That's always the $64,000 question lol.
It really all depends on what you want to listen to now, and what you might want to listen to in the future. Being in NYC is for the most part a blessing, since everything is still conventional VHF or UHF. I mean realistically, that old 200XLT of yours should work just fine for listening to NYPD, FDNY, EMS, etc. You could very well decide to just order the replacement battery pack from Ham Radio Outlet and call it a day. Obviously you already have the AC adapter since you were playing around with it the past few days.
There are of course downsides to that old scanner. First of all, the scan speed is absolutely pathetic compared to new scanners. 15 channels per second on the 200XLT, compared with 50 per second on the 72XLT/95XLT and 100 per second on the 346XT. Replacing the battery pack will cost you between $35-$50 and even then, it's still proprietary NiCd, you can't just throw a couple of regular old alkaline AA's into the unit in a pinch (or power outage).
Anyways I would say yes for certain to the 396XT being overkill for the NYC area. There's not much of anything at all in the way of P25 digital in the city or surrounding counties. So unless you plan on traveling or moving to a place that has P25 digital systems, forget about the 396.
So it really comes down to the $95 95XLT, or the $215 346XT. Is it worth the extra $120? If you have the money to spend, I think the 346XT is a wise investment. Let's look at why:
- The 346 scans twice as fast as the 95
- The 346 features alpha tags, which is a huge plus seeing "FDNY Bronx" instead of just "482.00625" on the display.
- The 346 features PL/DPL, which comes in handy for locking out any potential interference from nearby users on the same frequency
- The 346 has a ridiculous amount of memory, so you could store basically the entirety of NYC in the thing. 100 or 200 channels fills up a lot faster than you might think.
- The 346 doesn't use the old channels/banks method, which can be limiting when trying to organize frequencies. With the 346, everything is organized into "Systems" and "Groups", so it's very flexible.
- The 346 features individual channel volume adjustments, which comes in very handy if there's a particular frequency that's always too quiet or too loud, you can adjust it so that it matches up with the rest of the channels
- The 346 is computer programmable and computer controllable. FreeSCAN is really nice software that is, as the name implies, free...and the cable comes with the scanner so you don't need to spend another $70 just for software and cable (you will need a computer with a serial port to use the included cable, it's not USB)
- The 346 features an attenuator, which can come in very handy in an urban environment. It basically reduces the signal strength either per channel or systemwide, so that very strong or nearby transmitters don't overpower the scanner.
Well, that's just a few of the pluses of the 346XT over the 72/95, and we didn't even talk about trunking. I think the 346XT is a good investment for all those points, as well as the fact that it does trunk track. I don't know what borough you're in, but if you find yourself in certain parts of the Bronx or Queens in particular, you might eventually decide to monitor Westchester or Nassau, both of which have trunked systems.