For Christmas: Bearcat BCD396T or GRE PSR-500

[mvgossman]

The Christmas present would be from my wife to me, a former scanner owner, a Beartcat model years ago pre-digital and pre-trunking, therefore I'm essentially new to this.

What I'm after is the best portable scanner, both for in the car when I want it and for home, with capabilities including:

1. Priority scanning "barge-in".
2. Squelch level that can be set separately for each channel, does that exist? It was always annoying with the old scanner for a scanning bank to be periodically interrupted by a noisy channel, then raising the squelch would eliminate the weaker, noise-free channels.
3. Alphanumeric.
4. Ease of programming? I see that the Scanner Master offers "home town programming" for the Uniden and not for the GRE, which tells me that the programming is a pain for the Uniden and that it might not be as bad for the GRE.

I've narrowed it down to the Uniden Beatcat BCD396T and GRE PSR-500. Which one would be best for my needs?

Seems that the Uniden has the interesting "Close Call" feature which sounds like something that would be interesting when in the car and the police are around.

Seems that the GRE has a superior, modern USB computer interface and better upgradeability of the firmware, with softkeys and hardkeys on the device. On the other hands, seems to be a newer product that might be buggy, and some in this group have complained about chintzy/plasticky construction.

Overall I'm thinking of going with the GRE PSR-500. Is this a good call or is this a metter purely of personal preference?

One factor is that the Uniden is hard to come by right now...

Apologies for the separate posts in the GRE and Uniden sections.

I'm attempting a poll, but direct comments appreciated.

 

[unitcharlie]

I'm just hoping that, out of no where, comes this anonymous package to the workplace... It will have one of those bodacious red bows probably better suited to a car... inside will be a PSR 500 with a note telling me I have been chosen to recieve a new scanner because I have abused my PRO 96 too long... signed "Santa".

 

[W4KRR]

Overall I'm thinking of going with the GRE PSR-500. Is this a good call or is this a metter purely of personal preference?

It's a matter of personal Preference. There are lots of people who will tell you to go with the GRE PSR-500, and there are probably just as many that will tell you to go with the Uniden BCD396T. Kind of like asking, "should I buy a Ford or a Chevy?", or "Should I order the steak or the lobster?" You really don't know for sure unless you've tried both.

BTW, I own both, and both are fine radios, but I give a slight edge to the .......

(to be continued........) :lol:

 

[scanfan03]

I own a PSR-500, never used a BC396. PSR 500 is a very good scanner since I've used it so far (right now I am not using it in a high RF environment). It also has Signal sweeper or something like that (which is supposed to compare with the close call). I really hate signal sweeper and love the close call on the BC246T. It's a matter of personal preference. Oh yeah, and I must say, the digital audio is very exceptional and clear, which was unnexpected.

 

[jonny290]

396 gets all the ladies around here.

I hear the 500's nice but I like the design and 'feel' better on the unidens. It's a holy war, though.

 

[mciupa]

...so this is what rich people worry about

 

[scanfan03]

...so this is what rich people worry about

My PSR-500 is a third the cost of my vehicle.

 

[n2mdk]

My PSR-500 is a third the cost of my vehicle.

Yes but I bet it's a lot more fuel efficient

 

[cellblock776]

With only $37 left in my checking account I doubt that I'll be getting either model this Christmas. Times are too tight this year.

 

[born_again_scanner]

Although I don't own one I would personally reccomend the GRE Scanner, my experience with the Uniden is that it is nearly impossible to program effeciently without connecting to a PC, also the PSR-500 is made by the same people that brought you your Pro-96. If I had the cash that would be my choice.

DISCLAIMER: So as not to directly offend anyoone the above statement is of MY OWN Opinoin and I don't want to make this one of those threads that rant on forever

Tom

 

[petrol88]

Seems that the GRE has a superior, modern USB computer interface and better upgradeability of the firmware,

GRE uses the same serial RS232 port as Uniden. They just opted to include a USB --> RS232 adapter cable with their scanner.

What is more upgradeable about the PSR-500 than the 396...seems we've seen updates for both?

 

[hoser147]

After looking at and having a chance to play with both my next digital will be a GRE. Seems like the 396 has some machine gunning issues from other posts...........Hoser

 

[Viper43]

4. Ease of programming? I see that the Scanner Master offers "home town programming" for the Uniden and not for the GRE, which tells me that the programming is a pain for the Uniden and that it might not be as bad for the GRE.

I've narrowed it down to the Uniden Beatcat BCD396T and GRE PSR-500. Which one would be best for my needs?



Seems that the GRE has a superior, modern USB computer interface and better upgradeability of the firmware, with softkeys and hardkeys on the device. On the other hands, seems to be a newer product that might be buggy, and some in this group have complained about chintzy/plasticky construction.

.

#4: using software to program either scanner makes it pretty simple once you figure out the software. Many seem to think Butel is the best but highly disagree, there are some new programs coming out that are not completed yet and are better than the Butel software, not too mention simpler to use. Of course with the 396 you can use the USDA sofftware that is free to dl . Many don't like it but they are the ones who don't take any time to try it out either. I'm not a big fan of the Starsoft stuff for the RS/GRE scanners either but it seems there isn't much choice in that arena yet which leads to extremly stale software design and they all look a like and work the same.

As mentioned the USB ports are the exact same so I don't know what your looking at thinking the GRE is more modern????

Overall, each scanner has it's issues, you need to read more on both and decide which issues you can live or without.

V

 

[ampulman]

Although I don't own one I would personally reccomend the GRE Scanner, my experience with the Uniden is that it is nearly impossible to program effeciently without connecting to a PC, also the PSR-500 is made by the same people that brought you your Pro-96. If I had the cash that would be my choice.

I briefly owned 2 PRO 96's. Had to return both. Yes, they are clunky and plasticky.

While the '96s had a better digital voice, when listening to a distant system, it sounds the same as my 396.

As far as programming is concerned, I've been programming mine manually since I got it. The programming is more logical. You can't enter multiple band plans with the 96 without software; no problem with the 396.

 

[Dubbin]

my experience with the Uniden is that it is nearly impossible to program effeciently without connecting to a PC

I'm curious as to what problems you have programing one of the Uniden DMA scanners. They are the most simple and strait forward scanners to program manually.

 

[Gooser]

...so this is what rich people worry about

LOL...now THAT is funny.
I was thinking the same thing when reading the thread starter.

Hmmm...like Gilligan having to choose Ginger or Mary Ann.
I'm thinking Mary Ann and the PSR-500...

 

[br0adband]

I voted for the 396 since I have experience with Uniden's dynamic memory now. GRE's "object oriented" is a sad and barely effective barely imitative system in my opinion. When I got my 246T years ago (no longer have it), I had purchased that one after owning RS/GRE handhelds and base models for decades. For the first 3 days or so I was almost hitting myself (figuratively speaking) because I could not get my brain around the "dynamic memory" concept. It just didn't make sense.

Then I posted about my experience here long ago, and someone - and I don't recall the person, sorry - posted a particular analogy of thinking about the dynamic stuff as compared to the "bank" system programming style that I'd been using for so long.

After that post, it was the proverbial lightbulb coming on, and ever since that precise moment, I have and still believe that Uniden's system is the future of programming as far as scanner memory systems should be concerned.

Banks are history, and systems with dynamically allocated memory are truly where it's at. There's a learning curve to the dynamic system, but once you "get it," you'll be so excited about it. I got to a point where I could program a new system with an alpha-tagged name on the system with my 246T in about 2 minutes, no PC needed.

Obviously when I did get ARC246 from Butel things were significantly easier, but even so, programming a 246T or any dynamic memory handheld from Uniden is now a piece of cake for me, including the alpha tags. I prefer the 246T even now because of the separate knobs - spinning through TGs was so easy with that one, I swear.

Happy holidays...

 

[mvgossman]

See my first post, it is Christmas Day and the GRE PSR-500 arrived under the tree... I have played with it all day, extremely user friendly and flexible and couldn't be more pleased.

Only thing I want now is a way to program it via the computer. I understand there's some software coming soon to permit this. Not that direct programming is difficult, just slower.

 

[Dubbin]

There are a couple programs, check the first two threads in the software forum.

 

[banjojim]

its a mute issue now, but i love my 396. i used software for the first few months, but then had to program it without software and like another said, it took about 2 minutes. no doubt the gre is great too. nice to have great choices. congrats on the new toy!