Time for a Review of the FT-891

Update July 2024: Don't buy until you read this, and probably don't buy even then.

TLDR: A potentially great field or even home radio, somewhat hobbled by a clunky user interface (UI).  Well worth the $600 – $650 street price as is, but if the UI and data mode messes got sorted out I would happily pay 50% more.

Pros: Triple-conversion superhet receiver with at 3kHz roofing filter, adjustable noise blanker, and an aggressive digital noise reduction (DNR) chip, all of which work to cut interference very effectively.  Weight and form factor are similar to Yaesu's previous king-of-the-trail, the FT-857d.  A somewhat improved UI, now with three user-programmable front panel keys and a much bigger screen.

Cons: UI still not up to snuff.  Often but inconsistently drops various settings during changes in operating band, mode, or memory channel.  Bizarre offsets in the PSK data mode, and seemingly broken upper bandwidth software-defined control on the general-purpose data mode (but there's a work-around, so read on).

what a mess, on the ladder of success   Testing new hardware is never a neat process.  On to the review.

OK, from the short version above it probably sounds like I don't like this radio, but to the contrary I'm impressed.  Furthermore it is a worthy successor to the venerable FT-857d, and at this price it is too good a rig to pass up.  It just took some wrangling to get past the quirks in the UI and get everything going.

The one setup tip to take away pertains to using an external sound card interface such as a SignaLink.  Simply set things to upper sideband mode and skip all the data mode settings ("PSK" and "Other") altogether.  This will necessitate some jumping into the deep menus to adjust down the TX power when switching between voice to digital, something that is easily forgotten and (if forgotten) not good for the radio's power transistors.  It would have been convenient to set the radio's data mode to 25w and SSB to 100w and forget all this, but there it is.  (This all took two days of spare time to figure out, ugh.)

The remainder of the setup was straightforward.  Also, the radio works well with an external MFJ-939Y autotuner.  That part was plug-and-play, as advertised.

About that direct computer cable data mode input on the back, sure, I'll bet it works great, but I'll never know because the only driver Yaesu has released is for Windows OS.  So it's data via SignaLink and audio input (mercifully, on the data port) for the foreseeable future.

Back to the receiver.  It's a triple-conversion superhet with a staunch roofing filter and a stout digital noise reduction chip acting on an intermediate frequency (IF).  If that sounds like the big FTdx-1200 base station, well, that's essentially what it is.  In a side-by-side comparison of published specs they are only slightly different, and certainly not enough to notice in use.  In a lucky coincidence last week I worked two similar Ohio stations minutes apart, one on my FT-857d and one on the FT-891.  In this RF-noisy location, the step up from the older double-conversion superhet with an audio frequency DNR circuit in the 857 was like night and day.  Most of the useful bandwidth and IF shift controls present on the 1200 are also there with the 891, albeit with most of them buried in the first level of menus.  Well, Yaesu did have to make some concessions to a portable's smaller control panel, so no complaints there.

This brings us back to the UI.  It really is an improvement over the older 857 and its brethren, the FT-817nd and FT-897, which all share the same wretched control set-up.  The three programmable keys on the 891's front panel are a very welcome addition that somewhat redeems the new UI.  Overall though it's just not that much of an improvement, and maybe not enough to justify the change in interface.  Also random flip-flops in control setting when changing bands and modes is a most unwelcome "feature."  Doesn't Yaesu test this stuff?

Perhaps the biggest change from the FT-857d to the new FT-891 is the omission of 2m and 70cm band capabilities.  I hate to see them go, but dumping 2m and 70cm reportedly allows for a more robust transmitter.  Furthermore, the field use for these two line-of-sight bands is so different than the other covered bands that they warrant their own dedicated radio.  Taken together, it makes sense.

For all that, it seems that not everyone is happy with these changes.  The street price of the FT-891 has settled in the low $600's, while just last week two discontinued FT-857d's on MTC Radio's used equipment page were sold at $1000 – about 30% over their original price.  Personally, I'd take a new 891 and a new 2m/70cm dual-bander for about the same money.

To sum it all up, the FT-891 is a potentially great field radio, somewhat hobbled by its clunky UI.  It is well worth the current street price, and if Yaesu got its UI and data mode weirdness sorted out I would happily pay 50% more.  Next radio though... maybe not a Yaesu.  I want to see if another company can pull off the magic and come up with a less ragged UI.  In the meantime though the FT-891's a keeper.

ps, and to ask and answer an obvious question: Why get a new FT-891 when I've got a perfectly good FT-857d that I like so much and is all dialed in?  The 857 is getting up in years, having been bought used and at an unknown age seven years ago.  Also, at this price they're practically giving away 891s these days.  Sometimes you've got to future-proof your camping radio capabilities.