Best scanner to get?

Hi all,
I just traded in my vehicle and had a 536hp mounted in car. Now that I am getting new car I am thinking about a portable scanner. I need P25 capable. What are your thoughts on best one to get? Also, I read some of the reviews on the 436hp on exam and a few were bad.

73'

Kevin

If you liked your 536, then the obvious choice is to get the 436. With the exception of Wi-Fi, the 436 does everything the 536 does, and it receives just as well. The programming is exactly the same (except for one or two display options), and the user interface is the same, except for the location of the scroll knob and some of the buttons.

I use the 436 as a base, mobile, and handheld scanner, and it works well in all cases. A RAM finger mount works great for holding the 436 in a vehicle or in the house.

jonwienke said:

If you liked your 536, then the obvious choice is to get the 436. With the exception of Wi-Fi, the 436 does everything the 536 does, and it receives just as well. The programming is exactly the same (except for one or two display options), and the user interface is the same, except for the location of the scroll knob and some of the buttons.

I use the 436 as a base, mobile, and handheld scanner, and it works well in all cases. A RAM finger mount works great for holding the 436 in a vehicle or in the house.

Click to expand...

Thanks jonwienke


Kevin

kjfswkr said:

Hi all,
I just traded in my vehicle and had a 536hp mounted in car. Now that I am getting new car I am thinking about a portable scanner. I need P25 capable. What are your thoughts on best one to get? Also, I read some of the reviews on the 436hp on exam and a few were bad.

73'

Kevin

Click to expand...

Kevin,

If the reviews that you were reading were on Amazon, there's no telling what scanner or other device they belonged to. Amazon tends to display all reviews on any Uniden radio on each product. Sometimes, reading a review on, say, the 436HP, it may actually say the product reviewed was the BC125AT. Or the comments are that 'this scanner cannot receive digital'. That may be true for an analog scanner, but not for the scanner that they pasted the review under. Yes, that have been some poor results posted here on RadioReference, but you could say the same thing about any scanner. Some people hate a certain model, while others love it. Other than the clock issue on my first 436HP (I have two), I've had no real trouble with them or with my 536HP.

I've posted a complaint to Amazon before on the mixed products in the reviews, but no change. They do the same on other products, whether a drone, drills, whatever. It makes many of their reviews worthless.

Like Jon, I also use my 436's as portables, in my SUV, or at home, connected to a rooftop antenna.

The smaller display with tiny text might be difficult to read at a glance in a vehicle.

It's also about $100 cheaper than the 536.

One option to consider if you still have your 536 and the only reason for a different scanner is a mounting issue: You could get an iPade or old iPhone and use the Siren App where the iPad/iPhone is a "remote head".

I've got a 536 mounted in a console and use a "de-commissioned" iPhone in a charging cradle and am reasonably happy with it.

That said, a 436 is a good portable scanner - I'm satisfied with mine.

Kevin:

While I agree with the other posters about the 436 as I have one and really like it (use mine in the house), for mobile use in the car I prefer the BCD325P2. It does a great job on P25 audio and I really like the larger screen and LCD color. In addition, the small form factor makes it very easy to mount in the car and take with you as needed. Will save you some $$$ too if that is a consideration. Just a thought....

Thanks - Mike

I disagree. The P2 scanners are much more memory-limited. They're only useful for operating in your local area. If you're taking a multi-state road trip, it's not practical to program a P2-series scanner for the trip. But long trips are a cakewalk for the 436.

ofd8001 said:

One option to consider if you still have your 536 and the only reason for a different scanner is a mounting issue: You could get an iPade or old iPhone and use the Siren App where the iPad/iPhone is a "remote head".

I've got a 536 mounted in a console and use a "de-commissioned" iPhone in a charging cradle and am reasonably happy with it.

That said, a 436 is a good portable scanner - I'm satisfied with mine.

Click to expand...

Thanks but using it in vehicle and at home..

kevin

Thanks Mike.

kevin

Your welcome Kevin. Good luck with whatever unit you go with!

If the P25 system is simulcast, then NONE of the current scanners will properly decode the audio. You will get lots of missed and garbled transmissions.

Homeboys-Scanna said:

If the P25 system is simulcast, then NONE of the current scanners will properly decode the audio. You will get lots of missed and garbled transmissions.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Simulcast is only an issue if you are getting signals from two or more towers that are approximately equal in strength. If you're only getting a signal from one tower, or the signal from one tower is significantly stronger than the rest, then the scanner will have no trouble with it.

Franklin and Adams counties in PA both have 2 simulcast sites each. I have simulcast issues when receiving Franklin site 101, but with Franklin site 102 and Adams county East and West sites, I get excellent reception and a zero decode error rate most of the time, because I'm only receiving signal from one of the site towers.

But if you're mobile driving around, there'll be no way to get consistent reliable receive.

True. You'll have dead spots where you'll get poor reception from a given simulcast site, even though the signal is strong. If the system has multiple simulcast sites, if you can scan multiple sites and usually find one that decodes well even if it isn't the closest physically. But if the system only has one site and it is simulcast, there's not much you can do in a dead spot.