so ive had my IC-7300 for about four years now and honestly it's been a great radio, no real complaints, but i keep looking at the IC-7610 and the Kenwood TS-890S and wondering if the jump is actually worth it. my shack is pretty basic, just the 7300, an LDG auto tuner, and a dipole up about 35 feet. i mostly do SSB on 40 and 20, some 17m when the band cooperates, and maybe 10-15 hours a week operating time.

the thing is i dont really do contesting, maybe i'll jump in a state qso party once or twice a year but nothing serious. a buddy of mine keeps telling me the 7610 is a massive step up especially for weak signal work and the dual watch is really useful once you get used to it. but im looking at like $1500-1800 more than what id get selling the 7300 used and i just dont know if id actually notice the difference in day to day operating.

has anyone made that jump and felt like it was genuinely worth it or is this just rig envy talking

honestly? for what you're describing it's probably rig envy. the 7300 is not holding you back on 40 and 20 SSB with a dipole. now if you were running weak signal digital modes or doing serious contest operating where you're trying to pull calls out of a pileup the roofing filter difference between the 7300 and something like the 890S or 7610 starts to matter more. but casual SSB a few hours a week, you'd spend six months going wow this is nice and then it'd just be your radio that you use.

the 7610's dual watch is genuinely useful, i'll give your buddy that, especially if you like to monitor two bands at once or watch a DX frequency while working a pileup on another. but that's about the use case for it. if you've got $1500 burning a hole i'd throw it at a better antenna before i'd upgrade that radio. a 7300 on a good antenna will smoke a 7610 on a dipole strung low every time.

i went from a 7300 to the TS-890 last year and the receiver really is noticeably better on crowded band conditions, like during a contest weekend when 40m is a wall of signals the 890 just picks things apart cleaner. but im a pretty active contester so that matters to me. for what you're saying your use is, probably hard to justify unless you just want new gear, which is a valid reason too honestly, no shame in it