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Reviews For: ICOM IC-7610

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : ICOM IC-7610
Reviews: 125MSRP: 3250. USD
Description:
ICOM HF Radio IC-7610
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
54.81254.6
KB2KOS Rating: 2019-05-21
grat radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I love this radio plus got a good price at dx engineering.
WB3DYE Rating: 2019-05-18
PROBLEMS Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As you probably know some of the 7610 radios have had multiple problems since the first one rolled off the assembly line.
Icom issued firmware upgrades to fix the bugs. I waited a full year to buy a 7610, thinking all the bugs were delt with---Boy was I wrong--I've had the radio for three months and yet[font=Verdana] ANOTHER [/font]problem.
Black portions of the screen are turning milky white--Other operators report that problem PLUS some pre amps are failing!
Icoms first position was send the radio in and we'll replace the screen---but--we cant guarantee it won't fail again--Later admitting there was a problem I understand that Icom changed changed vendors and now new screens will be used.

I am an Icom man--Just about every piece of equipment I have is Icom.

But I have to take my 3 month old rig and send it in for service---PLUS I have pay to have it shipped!

In my opinion Icom did NOT properly beta test these radios---if they had the problems would have been caught in the lab, not by those of us who shelled out nearly $3,000.
For that price I expect the radio to arrive---set it up and it should work flawlessly for many years!
KP4F Rating: 2019-04-26
BEST SDR EVER Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
We have owned this IC-7610 for around 12 months with no problems at all. And believe me is the best SDR ever.
ON4VP Rating: 2019-03-01
Feature rich very capable radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned quiet a few Icom HF radios over the years. I loved my IC-7600 and IC-7700 a lot. Almost 18 months ago I could not resist buying the smaller IC-7300 meant to be a second HF backup radio. But it was so much fun playing with it I sold it and got the IC-7610.

Things I really like:

- Dual equal separate receivers.
- Solid performance, good audio on tx and rx.
- Decent noise reduction.
- Fully controllable over internet thanks to internal webserver.
- Well thermal designed.
- Fast USB3 port for SDR console on computer.
- Dual CAT possibility's thanks to USB and CI-V.
- Dual watch on different bands (and antennas).
- Tracking two vfo's (one on the best features).
- Dual spectrum/waterfalls.
- Easy to use split function.
- Separate volume and RF gain knobs.
- Mute function on the volume knobs.
- Preselector.

What I regret:

- In this price range no illuminated buttons.
- No power setting per band.
- Reference level waterfall not per band.

Overall I'm very pleased with the ergonomics and the performance of this radio. I think it has not the most quiet receiver on the market but does very well. I started to like the tracking function a lot. Hooking up two antennas you can monitor both receptions in real time. And with one (change) button switch to active tx antenna. Ideal for rx and tx report comparison. This way I did extensive tests with base verticals and portable antennas comparing performance. But also vertical against beam signals. You can set so both scopes are visible and check background noise, signal strength, etc.

At home I use the IC-7610 in combination with an Acom 600S solid state amplifier. Perfect combo. It takes a few times to get the exact drive level setting but once adjusted I can use the RF power % level to set drive power between 1 and about 15 watts according my needs.

Internal sound card performs well to. Thanks to two virtual comports real FSK keying, PTT or CW keying can be done without the need of external devices. Webserver works great. Did some remote qso's from my office through internet and had no lag. Oposit station could not tell I worked from remote location.

No radio is perfect. If I could I would rate 4,8.
Bit pricey but since I got it 14 months ago never regretted the purchase.
HB9TMC Rating: 2019-02-22
Not suitable for QRSS Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got myself the 7610 as a Christmas present in December 2018. I thought the long known display-problems were resolved by then. It turned out I was wrong.
After just one week, burn-in effects began to show up.

Antenna port isolation is terrible.
I tried to measure AF-filter characteristics on a dummy-load on Ant2, while an antenna was connected to Ant1. When selecting Ant2, I have signals up to S7-S8 on the dummy load. I would estimate the isolation to 30-35 dB on 40m.

Wobbling carriers, "birdies" on 7040 kHz.
When receiving said frequency on the subreceiver and DigiSel enabled, I have signals that are produced within the receiver. Right on the QRSS and WSPR frequencies. Those modes are designated for low SNR operation, every tenth of a dB counts. Any noise is degrading the performance. These spurs make my 7610 unusable for QRSS operation.

Unstable transmit power.
I start a transmission with 5W. After 2 minutes of transmission I have 7.5W output power, without changing the input level. Not suitable for path loss measurements.


After those disappointments within the first weeks I didn't wanted the IC-7610 anymore. But Icom doesn't want to take it back.

So I've sent it in for repair in January. Since I haven't heard anything for 3 weeks I was asking how long the repairs would take. "3-4 Months usually".

I'm left disappointed by Icom quality and service.
KE4WY Rating: 2019-01-08
Nice Rig Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
We have owned this IC-7610 for around 9 months and it has operated trouble free, easy to setup and operate.
NN6EE Rating: 2019-01-08
BEST SECONDARY RIG! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I applaud my 7610 in ALL RESPECTS, and I can't find ANYTHING ABOUT THE RIG TO "NIT-PICK"!!! PERIOD!!! Our main rig is the ELECRAFT "K-LINE", but with our 7610/SPE 1.5K-FA amp both of them kick ASS!!! So with ELECRAFT K-LINE & IC-7610/SPE 1.5K AMP we CAN'T LOSE!!!

PS,
For our 7610 our price was "$3810" !!!
KC2FQ Rating: 2018-12-21
Followed the hype Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm not as enamored with the 7610 as most of the other reviewers here. I too "upgraded" from the 7300 and found some features the 7610 actually doesn't have and found others much harder to use. I'll admit right up front I'm picky but I believe many here, even the ones who put up "WOW 5.0" reviews, will agree with at least some of my issues.

First impression - it felt cheap in the knobs. They all wobble a bit and the plastic feels thinner than the 7300 but that might be my perception because of the larger size and stature. This radio lacks several buttons the 7300 has and wastes the massive increase in front panel real estate on useless ones. MP-W and MP-R … really? I'd MUCH prefer UP/DOWN buttons or how about MEM/VFO. Speaking of the memories, the 7300 held splits in the memories for repeater use - 7610 does not and the lack of a MEM/VFO button makes getting to 60 meters and other memories unnecessarily cumbersome. The lack of an UP/DOWN button adds to the difficulty working with the memories and other functions in the rig.

One of the main reasons I "upgraded" was for the ability to scan around on the bands while doing FT8. To do that you must switch to the sub band which of course drags FT8 with it. I discovered it still receives on the main band but the FT8 panel shows the sub band freq and you know what happens when you tune around too long when the FT8 software doesn't "like" your frequency.

Icom could have done much better with this rig. I do not see it as being worth 3 times the 7300 especially when you actually give up a few features and functionality. Granted some of these things I've complained about would matter very little if at all to a hard core contester but for me they did. If you're a 7300 owner looking to "upgrade," I implore you to at least spend an hour with one at a hamfest or friend's house to make sure you can live with these issues. There are more but then I'd be nit-picking a bit too much. I'm sure some will feel I'm already doing that. I am returning the rig and I will either go back to the 7300 or try something else. I wish that new Yaesu was out already!
WD1V Rating: 2018-12-11
Wow! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Upgrade from a 7300 12/10/2018 - Ham 56 years - Into radios and scopes

New 7610 picked up at HRO and installed. Migration was easy - same mic, power cord, coax for antenna,
USB, MacLoggerDX connect, and key, simple enough. Turned it on and its just been wow, wow, wow.
I’m just kind of taking it in segments - [what’s this? - oh, wow, OK] - again and again. It doesn’t
fail to amaze or wow. Its high quality. And the receive audio is the best I’ve heard. Everyone sounds
so good. Even signals that are just above the noise floor pop up, out, and sound great.

I’m using the second receiver in tracking mode 50% of the time - its like great * 2 - very awesome
stereo. Lovely. And the other 50% same antenna but looking at CW spectrum on the left and SSB
part of 80 on the right with completely independent filters, scopes, PBT settings, and volume and
RF gain controls. Splits are trivial. Definitely warrants a nice pair of matching speakers.

73 and a very Merry Christmas de WD1V
K7BIT Rating: 2018-10-26
OGM!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Excellent radio, great feature set, good manuals, exceptional user interface/ergonomics. benchmarked against TS-890S, TS-990S its a better all around radio.