Novice-Friendly Radio Blog by M7MCQ: IC-705 REVIEW LONG TERM
What should I compare it to? Well the truth is, there's nothing currently on the market to compare - that's a fact! Yaesu have dropped their old FT817/818 range and it was way out of date anyway. The Elecraft KX3 was a great alternative if you could live without all the features of the 705, but they're next to impossible to get hold of in the UK and the price has just gone plain silly anyway!
If you put the IC-705 and the KX3 side by side in a shack at home, you might be able to detect that the KX3 is slightly better at receiving really weak signals, but for the other 99% of the time, when you've driven, walked, hiked to the perfect take-off spot and set up your antennas, there's little practical difference between a KX3 and the 705. Or between a 705 and an 817. In fact, my $89 (tr)uSDX will probably get you as many QSO's in the log as the others from the top of a hill!
Over the last couple of years I've relied almost exclusively on my IC-705, using it outdoors, on hillsides, in the back garden, in a park, at the caravan, by the seaside and even at home as a base station. It's been utterly reliable and surprisingly tough even though it's not been wrapped in cotton wool. Unlike my Elecraft, I've never really worried about it - I guess I look upon it as a bit of a workhorse. If it gets a little scratch or a ding, it doesn't really matter. I don't believe it would substantially affect its resale price either.
