I was annoyed that the D was never released in the US as well. I was ready to pull the trigger on one of these a couple of times right about when the D was announced. I started looking at the R20 about the same time and then that was one discontinued. I've been waiting for something "new and cool" to come around in the H/H wide band receiver arena but seems nothing does, or at least hasn't yet.
A few people I've talked to about the 8200 Mk III actually tried talking me out of purchasing one. It came down to performance and ease of use - at least for these individuals they felt the 8200 did neither well. Performance obviously isn't going to compare with an R75 or R5000, no one should really expect it to, but they weren't happy with it regardless. AOR has always been criticized for learning curve it seems so that wasn't a surprise.