scosgt
Member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2004
- Messages
- 1,295
Radio Shack is clearly Whistlers biggest customer. With 4000 stores that was potentially 16,000+ scanners on the shelves. Of course, I don't know if RS ever paid Whistler for what they sold them.
Unless Whistler can find another large outlet, like Walmart, I don't see how they can stay in the scanner business. The GRE line was mostly for dedicated hobbyists, the RS line more for casual people. MANY MANY times more RS scanners on the street than GRE.
That being said, there is a glut of the new RS models out there, being sold for under $200. The market for the pre-800 models is just shot. All that excess inventory is going to wind up at overstock or someplace for pennies on the dollar. That model, in my opinion, is GONE. There is a market for the PSR-800 re-badged model, because it is a damn good scanner and does Phase 2. But who knows if they can go forward with that without Radio Shack to sell them.
Unless Whistler can find another large outlet, like Walmart, I don't see how they can stay in the scanner business. The GRE line was mostly for dedicated hobbyists, the RS line more for casual people. MANY MANY times more RS scanners on the street than GRE.
That being said, there is a glut of the new RS models out there, being sold for under $200. The market for the pre-800 models is just shot. All that excess inventory is going to wind up at overstock or someplace for pennies on the dollar. That model, in my opinion, is GONE. There is a market for the PSR-800 re-badged model, because it is a damn good scanner and does Phase 2. But who knows if they can go forward with that without Radio Shack to sell them.