so ive been going back and forth on this for about two months now and i keep changing my mind. currently running a cheap baofeng handheld in the truck just clipped to the dash which honestly works fine for local repeaters but i want something actually mounted properly. the two radios im looking at are the yaesu FT-7900R and the icom ID-5100A.

the 7900 is cheaper and i know a few guys at the club run them without any complaints, but the 5100 has the D-STAR stuff built in and there's actually a D-STAR repeater maybe 20 miles from here that gets decent use. my question is really whether D-STAR is worth the extra money for just doing local and maybe some travel. i dont do any serious digital modes or anything like that, mostly just ragchewing and checking into the tuesday night net.

also slightly worried about the install on the 5100 because the touchscreen head looks like it might be a pain to mount somewhere useful in my F-150. anybody dealt with that? the 7900 seems more straightforward.

had the 7900 in my silverado for about four years and honestly it just works, nothing fancy but thats kind of the point. the faceplate separation cable is long enough to tuck the body under the seat which keeps everything clean. only gripe is the display isnt the easiest to read in bright sunlight but you get used to it.

never used D-STAR enough to say if its worth the price difference, the one repeater near me never has anyone on it so that kind of killed my interest. if your local D-STAR machine is actually active that changes things though, id probably ask around and see if anyone in your area actually uses it regularly before paying the premium. sometimes those repeaters are technically up but nobody's actually keying them up.

I have the 5100 in my Tacoma and the head unit mounting was honestly fine once I got a RAM mount setup sorted out. there's a spot on the dash where it sits pretty naturally and the cable is long enough to run it where i needed. touchscreen in a moving vehicle sounds sketchy but in practice i mostly use the knobs anyway so its not really an issue.

the D-STAR thing is genuinely nice if the repeater near you is active, i use it a fair bit when traveling because you can look up reflectors and link into stuff from on the road. but if youre just doing tuesday night nets and local chat the 7900 will do everything you need for less money and theres nothing wrong with that. i'd probably go 5100 just because it gives you room to grow into the digital stuff but thats just me.