A great side by side review. I’ve had the IC7800 since 2008. It is still performing and never fails to impress. Thank you for taking the time for this demonstration. M0DSK

Finally we come to a comparison of two great radio's well said Bob

Great job! Excellent comparison

Pulled the trigger and got a 7851. Soon as I powered it up I started receiving a transmission in the 40 meter band from North Carolina, about 3000 miles away. Here's the intriguing part. I hadn't hooked it up to the antenna yet. Yes, I would say it can pull in those hard to receive signals. Can't wait to see what it does with an antenna hooked up! The only downside is, I think I got a hernia getting it out of the box. It is a heavy unit.

Hitting the Multi button top right near the screen will net RF pwr-Mic gain, Digi sel ,notch-notch activation and width and Monitor. Likewise hitting the quick button on the bottom brings you to a sub menu that has a "drive gain" selection that pops up a mini menu as previous mentioned.

As always a great fair side by side comparison, so a huge thank you for that Bob. As a current 7610 owner coming up from the 7300, I can see where the 7851 excels now. In truth I’m very satisfied with the 7610. However if the day ever comes I would get the 7851 but I would need to be out of the urban environment that I’m currently in. I’d want that radio on the air far away from pesky neighbors and their electrical noise to fully enjoy that low noise floor.

I owned a 7610 (upgrade from a 7300) and it's absolutely fantastic. I could however not get used to the graphic screen menu, there are to many steps to get to whatever setting you want. I now own a TS 990 which has knobs and buttons for everything and I personally love that. The 7851 is absolutely gorgeous and I'm sure it is a fantastic performer. Nice video Bob! Thanks! 73

Very nice video. I have watched it many times. The 7610 is jumps and leaps from what I had in the past. TS480, Icom7100, Icom7410. I can run the 7610 and I very seldom have someone I can not contact. I use the RX ant. with a RX only Mag loop. This alone was the biggest jump in me getting around local noise. Before I could not find any way around it. Its only 100watts, but it feels like much more compared to my older radios. I do have 600watt amp , but I never use it. I havent turned it on in 4-6 months. This radio just gets the contacts. And once you get the radio, understand how and what you need to do. It is the best thing I have ever used on HF. 73

10 band buttons on the 7610 that coulda been dual purpose with a long press. That would have cut short some of the menu intensity. I like the 7300 button complement better. Icom should have kept all of those & added to them. I also notice on my 7610 display that some letters & numbers do not render very well. 2s & 3s and vertical lines characters are not fully rendered with missing pixels or washed out. Looks like the 7851 is more like my TS890S which has a slightly larger & better quality screen. Great review as always.

Thanks for the interesting review, Robert. I heard some harmonic distortion on the audio from the 7851 on CW and single tones.......

Nice review. Thanks. I've got my eye on a new 7851. Expensive? Yes... but only live once! 😊 Having aquired a 7800 a year or so ago, and loving the ease of operation, the upgrade to the 7851 would be fantastic. I have both the 7800, and a Yaesu FTDx101D (three years old). Both radios are fantastic, but over the last couple of years, operating both (daily), I have come to really like the 7800 better. The audio is much "easier" on the ears (the 101D is a bit harsh), and having all of the needed controls right up front (without touching menu screens) is really handy. Of course, the 101D is much improved in the selectivity, and the scope [speed] is a huge improvement over the 7800, but i sure like running the 7800! Plus, it's nice having the 200w on-tap when I don't want to fire up an amplifier. That's why I'm leaning towards a new 7851, and probably selling the 101D. 73 from west Texas!

Great review and an extremely fair comparison! I own both rigs and enjoy them both. The selectivity of the 7851 is evident mainly in contesting CW conditions on crowded bands. The APF seems to work better on the 7610 but you can designate the digi-sel to tune the APF like the 7610. I prefer the 7851 ergonomics over the 7610 - the menu system of the 7610 is a bit confusing to me. Bob - enjoy both rigs! They are the cream of the cream!

Very nice video, Robert! I own a 7610 and is`s a newer style of radio with dito menu etc. You love it or you hate it..

I love these radio's but I am extremely happy with my 7300!

$10K can provide some wonderful antennas and a great linear amplifier. Considerations for those of us with an overall budget.

We need some of that old intro music back, or outro music... :) Icom told me they made the LCD display change around mid 2020 after lots of testing to make sure this batch wouldn't fail and by November 2020 all new radios arriving at dealers would have the new display, unfortunately there is no serial number cut off, i.e. no way to tell which display is in the radio by serial number. I owned an "older" radio with the old display and never had an issue so your mileage may vary. the new display has a slightly cooler color temp whereas the older one is slightly warmer with a light green tint, I think the older one looks more classy but now we're splitting hairs here. :) 73 from high atop the the RLM building , I can't remember my riff-raff number, ova ova.

@Robert Nagy - Hi Robert, have you noticed on your 7610 if it has any drive gain issues with 7610 not putting out a full 100 watts PEP on SSB at all? most people seem to be getting 30-40 watts SSB and if they do adjust it higher than 50%, the TX signal seems splattery. I'm torn between the 7610 and going back to a 590SG

Thanks for this video. A couple comments: I listened several times through each receiver demonstration and I could tell zero advantages towards the 7851. This is pretty common from testing I've done as well on the bands in the real world with various radios. All the sensitivity in the world means very little on HF when were most often noise limited, or maybe more accurately, interference limited. I good directional antenna can be more helpful sometimes! I was hoping to see how the 7851 was better dealing with that with its selectivity, but didn't really see that here. I even preferred the 7610's CW filtering and sound over what I heard, as did you I believe. I have made a career field testing of various types of radios in live conditions over the decades and have seen in most cases, the highest rated receivers in the lab don't really make all that much difference in the real world, and some actually fall short for various reasons (some you alluded to). I do own a 7610 now, and have for a couple years. I have a few contests and Field Days under my belt with it, and agree 100% about the Digi-Sel tracking bandpass filters being absolutely crucial in a multi-multi environment. Tremendous difference to the point the other stations' desense from other bands is completely mitigated. I also own a Flex, and I find I spend most of my time on the 7610, but I do find some of the features of the Flex handy at other times. AM on the Flex (transmit and receive) is far superior, for instance. Graphical filter adjustment is a breeze as well. I would love to see Icom integrate graphical filter on the 7610's screen using the USB mouse on the rig. Lastly, I don't follow the comments about mic gain (one press of the multi-knob gets you there), and the same with the VFO/Memory change (one press of the Quick button gets you there). I have had several Icoms in the past, and still run a couple 7000s for mobile and portable use sometimes, but the menu are quite different on the 7610, yet I find it far easier than most other rigs to use. Long presses of on screen buttons for example take you right where you need quickly without having dedicated HW buttons, and change based on mode. Very handy, IMHO. Press & hold the S-meter to get the to multi-function meter quickly from the large spectrum scope, for example. Press & hold the M. Scope button to get back. Press & hold the AGC on screen button to get to its adjustment screen, and again, press & hold the M. Scope or Exit button to get back. Very easy to navigate around things you need quickly using the touch screen buttons. There may be a lot of short cuts you're missing out on! Thanks again and 73!

Bob, what did you decide with the IC-7851? I have a IC-7851 on order, because I have a penchant for big transceivers, but sometimes find myself second guessing (I already have a TS-990S and Yaesu 5K in the station). The figures for the FTDX-101 look great on paper and on Sherwood's List, but reading your comments about the FTDX-101 vs the IC-7610, you pointed out some flaws I couldn't live with either. I don't see too much in the pipeline these days from the Japanese. The K4 seems nice, but its seems sparse and utilitarian.

Hi Bob. Nice review. You didn’t mention the fiber optics on 7851. I have had an IC 7851 for several years. You also didn’t mention that the 7851 is hand crafted. You did mention the 1.2 roofing filter it’s an outstanding feature that 7610 can’t compare with. If you are into contesting or chasing DX the 7851 is worth the money. If you are a casual operator the 7610 is all you need. 73. Dave WA6DKN. Again good review.

Szervusz kedves Robi ! Ismét nagy örömmel hallgattam élvezetes előadásodat. Különlegesen tehetséges vagy rádió összehasonlításban. Ezzel együtt megerősítetted korábbi saját megfigyelésemet, miszerint a fejlettebb rádiók nem feltétlenül kellemesebb hangúak. Jól emlékszem, az özönvíz előtt volt egy IC-751-em. Nagyon régi, eléggé zajos, a szelektivitása sem volt jó, de a hangja sokkal jobb volt mint az SDR vevőké. Mai napig is lenyűgöz az FT-817 rendkívüli érzékenységével és hangjával - analóg persze - mindaddig nagyszerű vevő, amíg meg nem jelenik egy erős állomás frekvenciában közel. Remek összehasonlítás, köszönöm !

Did you sell the 7851? Am I crazy enough to buy it?

Great Videos Bob, I was thinking I'd try a 7610 and give it a whirl, Im a Elecraft Guy moved over from Icom 20+ years ago. After watching, I think I'm gonna stay put... to many menus BTW The 10 mhz ref clock you mentioned at 3:13 is for frequency stability, not to set the CLOCK... Thanks for saving me buyers remorse--73! K2WW

hi could you if possible do a revue of a sunsdr dx and maybe compare it to other sdr radios

Just think of the antenna system you could put up with the difference in price between the two.

Robert: In the video you said you used a studio quality mic and did not notice much difference. I was wondering, what mic were you using and if you were using a mixer and what brand/model you were using. I usually use headsets because I am legally deaf, but I have the basic setup for a studio mic and wanted to see what you suggested.

Nice kitty.

Great comparison. One error, though. Being a touch screen doesn't change the blacks. Samsung OLED phones have the deep blacks and they're touch screens. The key is OLED and calibration.

i had both radios and sold the IC 7610. the IC 7610 failed because of my 3 element for 40 fullsize. The IC 7851 won in all disciplines....The RX from the IC 7610 goes under unter my Full-Size Yagi... OW OW Oh Mama, Help me :D

Most of the Top HF/50MHz SDR Radios use a Mixer . All Yaesu's Top FTdx10, , FTdx101D, FTdx 101MP , Icom's Top SDR 7851 & Elecraft Model K4HD & Kenwood TS-990S, TS-890S, TS-590SG All use Mixers in there top HF radios!

unfair comparison, I would like to test them in high noise environment inside the cities

I would get a apache labs or flex instead of a 7851, higher score on sherwood engineering site and less expensive... I do not think any radios can be justified at that price, top radio on sherwood is more than half the price and better speced...

Bob Nagy I Have exact same Black Cat!! Wow, John Bernays just Wagging The Cat atcha! Yes, I am still alive (74 Years Old ) and finally got a Room where I can Make SWL receiver out side 5 Windows and a Fire Escape high up Top of Building facing East. I let my Ham Technician License retire 11-28-2020 because I thought the Hotel would Never Put me into a Good Room, but after 12 Years I am Ready, problem is Senility. I ordered the Tecsun H501 Digital Worldband AM/FM Shortwave Longwave Radio with SSB Reception, Dual Speakers, & MP3 Player, Matte Black for SWL. Tecsun H501 Digital Worldband AM/FM Shortwave Longwave Radio with SSB Reception, Dual Speakers, & MP3 Player, Matte Black Buy it again

The 7851 sounds like garbage compared to the 7610 and also I wouldn’t doubt old Sherwood makes a few bucks off his reviews. Nobody wants to admit the SDR sounds better for a 6th of the price. A few more shiny knobs a maybe a micro hair less noise. But in no comparison have I seen where the 7851 outshines the 7610. $14k sure I could buy one but my wife would kick my ass. $2800 I’m ok and I’m happy

Have been enjoying your videos. Thank you 73 de K4QJS