jamulc wrote:

If
it's all it purports to be, then it seems that its performance could
well be a notch or two above the '2010, SW77, and Sat 700.

I'll be surprised if this turns out to be the case, but I'd love to be
surprised! I really hope this is correct.

The $500
price tag might seem a bit much to foot, but let's face it, it's not a
matter of whether or not its performance is superior to a similarly
priced R-75 but rather whether one is in need of a high quality and
truly-portable portable, laden with numerous features not to be found
in the under $200 class that dominates the portable scene.

Given what I've heard so far about its lack of a handle, size and
overall construction, it doesn't sound like something you'd want to lug
around a lot.


Let's face
it, the SW77 retailed at $469.96 in its day (and it only had two
bandwidth filters and certainly had no passband offset).

Very true. And as much as I love the SW77--as it's an excellent
portable--there's no way in *(&^ is should have sold for $469.96. But
note: it wouldn't have been worth more money if it had had more filters
and a passband offset. We think about these features as though they can
be slapped onto just any radio and function properly, but in my
experience this just isn't so. Put four filters on just about any
portable and you will not have a significantly better radio. You have
to have an underlying receiver that can do justice to these features.
This is my beef with the way a lot of portables are marketed and sold.
They have all kinds of junk on them in the way of "features", but all
of these really cool features are attached to....a mediocre radio that
can't even begin to do them justice. Frankly, I'd rather not have all
the bells and whistles if they're just going to be useless appendages;
and if the manufacturer skipped the bells and whistles, they'd probably
be able to sell you the receiver at a reasonable price.

Steve