So it looks like you confirmed my suspicions/assumptions that as far a performance, there is no appreciable difference. All that is at stake is convenience. Think that I will have to pick one of those up.
The handy volume control knobs would also be a plus. I will have to look into the PTT circuit, and see what I have to do to get set up for ALE down the road. I did do some research and it looks like if you hook anything up to the ACC port on the back of the rig, then you don't have to constantly switch between USB Modulation and Microphone modulation every time you pass a digital message over the net. Not that it doesn't work that way, its is just a pain and creates a pause if you are not quick going through the menu to switch modes when someone is calling you for a fill. If I was smart enough, I hear that some programs let you create a macro or a file that can send the command to the rig and do some of those functions-maybe even a PTT function? Might be worth looking into from this end.
Thank you for the reply.
73,
Greg