If only I could find these kinds of deals 'up here'. I bought my IC-7300 new, before the last price reduction, and I still think it was a good deal. A couple of years ago? A very real possibility. If not, he was still happier than a 'pig in a garbage dump' for his luck.
It's a great time to be a ham!!! Good used equipment is Affordable and even news rigs are packed with features and lower cost. Enjoy
For some of us, older gear is just cooler. It doesn't matter if it doesn't work better, or even as well, or lacks features, or whether or not it's more reliable (though "more repairable" for me does go in with partly why it's cooler.) We just like it better. In fact I think of the radios I have I universally like the older ones better than the newer ones. I KNOW I vastly prefer operating my FT-990 over my FT-817nd + Ten Tec 100W amp. But I'd rather listen to my Mohawk than the FT-990. I like old things.
I bought a new TS-590SG almost as soon as it came out. It replaced an FT-757GXII. Regrets? None. It freed up a Signalink to give to my son. As radios go, however, it was not a revolutionary improvement over a 1986 era radio. The only two problems I ever had with the FT were that the internal battery for memory finally failed, and the "big knob" froze up. The knob was an easy 24 hour fix and the battery was simply worked around. It's still on the shelf as a backup. The FT is probably worth $250 to 300 (not for sale) and I will keep it as a backup until I run across a ham who can use it and needs it more than I do. If you are reading this, you are probably not that ham.
They needed to be killed. 600 dollars for a run-of-the-mill transceiver from the 90s? Those days are over.
What firmware updates from whom? I haven't heard of any updates from Yaesu, Kenwood, or Icom bricking their radios...
