Well up to $800 the R75 or Ft857 would be your best bet, if you want smaller in size the Ft817 is a great rx for its size.
The palstar r30 is a nice one too, not as meny bells and whisles but it actully preforms better on MW than most radios, including the R75.
pcrguy is right, the R75 is good, but its not the best, and for $1200 you can actully get some top of the line Rcvrs.
The grundig750 will be a nice all around radio. it cant be any worse than the E5 and the E5 has had nice reviews, and actully stays in the race with the E1.
Either if you get a new, or used R75 you wont be sorry, its a rugged rcvr, that will be around for me "time wise" a long time. Its already lasted in 110degree weather
and 0 degress, while it was snowing.
The internal speaker is less than great, but with an extrenal speaker, its HIFI, Ive actully blown a Bose speaker with it.
Most R75s come with the DSP, its a nice tool, but I dont need it ....
TIP: If you take the DSP completely out, and use a 12volt car battery the R75,with the backlight set to about 1 or 2, it will actully last 4 days and 5hrs(ive actully time/tested this) and you might could get more with a bigger 12volt battery because the one I use was made for a dinky car.