I bought an IC-705 - my one and only radio bought new and not second-hand. It is an expensive affair, but also extremely capable. At one point I was planning on using it as my main base-station rig, supplemented with an amplifier.
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I do tend to take the IC-705 portable more often than the FT-817, especially when I am using the Chameleon MPAS 2.0 antenna. Being a multi-band antenna the SDR on the IC-705 makes it very easy to tell which bands are open. Before the IC-705 I had a KX3 which I sold because I couldn't get on with the volume of the speaker, and I really don't like having to wear headphones on a SOTA summit, for example, where I need to be mobile.
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Having said that, for a simpler dipole setup, and pure ruggedness, the FT-817 is hard to beat. It is a different radio to the IC-705, less capable functionally, yes, but also with its' own merits. Sound quality out of such a small box is amazing, and for the most part they transmit beautiful punchy audio too.
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Regards, Mark.
Mark Wickens M0NOM #admin