Looking to get my first HF rig. I only plan to use SSB, I don’t see myself using any digital modes. I’m torn between the Icom 7300 and Yaesu 891. The main reason I’m considering the Icom is the waterfall. This will be used as base station and when car camping. I also plan to use resonant dipole antennas. I’m a believer in buy once, cry once so I don’t mind the price difference. Any advice?

Both radios you mention have been around a while. There are newer radios that have better receivers and filtering.
The Yaesu 710 is close in price to the 7300, and a much newer design. All 3 are easy to do digital modes on, if you get the itch later.

I wish Icom still made the 7200, but in an updated configuration. If I was looking at banging about I'd probably want something a bit more rugged than a 7300.

For fixed station use it's hard to beat either a 7300 or 710 for the price point.

Look at their power consumptions and compare them.  

For the base station I’d go with a 7300 and it is used by many for a field radio as well.   Lots of the guys doing POTA in parks use a 7300.  

The 891 is just as powerful output wattage wise but lacks the nice color waterfall but is much handier sized for travel.

Pick what is important to you.

Edit the 7300 has a modest tuner for your minor mismatched antennas.  Not sure about the 891 but I don’t believe it does.

The big selling point of the Icom would be the built in sound card.

The 891 is smaller. If you want to do digital modes it is more of a pain because you need cable(s) and an exterior sound card interface.

If you are making a resonant dipole for specific frequencies, and want a waterfall, have you considered SDR dongle for your laptop?  How many dipoles are you planning on? How are you planning to switch between them? Is this just 1 antenna for 1 frequency for comms with specific contact?

The 891 is not easy to do digital modes one, you would need a Signalink or similiar.

7300 at the house

FT891 in the vehicle/camper

GET BOTH

I have both of those radios and for what you want to do, of these 2 radios Id go for the Ic7300. Its a joy to use and sounds great on the air. Nice waterfall. Wonderful 1st radio.
The ft891 is a nice radio for mobil or portable where size is a concern, but the menus are a pain to use at times. Once setup you won't need to mess with most of them but still. I used mine a few times portable and then installed it in the car. It doesn't have a tuner and the waterfall is meh.
The ft710 is the Yaesu version of the ic7300 and is claimed to have slightly better noise filtering. I have its big brother the ftdx10, which has similar filtering and I find it a bit more effective than my 7300.
Happy shopping!

7300 and 891 are fine rigs. The 7300 is a little long in the tooth, but still a great digital rig. The 891 is great for portable and mobile, but I wouldn't recommend one for a first rig in the shack. I would recommend the FTDX10.

Haven't owned the 891, but there are multiple layers to the menus and no sound card. Better suited for portable, but you may learn you don't need all that power, or want to carry the power supply. The 7300 is a great radio and was my first.

This is good advice.

The 710 has a built-in sound card too, so CAT control and interfacing for digital modes can use a single USB cable with no external interface needed.  It is also a very compact radio for what it does.  Yaesu sells a carry handle and mobile mounting bracket for it.  It's too big for a typical vehicle dashboard, but for portable "picnic table" use it's not too big.

If you add an auto tuner to the 891, you lose a lot of the compactness anyway, and the 719 has one built in. You can also use a USB mouse with the 710 along with an external monitor, which is a nice feature for home desktop use.

I own both. Own multiple 891s actually.

That's kinda apples to oranges. But if forced between the two, I'd pick the 7300. Unless you're hiking your radio to places then you are gaining nothing and losing a lot by going with the 891. The menus are comparably terrible and hard to navigate. No sound card. Very much older technology so on. But it is the defacto portable 100W radio for a reason. The filtering for it's era and age is pretty damn good. But the 7300 is very easy to use. There is a reason why some call it the Iphone of HF radios.

All that being said, I wouldn't buy either of them as long as you don't need mobile or truly portable where hiking is involved. I'd look at the 710. It's around the same price as the 7300. But it's newer and more up to date than either the 891 and even the 7300. The 7300 is about 8 years old now I think.

As far as waterfalls. It's a neat feature but after a while I quit even looking at them. Good job on messing with resonant antennas. Makes life so much better and less crap you have to have around. The day I quit messing with tuners was the day I started enjoying this hobby more.

The 7300 is a better spec'd radio,

-SSB is the intended mode of use
-Useable as a base and mobile
-Resonant antennas available
-Waterfall is more interesting than watching the fire

I think you're 3-1 for the 891 my dude, but you will not be unhappy with the 7300.

FWIW, I bought a 7300 back in '18 for my secondary station. The main station has a fully loaded (including the sub receiver) Elecraft K3 with a spectrum scope. For everyday use, I have no preference of one setup over the other.

I own two 7300's and 1 ft891.  

in my opinion  The 7300 is a far better radio in all respects except for size.

The 891 is in the truck. The size is much better for this application.  The 891 is a very limited data radio. You need an external modem (that sucks) and the cooling on the 891 is NOT good. (that sucks too).  Yes you can do digital, but it is marginal, 30 watts at best.

The built in modem, the EXCELLENT (best in the industry) cooling of the 7300 makes it a BY FAR better data radio. Also the transmit audio is first rate. Bob Heil said he designed the mic input circuitry of the 7300.  That is what he told me. I can't prove it, but that is what he said. Ease of use of the 7300 is BY FAR superior to the 891, there is no comparison.  Like I said the 891 fits well in the truck, If you had a smaller car the 891 will likely fit, and has a detachable control head.  As others have said. It is an apples and oranges comparison. In other words, you should NOT be comparing them. If you want to do a comparison do the 7300 to the newer 710.  These are comparable radios with the 7300 being old, and 710 being new. I have heard good things about the 710, but I am not the one to ask as I have no experience with them.  

If you can swing the money for both a base rig like the 7300 or 710 and put the 891 as a mobile portable radio. that would be the way to go.

Like I said I have both, and they both have their place. I hope this helps. And if you get a 7300, I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the 7300, and its MANY features.   One of the lesser known or used features is its "emergency" feature of its tuner that will do about a 7:1 SWR but with reduced power to 50 watts.  Just one of many wonderful features.

I would be happy to email you my configuration files if you want to try it. Of course you will need an SD card for the rig and a PC that will accept an SD card or usb adaptor for one. This is also how you do upgrades for the rig, which is one of the easiest in the industry to upgrade.  Did you get how easy to use the 7300 is?  I can't stress enough how this is one of its best features. But most people will never use the lesser known features because they will gloss over them in the manual, or don't understand the benefit of them. This is where I can help.

And don't forget if you end up with the 7300, check out the 705 in a year or so. It's almost a natural progression.