so ive had my TS-590SG for going on 7 years now and its been a solid radio, no complaints really. but i keep looking at the IC-7300 and wondering if i should just make the switch. my shack is pretty basic, just the kenwood into a LDG tuner and a dipole up about 35 feet, nothing fancy. i do mostly SSB on 40 and 20, occasional 10 when the band cooperates.

the thing is i dont really have a good reason to replace it. the 590 works fine. but every time i see the 7300s waterfall display i get a little jealous. is that a dumb reason to spend 700 bucks or whatever the difference would be after selling the kenwood? im not doing any digital modes or contesting, just ragchewing mostly. would i actually notice a difference on receive or is this just shiny object syndrome and i should leave well enough alone

honestly? the 590SG has a better roofing filter setup than the 7300, at least on paper. the DSP on the icom is great and the waterfall is addicting once you start using it, ill give it that. but for ragchewing on 40 you probably wont notice a huge difference in actual on air performance. ive used both and the kenwood just feels more solid somehow, hard to explain. if you were doing contesting id say maybe reconsider but for casual SSB work you might just be chasing the shiny thing. that said if you can sell the 590 for a decent price and only have to make up like 200-300 bucks out of pocket, its not a terrible move just for quality of life in the shack.

i made almost this exact switch last year and i dont regret it. the waterfall changes how you operate, like you start actually seeing whats happening on the band instead of just scanning. found a clear frequency way faster during a pileup last month just from glancing at the display. but yeah if you're purely ragchewing and happy with how the kenwood sounds there's no urgent reason. the 7300 SDR core is really good though, the noise reduction actually works without sounding like you're talking through a fan.