500 bucks I can get better screen with FDM-S2 and excellent reception for HF. A shame, should have showed its paces on VHF/UHF.
That is a bit misleading, isn't it? Yes, the FMD-S2 is $500, but you still need to add in the cost of the computer and the display to get that "better" display.
And then to top it all off, you can use the same "screen" (I assume you mean display) for the R8600 as you can for the FDM-S2.
The R8600 waterfall can be displayed, and the radio controlled, by computer, like the FDM-S2.
I have always considered the FDM-S2 a very good value. It is a good performer at a moderate price. But the R8600 is better.
What would make you think that?
Have you used an FDM-S2? Seen the specs on that SDR?
I have used the FDM-S2. I have owned one since very shortly after they came out. I consider it a good value and a good SDR, not as good as a few other SDRs, but still very good.
If you are looking for direct comparisons of the FDM-S2 I guess you would have to specify what kind of comparison? But, for example, I regularly get ADC clipping with the S2 and under the same conditions, with the same antenna, I do not see that with the R8600.
In general I find the R8600 a better performer in almost every way. The S2 has an advantage in its software interface. If Simon ends up putting R8600 support in SDR-Console, or if a couple of other 3rd party software developers add R8600 support, then that advantage will likely go away.
Let me put it this way, I have both of them here at my listening desk. Of the two of them, which do I use more often for HF? Without bias, just which of the two I reach for more often. I tend to use the R8600 more between those two. But then again, my most used receivers, or SDRs, are not one of these two, but rather the WinRadio G33DDC and the RFSpace NetSDR, those two are my go-to's, each for different reasons. The G33 is my favorite receiver to listen with, but the NetSDR is my favorite tool to look deeper at signals.
T!