Thanks everyone for your comments. This is going to sound wishy-washy...But, I'm just so undecided about what to do. Maybe some additional explanation will help. I know this thread is probably a subject without a definitive answer.
I suppose I'm looking for a backup radio almost as much as I'm looking for a new main radio. Don't misunderstand my comments as my seeing this as anything but a hobby to be enjoyed, but I feel kind of a mild sense of urgency in my soul with respect to the backup radio, and here's why.
If you're into ARES, HF bands are about all that will work if infrastructure goes down, so with respect to my own commitment to ARES, having a backup radio is just part of assuming ARES responsibilities. That's why I have the main transceiver and a backup transceiver hooked up in the shack at all times, just in case the main transceiver goes down. I also have a whole house generator to operate the radios in the event power goes down, for my convenience, and the additional benefit to ARES operation should the need arise. But, with respect to the backup radio, I'm feeling kind of a self imposed obligation to have state of the art product as the main radio, as well as state of the art product for the backup radio. But, I can't seem to find anything that surpasses the FT-991A for the money in various other brands and models, and I would feel kind of dumb having two FT-991A radios to meet the need. But, it seems that I'm headed for "dumbsville."
In my shack I have the Yaesu FT-847 as the backup radio, which I bought new in 2001, and it has had very little use, as I took a bit of a break from Ham Radio when life's responsibilities had me doing other things. When I retired, I purchased the FT-991A as my main radio, and just put the FT-847 on the Ham Desk as a backup. It's hooked up, and fully functional at all times. But, I still rarely use it, other than to play around with getting signal reports compared to the FT-991A. So, it works fine, in fact, it actually works great.
But, with the FT-847, there are some design flaws that could possibly become non-repairable defects were I to keep it. So, rather than keep it until there's a problem, and there is no guarantee there will ever be a problem, I figured I would retire it (sell it), now, while the FT-847 still has some decent value attached to it, before it becomes more obsolete, thereby funding a state of the art backup radio. Yaesu no longer supports the FT-847, and even parts are going to be scarce to obtain as time progresses.
There is actually kind of a cult following among Satellite users for the Yaesu FT-847, and it is relatively feature rich, specifically marketed as a satellite communications transceiver. It has HF, VHF/UHF, 50Mhz., CAT control, etc...but, it's far from state of the art after almost 20 years. It's almost like a transitional design between today's state of the art and the old solid state designs. It hasn't been manufactured since 2005. I've been thinking of getting another transceiver as my main radio, hoping to find an upgrade to the FT-991A, then move the FT-991A to backup status.
Some of the You Tube comparison videos I've watched make me wonder how I can justify moving "up" or "over" to some of the more expensive models, including the FT-DX10. What I'm hearing of the audio and receive performance of the FT-991A compared to some of the other more expensive models on the You Tube videos I've watched, has me thinking I really like the audio and receive performance of the FT-991A compared to some of the more expensive models, including the FT-DX10.
It just seems like it would be nice to have two different comparable state of the art models, even from different manufacturers. But, from what I'm seeing, it doesn't seem like there's anything that comes close to the 991A, not just because it also has the Digital C4FM, VHF/UHF, FM, AM, 50Mhz., and HF, but because it seems to out-perform the other brands and models that are in the same relative category for the money with respect to audio, menu driven options, and receiver performance.
I've considered the Icom 7300 as a potential backup, and it is easier to set up data modes because there's just so much on the internet about setting up the data modes on the Icom 7300, that I could use it as a back up, as well as a dedicated data mode radio. Then, in that case, I would just keep the FT-991A as my main HF SSB radio. But, the Icom 7300 does not have even the band capabilities that my old Yaesu FT-847 has, since it has HF, VHF/UHF, FM, AM, 50Mhz., Satellite, etc...
So, it is kind of a bummer that there isn't anything out there to replace a radio that's almost twenty years old, which has all the modes except digital C4FM, other than the FT-991A. It's almost like the FT-847 was kind of ahead of it's time, because it was designed as kind of a "Shack in the Box" concept from 20 years ago, even though it was not marketed that way, but specifically marketed for satellites, back way before "shack in the box" was ever a coined phrase. But, the FT-847 is kind of like a time bomb waiting to go off, not knowing when it might explode with defects that can't be repaired, like all antiquated electronics.
It's kind of a bummer, the industry doesn't seem like it's coming on with many new strong models lately that are in my price range. Maybe it's due to Covid. I don't anticipate anybody coming out with much new in the near future either, with Covid curtailing every industry's development and manufacturing efforts worldwide, not to mention the chip shortage.