Anyone got an ICOM IC-7200

[Wingfoot]

I'm looking for opinions on the above radio, I want a portable unit that can double as a fixed station in between road trips, I don't have the funds to buy numerous expensive rigs.

I also quite like the look of the Yaesu 857 as another option, so opinions on that or any other alternatives are welcome, providing they allow for off grid operation.

Cheers
Wf

[Hamradioop]

Icom generally produces good radios, my favorite was the IC7400 which I found to be an excellent all rounder. The 7200 has an Average rating: 4.8/5 on Eham http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6933 so is well rated by owners.

Eham Reviews Summary for Yaesu FT-857 - all flavors Yaesu FT-857 - all flavors Reviews: 459 Average rating: 4.5/5 full info at http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3046?page=1 I am not a real fan of Yaesu, i find the will not tune an antenna as well with the built in atu as Icom and the DSP is not as Good. I have seen these built into ali flight cases for portable operations.

My current HF station is a Kenwood TS590 SG which has very good reviews. which scores 4.8/5 on Eham, which is mainly to do with the ATU. Sherwood engineering data tables can be found here http://www.sherweng.com/table.html#keye which give performance data for Receivers.

[Briggs 2.0]

Off-grid, I power my 857 using a Lucas 22AH gel battery. Lasts for days on 50w. No tuner in this one though.

[Wingfoot]

Thanks guys, some very useful info, just what I was looking for.

eham looks a good site, I've not seen it before, I can see me spending some time on there.

cheers

Wf