so ive been running the 7300 for about 3 years now and honestly its been a great radio, no real complaints, but ive been reading a lot about the 7610 and the dual watch thing is starting to sound really useful especially during contests when i want to keep an ear on a second frequency while im working a pileup. plus the roofing filters on the 7610 are supposed to be noticeably better right

the thing is the 7300 already sounds pretty good to me and i dont do a ton of SO2R or anything serious enough to really justify the price difference. i picked up the 7300 used for like 850 and the 7610 is still sitting around 1700-1800 used depending on condition. thats a decent chunk of change for features i might not even use regularly

anyone made this jump and either regretted it or felt like it was totally worth it? my main operating is casual SSB, some FT8, and maybe 2-3 contests a year. shack is pretty basic, just the radio into a LDG tuner and then out to a trapped vertical

made basically the same move about 18 months ago and honestly for casual SSB and a handful of contests a year the 7300 probably wouldve been fine. the 7610 is a better radio no question, the roofing filters really do make a difference on a crowded 40m during a contest, but whether that difference is worth 900 bucks to you is really a personal thing

the dual watch is nice but i use it less than i thought i would. where i actually notice the upgrade is just sitting on a busy band during a pileup, stuff that would have caused me some AGC grief on the 7300 just kind of disappears. if you do upgrade just make sure you're running a decent antenna because the radio will outperform the vertical pretty quick and you might end up chasing that rabbit hole instead

the 7300 is genuinely hard to beat at its price point, ive said it before. if youre doing FT8 and casual SSB i really dont see the compelling reason to jump unless you just want the newer toy. not judging, sometimes thats reason enough lol. but technically speaking the receivers are both excellent for what you're describing and the real world difference on a trapped vertical is probably going to be minimal