Cheap Chinese paddles from eBay - AVOID

[MI0PYN]

Edit:- eBay link to image no longer valid 23/11/25

I took a punt on one of these, thinking that it might be ok for portable use whenever, and I got the medium sized one.
I hadn't read the description that says they need to be self assembled so was surprised to get a bag of parts eventually, but putting it together wasn't too difficult, after looking at the pictures in the listing again. There were no instructions.

The good:
It is a nice size when assembled.
It came with 4 small magnets for the base.

The bad:
It is made up of rather roughly 3D printed parts, and some machine screws which appear to be brass. However, the screws fix directly to the plastic and have to tap their own thread, which means it is not a good long term secure fit.
When assembled, the paddles wobble and rotate in directions they're not supposed to. The paddles are screwed vertically to the base with machine screws, but there is lateral movement at the top and the feel when squeezing the tops of the paddles is more sloppy than when squeezing the bottom.
The central post that the paddles make contact with is screwed up vertically from the bottom, but on mine it wasn't actually perpendicular to the base and as a result the adjustment was poor and not the same for both sides and it felt uneven when using it.

Overall:
I know this was made to a (very low) price, and it shows. The thing is that it took 6 weeks to get to me, came without any instructions and to make it actually feel nice to use would take more work than the key is worth. It's interesting as a curiosity, but that's it.

 

[foggycoder]

Err, I wouldn't say "AVOID" in capital letters, myself. Maybe "Caution" in sentence case, though...

I have exactly the same paddle and bought it for exactly the same reasons! I can concur with all of MI0PYN's comments, and make one additional one:
If you use more than light pressure on the paddles (for instance, if you're a learner - the type of person who might buy this paddle) then the central contact bolt is tipped sideways by that paddle pressure on it (the plastic at the base is not sufficiently rigid). This causes the central contact bolt to contact the other paddle, causing unwanted dits and dahs.

The good thing about this paddle is that it got me started and, through the assembly and the tweaking required to get it adjusted, I learnt how iambic paddles work. That experience was certainly worth £5. I then went on to purchase an £80 AME Porta-Paddle 2, confident in the knowledge gained from this cheap Chinese paddle.

So,

• if you are just starting out with morse code and want something (anything) to get started, and
• you take care to use a light touch on the paddles, and
• you don't want to spend much money just yet

this is worth £5 of your money.

If you find you enjoy morse code, you will certainly want to move onto something tastier (and therefore considerably more expensive). Experienced operators will, of course, get nothing out of this key. But they'll already know that.

 

[MI0PYN]

You're dead right of course, but as I'm just learning, light touch isn't something I've got yet  )

 

[foggycoder]

I've now done a simple mod to my cheap Chinese double paddle.

It's just adding a washer to the underside of the central contact bolt. This has the effect of stiffening the bolt and seems to completely eliminate the contact movement I experienced before I did the mod. There is now no need to use only light pressure, so this takes away one of my qualifiers for use of this key.

I'm not saying this key is now a good key, but it has gone up in my estimation. For the price and with this mod, I think it represents good value-for-money.