don't some delkims not have drop back? like others

yes your right the delks have a full range on all settings, plus another thing is "no moving parts" meaning most alarms have a wheel that turn inside with little magnets. if yoou fish in freezing weather like we carpers often do, that wheel can or will freeze and not turn, so when your asleep in the tent you miss runs and get spooled. iv had the best of the fox alarms and didnt like them for 2 reasons, 1. they took those little photo battery's (size N) that i had to order cause i live out in the stix, and 2 i would get false beeps on windy days. if you get false beeps on a delkim you dont have it set right. it can be blowing 30+ and i will not get a beep untill a run. plus the delks have a on and off toggle switch that when you turn it to the + side and adjust the sensitivity it can be very sensitive or turn it to the - side and it can be that it takes a foot of line before it will even beep.

would you sacrifice one alarm for a while to upgrade in quality?

if i had a choice and was limited in money, i would get what i could afford, then save up for the good stuff like delks, then sell off the other stuff or keep them as a second setup or spares.

as far as i know they dont have a different tone for drop backs.

thats either cause there cheap alarms or 2 there not set correctly. lol

both fox and delkims are great alarms, you can pick up entry level fox's for cheaper than entry level Delks, might be a better option for you, now as far as pods go if you go cheap it will bite ya in the end, less adjustability means pod and rods tipping over in high winds, I suggest you really do some research prior to committing.

on a side note, some of the best alarms money can buy only have a on and off switch.

no sensitivity or tone

I'm pretty much set on 3 delkim EV plus but before I commit does anyone have an opinion on the optonic g2? About the same price range but the optonic come with a remote reciever. In most circumstances I'll never need a reciever but thought it may be nice to have when I've got the camper at the lake. Thanks.

recievers are great when you are fishing with friends and you are 30-40yards down the bank and cant really hear your alarms. Or when you are in the camper or bivvy away from the alarms.

I have receivers on both my Fox LXR's and my Delkims (using the ATT-X system on the Delkims and the Fox receiver for the Fox's) and can honestly say that I use them probably no more than two time a year.

I work on the principal that if I can't hear my alarms then I am too far away from the rods to fish effectively anyway.

Recievers aren't really a concern for me but if the optonic g2 is as good of an alarm as the delkim EV then I'd like to have the reciever.

I have heard both good and bad reports on the Optonic G2's, mostly good.

Never heard a bad word about Delkim EV's