DSTAR and APRS - which way?

Hi Guys,



So here’s a question you’ve never heard before, I’ve been doing lots of reading for my next mobile rig and it’s going to be either a Icom ID- 5100A or a Kenwood TM- D710G so which one? … all over again. It seems to be a pretty popular thread and topic. (grin)



What's the easier why to go ..... buy the Icom and then make it do APRS on it or buy a Kenwood and then make it do dstar?





I do want DStar but I also want APRS so my thinking based on what I’ve read so far is, if I want DStar it’s the easiest to go with the Icom because with the Icom I can fake the APRS on the second channel with an APRS tracker device (Argent Data Tracker2 or Tracker3 or Byonics TinyTrak3 or TinyTrak4) on the D-Star radio. I’d also want messaging from my PC via the Icom to the internet as well so I’m guessing that’s done with Icom’s data cable and the low speed messaging function.



Is that correct or was the post I was reading way out of date?



With the Kenwood as the choice – I can’t do the DStar as easily right?



I figured I post here rather bug the people I know that have them and also being a newbie I'm out to lunch in my reasoning ..... I dunno, so we’ll ask the pros here ….



Cheers’

Dave