded. During a short joint activation on EA5/AT-042, I can see why it’s so popular. It would have made my life a lot easier if I’d have started out with one TBH (but the weight/size penalty was off-putting for this midget HI).
G106: My first HF radio. It worked and I made contacts - but I much prefer the QMX. I cannot think of one advantage the G106 has over the QMX. If you’re willing to build it yourself (and potentially troubleshoot), you can get your hands on one quite quickly. It’s a much better radio than the G106. Better in so many ways (in my opinion).
I think the G90 would be a good choice to start with simply because it will happily live in the shack (or in the car) if you ever decide to get something smaller & lighter dedicated to SOTA activations. IF you find you’re not using the G90 at that point, it will be an attractive second-hand buy for someone.
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Hi James,
I am assuming you will want to work SSB? If it’s CW you are looking for, spend the extra on a (perhaps second hand) Elecraft. If you just want Digital, look at the QDX from QRP Labs. Both the G90 and G106 can do digital but with lots more cables than the QDX needs. Both G90 & G106 support CW but the Elecrafts “shine” on that mode, I’m told.
I have both the Xiegu G90 and the G106.
My default grab-and-go radio is the G90. Watch out for price deals from Radioddity where the price of the G90 drops for a few days or is combined with other accessories making it a good deal if the accessories are what you need - e.g. rucksack. I would not buy a second hand G90 as the price on the SH market is not that much less than new, and the Xiegu warranty is not transferrable.
The 20w (actually nearer 30w PEP) DOES make a difference over the true QRP, 5w/10w radios. Add to that the speech compressor that is built into the G90 (the G106 has none) works great.
If you listen to any of the portable award schemes you will be surprised by how many of the stronger stations are running a G90. Of course more power means bigger and hence heavier batteries but the G90 will run a short (1 hour) activation off 1 x 4AH LifePO4 battery with capacity to spare. Going up to an 8Ah doesn’t always mean twice the price and indeed, I tend to take an 8 Ah for longer activations.
The G106 is a fun, simple radio with minimum features. The G90 is a complete station with all features in a format smaller than taking the home station 100w radio along for a signal that is at the most 1 S-point weaker. Indeed many 100w base radios are run at 50w to save on battery power consumption, so here the G90 at full power is perhaps half an S-point down, but with similar features to what the home station radio also has.
Both the G106 and G90 are in solid portable-ready cases with knob protection should the radio ever be dropped. The other radios mentioned (QRP Labs, Elecraft) need care in handling when portable or need aftermarket protection cases. It depends how rough you are with your portable gear but I would feel more confident taking a G90 or G106 to a summit that one of the other makes, but perhaps that just the way I throw things around!
73 Ed DD5LP
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As someone who regularly goes on solo expeditions and equipment-heavy mountain treks, I’d like to share my perspective on the G90 vs. G106 debate—leaving the ‘weight’ factor aside for a moment.
While I haven’t personally tested the G106, I have extensive field experience with the Xiegu G90 in various harsh environments. If your goal is ‘pure operational enjoyment,’ I wholeheartedly recommend the G90. Its internal Wide-Range ATU is legendary; it can practically tune a wet piece of wire into a resonant antenna. That level of flexibility is priceless when you are on a summit and conditions are less than ideal.
I eventually passed my G90 to a friend to help them get started in HF and upgraded to an IC-705. However, I’ll be honest: whenever I’m at a high altitude or a remote peak, I still find myself missing the G90’s ruggedness and its ‘work-anywhere’ tuner.
Don’t let the ‘made in China’ tag fool you regarding quality—this is a robust, solid piece of kit that will serve you for years. If you can handle the extra grams in your pack, the performance trade-off is absolutely worth it.
TA1ODM 73.
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Yes yes yes. If you find you need a tuner you could add an external one later.
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If your problem is low budget, go for G90. Yes, extra weight but he can serve you at home, sota, pota, car. You do not need two or three radios. And tuner is always good to have, just in case
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I would say that most budget friendly option is QMX with resonant antenna for 40 and 20 bands.
QMX has about 3 months waiting list for ready build unit. If you dont have experience with building don’t try a kit option.
Antenna - lookup K6ARK EFHW on Amazon/eBay or make linked dipole for these two bands using thin wire from Amazon/eBay/Aliexpress. Silicon covered do not tangle easily.
Battery one of 11.1V 1000mA batteries for a drone or radio controled models will do, they are cheap. Alternatively buy three 18650 LiIon batteries plus BMS and make one yourself. Plenty of instructions on YouTube.
GL
Marek
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Huh?
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You can use G90 in multi roles. He has 20W (more than 4 to 5 W qmx), tuner, waterfall. Everything you need.
My qmx costs me 250 euros. I have two 100W hf radios and two ft818 and one qmx. If I must decide what would I buy for my first hf radio I will go for G90
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No. You need at least four. Or fourteen in my case 
I have said it before… the radio you have is better than the radio you want but don’t have.
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I still think you do not need two or three radio.
I think that but I have 12
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I currently have 4 hf rigs, but one gets 95% of use… the G90
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TL;DR: Tuner = superfluous, power unlikely to make much difference, weight / bulk might.
Set up a meth lab, spend the profits on Icom IC-705, Spooltenna, and some Bioenno batteries. 
I’m super happy with the above setup in all but one aspects: weight / bulk. So far I haven’t found a way of adequately packing that lot into a hike-friendly pack with room for more than a light lunch, bottle, and waterproof layer, but to be honest I rarely pull all-day activations or anything more extreme than a light bit of scrambling. Often I just hand carry the radio gear in a dedicated Peli case for the hour or two that a holiday activation will take, but I admit it’s a pain for longer missions. The good news is that you can easily ‘simulate’ carrying a larger radio before committing to owning one - ballast is plentiful and cheap.
Getting back to your question, I don’t think that the increased transmitter power of 20W will result in substantially more activations. Occasionally when I’m at home I’ll turn the power down gradually while counting and ask the other party to let me know when I fade out, and the results are often surprising. I doubt that you’d notice a real world difference on activations, especially if you can spot yourself.
Where antenna tuners are concerned, others have mentioned the benefits of a resonant 40m EFHW and I completely agree, which is why the Spooltenna is my go-to choice and the reason that my AH-705 stays at home these days. A tuner is just bulk, and at the end of the day it won’t make a wet piece of string resonant, it’ll just make it electrically acceptable to your transmitter, with the caveat being that it might ‘unlock’ an additional band on a multi-band antenna which would otherwise not be available to you.
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