Digital tuning is overrated, in my opinion. It’s fine if you know exactly what you’re looking for. For browsing, I’ll take analog tuning every time, preferably with a digital readout of frequency.
My favorite is the legendary Panasonic RF-2200 (long since out of production, unfortunately).
Completely agree. I’ve never, ever liked digital tuning, and I’ve operated a LOT of radios in my day. I’ll take pure analog tuning with mechanical dials over digital digit-by-digit tuning - any day.
The best of both worlds was a setup like the older Kenwood radios, eg, the TS-820, where you had analog mechanical readout with a digital readout above it. It is very difficult to tell how far you’re whipping across a band by looking at a digital display, because it cannot keep up as you rapidly change frequency.
For most people, I’d rate the Panasonic RF-2200 as just about an “ideal” a radio as you could get for bang:buck, simplicity and easy operation. It is a great example of marketing departments not “leaving good things alone” when they dropped the ‘2200 from their product line in favor of digital radios.
So you're not a DSP fan either I'd guess?