WM-F701C which belt?

I just picked up a completely BNIB Sony WM-F701C with all accessories which has never been used.



After opening it up, the belt is completely gone (as expected). It otherwise seems totally flawless, no leakage, bad looking caps etc. Obviously might change when I actually get it working but for now it truly looks like it was manufactured yesterday not in 1988.

eBay seems to have 2 options.

1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/223469088352
2. https://www.ebay.com/itm/254441203114

Does anyone have any advice/experience from these sellers? Both seem to have very high ratings and the price is almost exactly the same. However, I know that belts which are even 1% off are going to produce bad results.

Huge thanks in advance! Can't wait to get this thing working again. Probably the best radio-equipped Walkman ever made, excepting the Panasonic RQ-S75V which has an HX-FG head but no Dolby-C.

 

Ok, I was in a bit of a rush so I went with #2, as a Google search and a few comments on other boards suggested a few lemons with the DeckTech belt.

#2 had also recently sold a few F701C belts all with positive feedback.

 

Let us know how you find the belt #2.

I had good experience with DeckTech belts and have used many of them. Please share the negative feedback you have found about it, it's always useful to know more perspectives.
It's to be mentioned the majority of walkman belts available nowadays are not identical to the original in terms of uniformity, hence having a bit higher w&f.
Then some mechanisms just don't perform as well as others, even if belt is perfect and they're fully serviced (cleaned, re-lubed).
Mention this because I think we need to take these facts into consideration in order to set a correct baseline expectation about w&f.

Some people have unrealistic expectations in regard to w&f, for example to be <0.1% WRMS on a belt drive unit.
While that can happen on some particular walkmans (usually with original belts), it's very rare and not something I would actually set as an expectation.

Have tried belts from seller at #2, they're ok but wouldn't rate them the best. For the 700 series I use either DeckTech or Marian's 64mm x 0.6mm.
Also, when I asked the seller #2 what average w&f he obtained with his belt on a certain device, he was unable to give me an answer, saying "Diffrent guys have obtained different results".

In regard to feedback keep in mind most buyers have low expectations, so the feedback only tells us the belts do work fine, but tell little to nothing about the w&f figure. This is true with all sellers.

 

Hey thanks for sharing your feedback. Maybe I should have waited.

This guy said that some of them are old, and possibly a bit stretched or worn: https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/lets-talk-belts.7168/
That said, now that I looked a lot harder, I see the reports for DeckTech are actually around 98% positive. Actually, these people say that the belts are particularly thick which can reduce W&F.
https://www.tapeheads.net/threads/decktech-belt-for-sony-walkman.89407/

I'll see how "bad" the belt is with the new test-tape that I ordered from ss72post on eBay. At least the ratings and reports seem to be really good. Though I won't know for sure until I test.
I also expect the F701C to probably need a little bit of an adjustment for speed as its never been used.

As you asked for feedback about #1 and provided good feedback about it, and less positive feedback (but not negative) of #2 could you share some examples why they're only "ok"? Just so the rest of us know what to expect with them, at least per your experience.
I will agree that the vague answer he gave you doesn't inspire confidence.

I had no idea that Marian sells some belts. Thanks a lot for posting.

EDIT: I cancelled the order from #2 and ordered the belt from Marian.

 

Some DeckTech belts I did found to look a bit old, but they worked fine and w&f was very good.
While the above mentioned ones will likely not last 20 years, they will last for many years to come.
Especially on rarer walkmans where demand is low won't expect all the belts to have been manufactured yesterday, at least not at this price.

The 98% positive feedback on DeckTech is because they have a lot more feedbacks (over 20.000), while Walkman Replacement Drive Belts has only 1500.
No matter how well a seller performs, the more they sell the more likely it becomes that some negative feedback will start to creep in. It's unavoidable.
Generally, as long as it's above 95-96%, I consider it good. When it gets closer to 90%, that is when I start to wonder if there really is a genuine problem.

Marian seems to not sell on ebay anymore, but I do remember he didn't have 100% positive feedback either.

Generally I prefer the belts to be of the same thickness as the original, which is the case with all DeckTech ones. It's why I prefer these for devices that use thicker (>0.6mm) belts.

The #2 I have used had visible non-uniformities and the W&F was not as good as with Marian or DeckTech belts, hence why I rated them only ok.
Also, one of them seemed a bit too tight compared to the other ones and required the tape speed to be re-adjusted.
But do keep in mind I only used a handful of these transparent belts, so can't really generalise.

 

Hi, if anybody still need belts, contact me, i have around 1500 mechanisms revised.
These are my ads in Argentina.
I could send worlwide with tracking number.
https://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/_CustId_238283572
Also follow me instragram: solucionesboombox

 

Thanks for sharing your belts! I think you would have much better luck selling these if you put the item names and their descriptions in English

 

Hi, I still don´t have ads on ebay..only selling in Argentina since 2019 through mercadolibre platform and directly.

 

@Matias I suggest creating a separate thread on the forum regarding your belts. This way more people will know about it.