So I've had a couple of 979's and I liked them a lot. While they still drift a bit on SSB I thought they drifted less than the 959.
Here's what I would do if buying one
#1 Buy from Amazon or someone else who has free shipping. Amazon is the best bet, if there is an issue in the first 30 days you can return it and get a refund. Most CB shops aren't going to let you return an item with an issue, they'll try to fix it and you'll be paying to ship things back and forth.
# 2 If you do a lot of SSB talking pick up the galaxy frequency counter to add on for $50. Don't buy the 979F with the counter built in, it's only 5 digits.
# 3 Don't let a shop do a tune on the radio (unless you find it needs it). Modulation and power adjustments inside that radio are easy to do. If it's off frequency then get someone to do an alignment. The radio might be good right out of the box, no reason to pay for nothing or risk someone screwing your new radio up.
$169 + free shipping=$169
Clays radio shop - $159 + $55 tune up + $20 shipping = $234
# 4 If you like the Galaxy 979, maybe consider the Stryker 955. You'll spend around $300 but you'll get extra channels, echo, 4x power, and more features right out of the box. Also way better frequency stability on SSB.