I have been using an Astron RS20M since 1995 with 100 watt HF rigs and a dual band rig as well. I have never had any problems with it. I use it on CW, RTTY at 100watts, and SSB.
They are probably somewhat conservatively rated.

First thing to do is replace the internal battery.

Hi Sue.
I am experiencing the same thing.
It's a drag!!

A one dollar bill is green.
It is taking the place of a stamp for the return postage.
So, greenstamp.

Ya gotta start somewhere!
I was a nervous wreck for my first few contacts on CW as a novice.
It got better.

I have owned an FT-8100 since they first came out. It is a miserable radio! Mine has been back to Yaesu during warranty. More recently to MTS service. In between those times I have had every documented problem with it that there is!! Most I could repair myself. It works ok for now and is in the shack rather than the mobile. I like it when it works but wouldn't wish one on anyone.
The FT-8100 user group is here;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ft8100yaesu/?yguid=254630330
There is a lot of good info there about the FT-8100 that you will likely need sooner or later!
Some of the documented repair mods are not difficult.

So, you ran all the code elements together so they wouldn't make any sense and then try to make sense out of it.

Ya gotta quit smoking that stuff!

Spectrum displays like the Icom has look real neat but that's about it.
I have sat in front of an IC-756 Pro 3 for HOURS in contests on 80 meters and I probably never looked at the spectrum display after the first 10 minutes.
It never had any effect on what I found, or could hear to work.
Spectrum displays and panadapters are overrated as a useful feature in my opinion.
We are however visual creatures so it does have a lot of visual appeal to help sales.

The issues with the 746 rigs are well documented but there is still controversy regarding just where the problem actually is with IC151 sudden death syndrome.
What isn't documented is just how many people have had these problems and of course you hear the people with the problems complaining about them which gets a lot of attention. Just the way that is.
I have had a regular 746 I bought used and now a 746 Pro I bought new. Never had a problem with either. A friend of mine has had 2 of them with no problems as well. Maybe we got lucky, don't know.

Bottom line is that if you are unhappy with a rig, try a different one if you can afford to.
I have heard that there is a lot of crying in the Yaesu user groups too.
Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances!

After you have them worked and confirmed, they are all just "common stuff".

When you get to the point that everything you need that is left is an entity in which DXpeditioners will be imprisoned for life, kidnapped, killed in a civil war or EATEN by a large animal, THEN you will be REALLY stuck!!

Just wait until you get to 300 or so.
You could be "stuck" for a couple of YEARS!!

One thing you can do to keep ALL the printed QSLing costs down is to not have multi-page booklet style full color cards printed. Most cards just get checked in and end up in a box in a closet. If someone wants to pin it on the wall in the shack, they will probably do that if it is a new entity regardless of it being a fancy card or not.

If it is a new one for me (infrequent at 321 mixed) I don't care if a 5 year old scribbled it out with a crayon on a torn piece of lined notebook paper as long as the right info is there! If it isn't a new one, I care even less how it is done!!
If it is a new one, I will use the OQRS system, no problem.

Is the main issue with the buro the costs? It sounds like it is the labor.
If it is the cost, then at what point of reimbursement via donations is an acceptable level to go ahead and do the buro thing?
If there is no acceptable level other than being ahead of the game entirely, or the club isn't interested in the labor, then just say no as you seemed to have planned and accept whatever occurs as a result. Maybe it will all go over just fine, who knows? I know where I will place my bet on that though!

They better do more than "expect". They better do some careful planing for the costs. Of course that is what the OP is really all about, early planning stages and getting ideas etc.
It is going to be a lot of work and cost any way you look at it and of course everyone wants to party but nobody wants to clean!
It is probably more an issue of the labor and time involved than perhaps the cost of using the buro.
Many DXpeditions cost tens of thousands to do. If the cost of doing buro cards just cannot be met, maybe it is over the heads of those involved anyway. Factor it into the equation and try to make it work out financially. If it is more a problem of being labor intense, then you are on your own I guess.

Matt KC1XX sent out 23,815 cards to the various buros (not the ARRL outgoing) some years ago for $354 in shipping costs.
Yes it costs more now, not sure how much though.
Here is the story, ya just gotta have a lot of respect for them to tackle roughly 40,000 QSL's in total;
http://hamradio.ad1c.us/kc1xx_qsl.htm
There is a lot to be learned about "mass QSLing" from this article.
Talk about man-ing up!!
It could be that he looked at it as more of a challenge than a burden!

Number 4 won't make many friends for you.
Do the buro thing, but only as time permits and it isn't a priority. It's just one of those things you have to take care of as a DXpedition. Use cheaper cards for the buro if you have to, save money there.
A lot of people gripe about number 3 but I don't. If I want it confirmed faster for some reason (although I have never really had a reason to), I send direct or do the OQRS thing.
The "free roads" should take a backseat.

If you can't do it first class more or less, then don't go. If a DXpedition is done in a cheesy way, you may kill the after the fact donations and also have a big problem getting much support for the next one. I remember the bad ones and the good ones.

Some DXpeditions seem to have a "we only are doing this for you guys so you can work this rare entity" attitude.
They also went there because they wanted to and for a variety of other personal reasons.
Yes that certainly applies but there can be some caveats to it.
Just my thoughts after about 30 years of DXing, other certainly may vary.

I just use a simple momentary DPDT switch mounted in a small project box.