MFJEnterprises Original MFJ-557 Deluxe Morse Code Practice Oscillator Straight Key w/Volume Control

The item was received with broken parts and returned with no enjoyment.

Works great. Will buy again.

The battery cover broke apart around the area where the small screws hold the cover in place. I think the screws must have been over tighten at the factory because the cover was already splintered around the screws when I received the item. I placed painter's tape around the cover to hold it in place. Fortunately, it has not affected how the item functions.

I have learned a lot of CW in the short time that I've had the MFJ-557. I think being able to actually hear my morse as I pound it out on this has really helped me start taking off in my CW journey. That being said, I was pretty horified when I opened up the cover to put a 9 volt in it. Holy moly, it's an absolute mess of wires, hot glue, and tape. The speaker is held on by tape to the plastic housing... just so cheap lol. I mean, I paid 90 bucks for this, and to be honest I don't even think I would expect that kind of internal build quality from something even $50 bucks. Overall, I am enjoying it though.

So the product works, but I feel for 80 something bucks, it was made very cheap, and was poorly put together. The metal arm was badly bent / warped and had to be fixed. When opening the black box, to place the 9volt battery in, the speaker and electrical stuff was rattling loose inside the box... There is nothing that keeps the battery from rattling around. The speaker is only being held together by tape, and the circuit board is being held by hot glue and the knob control. I ended up doing some soldering and fixing what I can inside. Also replaced the very cheap speaker with something much better, as the speaker. Yes the tool works, and is OK for beginners, but for the price, I think it's a bit too high for the quality you receive.Maybe they'll design something better in the future.

The key took a while to arrive, but came well packed and once I put a battery in, instantly ready to go. The key handle was quite sharp around the key handle edges and uncomfortable and I had to file down those sharp plastic edges. Even then the flatness of the key is uncomfortable for me. The key appears to have acceptable tolerances, although taking a while to find the right tolerances for me personally. I definitely like it over all the other cheap rubbish on the market. It’s ok if you just want to practice on a budget. Otherwise buy a real key you will use in transmission and get a feed back system, or simply connect any key to this unit for an instant Morse practice. All in all, not bad, but I feel a little expensive, but I suppose get a better quality than most of the crap practice keys out there. This is the real thing to practice with though!