so ive been running an old kenwood ts-450s for like 12 years and honestly its still working fine but the waterfall envy finally got to me. been watching guys on youtube and at the club swap shows pulling up signals on the 7300 and it just looks... effortless compared to what im doing. i tune around blind basically, maybe with the pan adapter i cobbled together on the ts-450 but its clunky and not really integrated.

anyway i had the 7300 basically in my cart last night and then i started reading about the 7610 and now im just confused again. the price jump is significant, like 600-700 bucks more depending where you find it, and im not really a contester or anything. mostly do some dx chasing on 40 and 20, maybe some digital modes on weekends when i have time. would i even notice the difference in day to day use or is the 7610 genuinely worth it for a casual operator. the dual watch thing sounds cool but i dont know if ill actually use it.

also my shack is nothing special, dipoles up about 35 feet and an lp-100a wattmeter, so its not like im feeding this into some super antenna system. feel like maybe im overthinking this and should just get the 7300 and be done with it.

get the 7300 and dont look back. i had the exact same paralysis a couple years ago and i genuinely cannot imagine what i was agonizing over. the 7610 is a great radio but for what you're describing -- casual dx, some ft8 or whatever on weekends -- the 7300 does everything you need. the receiver is excellent, the waterfall is genuinely as good as people say, and the touch interface takes maybe a week to feel natural. the dual watch on the 7610 is neat but honestly unless you're doing serious SO2R style operating or contesting you'll forget the feature exists. i have a buddy running a 7610 and he barely uses it.

one thing i'll mention, the 7300 does run a little warm so make sure you have decent airflow in the shack. nothing dramatic but worth knowing. also grab the rs-ba1 software if you ever want to remote into it, works pretty well once you get it configured.

the 7300 is what i started on when i upgraded to HF and honestly the waterfall changed how i operate completely. like you actually learn band conditions way faster because you can see whats happening instead of just spinning the dial hoping. your ts-450 is a classic but yeah once you go SDR-style display its hard to go back.

cant speak to the 7610 comparison since ive never owned one but the 7300 community is huge so theres tons of help online if you run into anything weird with setup or digital modes.