How many people here would return their x36HP to Uniden for a full refund?

I'm just putting this out there because obviously some owners appear content with their purchase. Others, on the other hand..

Personally, I am very disappointed in my 436HP for the following reasons:

* Analogue and digital RF performance sucks compared to my 'old' 396XT. My 396XT hears signals clearly that don't even open the squelch on the 436HP.
* After almost 12 months, the 436HP is still missing the analyze function that is listed on the carton.
* It is not capable of doing a control channel only search.
* It's too damned big for an EDC scanner and while being half as big again as a 396xt, the build quality is less than adequate for a portable that is expected to be lugged around.
* The audio recall/replay function has proved to be less than useful. I believe the GRE system of recording based on channel/talkgroup, rather than everything, would be better if adopted at all.

And, now to rub salt into the wound, it is clear that Uniden have diverted engineering/R&D resources into producing the HP-2 - Give me a break!

Bottom line is that yes, I would happily return my 436HP for a full refund, including shipping costs.

I'm not buying another Uniden scanner until they produce something as good or better than the x96XT.
I don't give a brass razoo about location based scanning and I'm well and truly over this whole 'promise the earth and deliver dust' mentality that Uniden have at the moment.

My most recent purchase? AirSpy. @ $199 for 24Mhz - 1.7Ghz continuous and a 10Mhz panoramic display

I am right there with you on the location based scanning rubbish. I don't travel and it has zero value to me. Likewise, I have no use for recording either. I supposedly have two scanners with recording capability but I have no idea if it works on either of them.

I am continually amazed at the RF performance and speed of the old 780, 785, 796 series. They absolutely smash all the newer units after them. I would like a return to RF performance as a priority.

DDan said:

I am right there with you on the location based scanning rubbish. I don't travel and it has zero value to me. Likewise, I have no use for recording either. I supposedly have two scanners with recording capability but I have no idea if it works on either of them.

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As much as I have been railing against Uniden these past few days, I will admit that I love my HP-1 for having those two functions. I've got it mounted in my car seeing that I make a lot of road trips. I don't know how I listened to my scanner before getting the GPS puck. Makes listening to it while on the road so much more pleasant. Also, whenever the scanner in on in my car, I have it recording. Never know when you'll hear something interesting you want to listen to again. Recorded a police chase and search a couple of weeks ago that I kept and listened to a few times before accidentally erasing the file.

Now, having said all of that in favor of the HP-1, yes, I'd probably send both my 436 and 536 back if I could get my $$$ back. While they are good radios, and I do use both, if they were suddenly gone from my stable, I wouldn't really miss them like I would my 996XT or HP-1.

Not a problem, i would send mine back and take back the money.

Not me. My 436 receives as well as any other radio I've compared it to, and except for Analyze (which I wouldn't use much anyway), it does everything I want it to do reasonably well. It's got a few warts, but IMO it's worth what I paid for it.

I concur to with the whole location based function especially on the 536HP model. These model scanners are suppose to be for advanced users and base operation and these "User friendly" features are better suited for the HP line like it was developed for. Not to ruining the XT line. So I could careless about the location based function. That's why I didn't get a HP-1. I like to have full control over it which is why I love my *96XT models.

The recording feature while I am sure is nice for some and a good idea for the novice user is a joke for those more advanced. Like was mentioned, it runs everything together and the fact you miss important details if you go back and listen to a recording is kind of pointless. Also they took the line out jack out of it which was very useful for hooking to a sound card or mixer so you could use a more practical piece of software like ProScan that does a much better job for recording and archive and allows you to listen to recordings while still listening to live audio as well as being able to hook up multiple radios through a single source.

The bulky WiFi adapter which we already know was poorly designed and doesn't work to date is bulky and just takes up space. If they weren't going to add a RJ-45 jack and wanted to go with a USB solution then they should have used a low profile USB dongle similar to the bluetooth dongles used for keyboards and mouse that wouldn't take up space and would be out of site and out of mind.

The P25 on these scanners are horrible. My 396 and 996XT sound way better on P25 Phase I systems of course. The main reason I got this scanner was for the Phase II and I am very disappointed. Not to mention my XT just overall out performs in all areas the X36HP models.

Having to set the clock and date on the 536HP once a week is getting old too. This scanner can be on 24/7 for up to a couple weeks straight at a time. Turn it off for a couple days and come back and bam! Asking to set the clock and date again. So I know it is not an issue with the internal battery being charged because after two weeks straight of it being on it shouldn't ask for me to do that again if it has only been off for a couple days. Even if I keep it off for a week or two I shouldn't have to do this and the only reason it has this is for time stamping for the recording feature that is pointless.

About the only thing I do like about the 536HP is the screen real estate and the favorites keys and system keys setup. Makes it really easy to navigate and turn on and off systems and/or favorites lists.

It was to my understanding these were suppose to be a hybrid of the XT and HP models together but, then to turn around and release a new HP model is baffling. They should have never combined the two and kept them as separate models for those with different wants and needs and to and more selction and just improved on the XT without adding the HP junk in it like the location based scanning which I don't care about. I know these sound like good concepts to add everything everyone wants into one unit but, all it did was degrade a good scanner like the XT and made it worse. iCom did the same thing when they ditched the 2820H 2M/440 for a more expensive model with features I don't care about that only jacks up the price instead of leaving the two so they have two radios at different price points. Of course this is about Uniden and not iCom.

I will give it to the end of the year and if there is no updates or fixes I will be putting mine on eBay and craigsist to purchase radios that will do what I want them to do.

I would send my 436 and 536 back but thanks to all the people out here that are serving as UNIDEN COUNTINUOUS BETA TESTERS I never spent the money on them and instead went with the PSR800 model.

UNIDEN=VAPORWARE

Thanks again people for taking the fall as Uniden rolls us over.

David Kb7uns

I love both of mine. The 536HP in my main scanner in my car going back and forth to work for my almost two hour drive round trip and the 436HP is my favorite for scanning 800MHz trunk systems in my area. I have never had two scanners that just work for every location I travel on simulcast and non-simulcast digital trunking. I have the PSR-800 and I love it around home but it gets overloaded in high RF area around cell towers and the like. I have the BCD-396XT and it's a great scanner but it too has issues with simulcast. I have the BCD-996XT with the filter mod and it helps but it still doesn't stand up to the 536HP for me in the car driving up and the highway with cell towers every 2-3 miles. In fact a friend of mine bought my 436HP on the spot because he didn't want to mess with the setup and programming and I ordered another one the next day. I have been thinking for a few years now that it would be nice to have a scanner that just covered 700-900 for digital 800MHz trunking to avoid the issues with the wide banded scanners and issues that it can cause. Well so far this is as close as it gets. It's not perfect but it would be real close if they could get the AGC to work as well as the PSR-800.

Good luck to all and I hope you find or have found the perfect scanner for your situation.


Mike

Add me to the list of unhappy customers and I have always loved Uniden.

At the risk of being labeled a "fan boy" by some, I wouldn't do it either. I'm happy with my 536 and the analyze, wifi and SIREN app will just be added bonuses.

Have to admit my 436 does pick up better than my 396 did. But given the fact that a feature was missing from my 436, I would send mine back for a full refund. Have always stated if Uniden refunded $100 bucks to all owners of the x36 and call it good with no additional features coming, I could live with that.

I wouldn't even if I got $100 more than I paid for it.

I like the programming convenience. Swapping out SD cards is a whole lot better than having to take a laptop to the vehicle, connect it, do the programming then put it back away. Especially when I go on trips. I can have "enroute" programming while on the road, then "destination" programming when I arrive.

Also the P25 simulcast decoding on my 536's is significantly better than on my x96s.

The only dislike I have is the unfortunate delay with the Siren App (noting there was an update today). I have my scanner in a console in my vehicle and it is awkward to access, which would be alleviated by the app. Every time I want to avoid a channel, or do some other kind of button press, I find myself saying "The siren app can come out any time now".

My 436 is my every day scanner. If I had the money I'd get a 536 for the truck so I wasn't mounting and unmounting the 436 four times a day.

I enjoy my 436 but would send my 536 back without delay. Now as long as the missing features from the 436 keep getting delayed because the siren app is delayed (UPman's wording today in his 'update')even though the 436 will not be using the siren app, I would gladly send that back and go back to my RS model.

I'm happy with my 436 even though I've had a couple of issues. I don't really need the analyze feature so the delays are not a deal breaker for me. I don't think there's such a thing as a perfect scanner.

I am pretty happy so far with my 436 but I sold my two 536 radios due to hardware related problems.

I was told to play nice now since I was only telling the truth and got infraction points. HAHA

Uniden, don't mix the HP series with the 396XT/996XT features/performance.

We don't want stripped down/dumbed down scanners. Keep this in mind for your next scanner. A P25 Phase II 396XT/996XT with some other digital decode.

pepsima1 said:

I am pretty happy so far with my 436 but I sold my two 536 radios due to hardware related problems.

I was told to play nice now since I was only telling the truth and got infraction points. HAHA

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No one gets infractions for "telling the truth".
Your history here includes infraction points for forum trolling.
That is why you find yourself in the position you are in.
Marshall KE4ZNR

salt

dkf435 said:

I would send my 436 and 536 back but thanks to all the people out here that are serving as UNIDEN COUNTINUOUS BETA TESTERS I never spent the money on them and instead went with the PSR800 model.

UNIDEN=VAPORWARE

Thanks again people for taking the fall as Uniden rolls us over.

David Kb7uns

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ouch that salt hurts!,
I just hope they make these things scan faster and receive better in general.