Unless you are a serious dxer, with a fine tuned ear, you will only be wasting money. If you are looking for the best, spend a lil more dough and buy a high end rig like a Icom 756 pro2 or Yaesu ft 950/ 2000. But If its strictly mobile or small rigs you want, You will be more than happy with the ft857. If your used to 10/11m rigs on SSB the 857 will blow these away in that dept. But dont expect much on AM. They sound clear and clean but because its not true high level modulation, it wont be loud like a connex or galaxy rig. They perform on AM about like a HR2510 or Emporer 5010 would. Hope this helps!
By the way, If your going mobile, get the ATAS 120a antenna, It works fantastic and doesnt look like a tellephone pole!