what's going on everybody and welcome back to another key comparison video so last time we looked at the n0s SPX key this guy right here versus the uh CW Morse sp4 which is the CW Morse version of that key today we're going to look at the same key and we're going to compare it to the BAM Tech tp3 uh skip K3 FBR asked me to shoot this one so we're going to take a look at these are probably my two favorite portable field keys and we'll talk about uh strengths and weaknesses uh when I like one over the other we'll kind of look at what it's like to send on and we'll talk about adjustments and things like that now I'm not going to rehash everything there is to rehash about this SPX if you want to see all the dimensions and the specs and key adjustment and all the other stuff about that key take a look at this video up here in the corner uh I'll link the the video this key versus the CW Morse key it goes over all that stuff now there are two pertinent Dimensions we're going to talk about in relation to this key in comparison with this key and that will be the weight and the paddle spacing so if you remember this key weighed 41 G and it was 84,000 of an inch across the paddles okay so I'm not going to reiterate all of the in intricacies about this key right it's it's aluminum it's got your paddle adjustments there magnetic return adjustment it's super light it's very open okay so that's something to keep in mind when we talk about field use sometimes having a key that's wide open is bad right it's going to get full of stuff however it can also be good which we'll talk about like for instance if you get this thing packed full of snow this key is going to be easier to clean out than the other one is but it's going to get Pack full of snow easier than the other one is so there are some advantages and disadvantages but let's take a look at the bamit tech tp3 I'm going to go ahead and unplug this cable now that's one of the things I like about the tp3 is it does have an audio jack okay so this does have a removable cable which I prefer so this key uh if you remember the SPX this guy is made by uh Larry n Zera they're made in St Louis Missouri they're 140 bucks and $5 shipping if I remember correctly hard to get the tp3 uh in its standard form which I also own this is the stay wild Limited Edition key these are only available for short periods of time during the year uh this key comes from Germany it's made by a guy Nam Marcus uh they're €61 I forget what shipping was but it was about 15 bucks and I think you just charge just a straight $161 you just converted Euros directly into Dollars without doing the doing the the conversion rate which is nice because that actually made it a little cheaper um so this key is slightly more expensive um but it's buil at aluminum it's got aluminum paddles it's got a very thick nice acrylic top again it does have a 3 and half mm Jack on the bottom we have four very strong magnets this particular key like I said this is a limited edition key uh these keys were made in 2043 so if you look at the date right there you can see this key isn't made for another 19 years uh we actually got a deal on these because they were mismarked so this key is really a fantastic key uh let's take a look at some of the dimensions on this thing and again if you want the dimensions for the SPX key take a look at the SPX video so the body of this key is uh 1.97 in the overall length from the Jack to the end of the paddles is 2.93 5 in it is 777 th000 of an inch thick and 1377 inches wide all right now one thing about this key it has these rubber covers over the paddles they're nothing more than Automotive vacuum caps that's literally all these are all right they come with these on the key that covers up the paddles now I leave them on there in the winter because it keeps the key from getting cold but in the summer I'll take them off I like the feeling of the aluminum better and it makes this key a lot sharper if you get one of these it's going to feel a little soft when you send on it that that's the give from these caps when you take those off this key is actually quite positive it's not quite as positive as this key this key is a little more positive when you send on it but this one's very good okay it just feels a little different like I said I leave those on during the winter uh to keep the paddles from from freezing my fingers off now if we look at the paddle spacing on this key it is about 450,000 of an inch all right so the other key was 840 you can literally take the paddles on this key and put them in between paddles on this key right it's that much of a difference now this one's actually a little too narrow and this one's actually a little too wide 58s of an inch like that's what's on this ur5 CDX right here that's about my sweet spot all right so this one's actually a little too narrow this one's actually a little wide but I can send on both of them no problem now let's take a look at what this tp3 weighs all right because that matters sometimes and put these caps back on not GNA worry about getting them seated too well we'll get them back on there all right so like I said that SPX weighed 41 gram so we're going to weigh this key we're going to weigh it with the cable because the cable's attached to the SPX and you can't really use the key without a cable so we will weigh it with the cable just to make things in Apples to Apples comparison so the key and the cable together are 82 gram so it's double the weight of the SPX so that's something to consider this is kind of a chunker this key is not ultra light all right uh it is more robust than this key this key is very light very delicate this key is a lot more robust if you're looking for Ultra lightweight this is probably better now can you go lighter than this sure you could go like an n6 tiny paddle I have one of those that's great or like a k6 key k3d printed paddle or something but for like a really nice key this is probably about as light as you're going to get now on this tp3 there are some things you've got to consider so when you go to make adjustments on this key it comes with an allen wrench right there are four four set screws in the bottom next to the magnets these magnets are very strong I have a Jewelers block that I can attach this to and I can use it kind of like a base station key those four little Allen screws unlock the adjustments for the paddle Gap and the Magnetic return so you loosen those and then you've got two Flathead screws here in the back and two Flathead screws here in the front the ones in the back adjust the magnetic tension the ones in the front adjust the paddle Gap but here's the thing this screw and this screw on the right adjust the left hand paddle if you look at the paddle it comes up and over the screw back here and this screw on the front adjust the right paddle it's backwards so when you go to adjust this that's going to throw you for a loop because you're going to be making paddle adjustments and you're going to be like man why is that not changing and then you check this one and it's super loose or something remember it adjusts the opposite side okay so that's just something to keep in mind with this key that threw me the first time I used mine now this key is enclosed you can see that it is trying to get that back on there as best I can for now you can see this key is pretty much fully enclosed the only place it's open is here in the front you can see your contacts right there they're brass uh you could theoretically get dirt or snow or something packed in there and it make the key unusable but it's a lot less likely than this key because this key is wide open that being said if I get a bunch of snow in this key it's going to be a whole lot easier to clean out than this one because this one only is open in the front you'd almost have to take this acrylic top off to clean it out um so that's something to consider so let's let's take a look at what it's like to send on these keys so we'll start with the SPX I've got my kx2 here I have a dummy load on it but I shouldn't need it because I have the box turned off so we'll go ahead and plug the key in the radio make sure we've got enough we we should be able to hear this so turn that up just a little bit so this key is very crisp very sharp very nice to send [Music] on all right um super nice to send on very precise it is a little small to hold on to I find it a little more comfortable though um this key has more rounded edges the bottom Edge on this tp3 is a little sharper and this key is a little wider and I have pretty small hands so I find that a little bit sharp I find this one a little more comfortable if you got big hands though this key is awfully awfully small all right so let's swap Keys we'll go ahead and put the tp3 on there and again um I find on this key that if I hold it a little more vertically it's easier to sound that because if you look at how small those paddles are compared to the paddles on the SPX they're tiny all right and because they're tiny and they're close together I find that if I hold this a little more vertical I actually send on it better all right um super nice to send on very crisp like I said it feels a little mushy with those caps on there though so like I said if you buy one of these and you find it it feels a little mushy take those off and see what you think um but overall it's a nice key to send on um you know it's like I said it's a little narrow so like when I squeeze key it's a little narrow to squeeze key I do it but but it is a little narrow I find it a little easier with a little bit wider paddle paddle Gap and like I said those those paddles are awfully small so that is something to consider all right um so let me go ahead and kill the radio here and let's let's go ahead and talk about these two keys who they're for strengths and weaknesses if I can pick a winner I can't I can tell you right up front there's not going to be a winner between these two keys um I think for most people the tp3 is probably a better choice for a number of reasons a they're available right this you can have in about two weeks well the basic version of this you can't get the green one but the the the gray and red one you can get in about two weeks this guy's really hard to get this is a little more delicate key right this is this is a little more robust you can kick this one around a little more not worry about it all right it does have magnets on the bottom so if you're somebody who wants to attach it to a base it's much easier with this key than it is with this key right this key does have it does come with uh 3M it's kind of like velcro or you can see there are holes in the bottom that are tap they're Al they go right through you there on the top too you could mount it to something with those as well but it's easier to mount this it's got magnets on you're ready to roll uh however if you're somebody who's looking to go real light this key is a better choice this key is like I said twice as heavy this key is a little lighter well it's it's half as heavy and I find it to be a little more precise to send on I find it a little bit crisper and nicer to send on and I like how big the paddles are I don't like the space I I wish these were a little narrower um but I actually prefer a little bit wider over a little bit narrower that's just me again that's going to be different for everybody but I send perfectly fine on both these keys I think I send a little better on this key than I do on this key um I I you couldn't ask me to just choose one I guess if if I had to only choose one that'd be a hard question I guess my question would be what am I going to do with it if it's going to be my only key that I have to do everything with I'm probably going to take this guy because I could use it in the shack easier because I can stick it to a base if you said it was going to be your only field portable key that you had to do everything with I'd probably take this guy just because it's lighter it's a little more packable so if I was doing like hike up sodas and stuff I mean it's you're only talking grams right but it's this is still several ounces heavier than this guy is okay um so like I said they're both fantastic Keys you can't go wrong with either one of them lighter a little more delicate a little crisper to send on heavier um a little more robust a little bit uh a little bit more tolerant to things like dirt and snow uh maybe not quite as precise uh but it's pretty pretty precise this key is by no means no means a slouch it is very very very precise like I said I feel like this one's just a tad bit more precise that and that's a little subjective but that's just me uh so like I said you can't go wrong with either one of these keys if you can get your hands on either one of them do it like I said you're going to have a lot easier time getting that than you will this and I think for most people that's probably the key you're probably going to want to go with just because it is less delicate it's a little more uh versatile right this guy is is a kind of a one-trick pony it's super lightweight little hard to hold on to um you know this is easier to hold on to you can put it on a magnetic base things like that so both fantastic Keys um again I have two of these and I have a second key from Larry when I get that I will compare this key to that um but yeah bam Tech tp3 amazing key n0 s SPX also an amazing key probably the two best portable field keys that I've used thus far um I mean there are keys out there like the Bali traveler the bagali adventure the problem I have with both of those keys well The Traveler is awfully big for what it is and it's very light so you can't use it like for instance My Expedition right my Bal Expedition this key weighs about 110 billion pounds so it doesn't move around the traveler moves around right so and it's awfully big for what it is it's also expensive the adventure isn't really designed to be held in your hand it's designed either to be mag mounted on the base that it comes with or uh the adapter for the kx2 or the 705 or something like that and it's also obscenely expensive however I would like to try one but I think the this style key suits my operating style better so at any rate folks uh like I said both fantastic Keys can't go wrong with either at the end of the day suit buy the one that suits your operating style I think for most people this is probably going to be the key you're going to want to buy just because it's way more available and it's a little more robust and it's a little more versatile but like I said if you're like me and you're somebody who wants real light and you want a key that feels amazing to send on this would be the key to buy I think so at the end of the day like I said both amazing keys can't really pick a winner you can't go wrong with either one all right so thanks again everybody for watching I really do appreciate it until the next one 73