Is the WS1040 a good scanner too buy?

Looking to buy a digital scanner that scans nearby frequencies and sounds good and all. I saw it on Amazon for under $250, which is about the max I can spend. Is it a good scanner to go with or would you others suggest going for another model or brand? Thanks for the help.

I can always save up for anothe one, but figured I would get the insight of proffesionals.

Yes it is a very good scanner, as I 2 of them. The only reason I don't have them anymore, is I upgraded both to the TRX-1 because of the capability of monitoring NXDN and Motorola P25 Phase II.

Where are you located and what types of services are you interested in listening to (police, fire, SMS, business, ham radio, etc)?
This will help determine if the WS1040 would be able to receive what you are interested in.
Also be aware that Whistler is having a refurbished model sale on Thursday 2/15/2018.
https://forums.radioreference.com/w...20-whistler-trx2-refurb-sale-2-15-2018-a.html

The 1040 is a good scanner but an older design and as such it has limitations. It will only decode P25 Phase I. If you need Phase II, DMR, NXDN, or anything else, it's not going to happen.

The 1040 is also somewhat plagued with overload issues due to a very sensitive front end that lacks in selectivity. If you're in an urban or other RF-dense area, it's not going to do a good job even on what it can monitor. If you live or operate in a rural area with little RF density, the additional sensitivity becomes a plus.

I've got the 1040's defunct twin the Pro-651 and it's older cousin the Pro-197. They are my favorite scanners because they have great audio and excellent P.1 decode quality.

I bought this scanner because our local PD went digital. I used starrsoft to try to load everything into my scanner. It wants to stay on one channel. It says nothing is enabled.

And the backlight is infuriating. I have gone in to change it so it is always on, but it keeps going off. This is just a ridiculous scanner. I will try programming it manually...If I dont toss it back in the box and send it back to amazon and take up another hobby. LOL

You have to assign what you loaded to a scan list or you will get the "nothing enabled" error message. Take a look at this website for more complete instructions.WIN500 - UtahRadio

To set the backlight to always on, Pres PRG then F3 for GLOB (global), scroll down to LIGHT MODE, arrow r/l till is says ON, then press F1 to SAVE. Hit F2 to EXIT then hit Scan and it should stay on unless you've got a defective one.