SDS100/SDS200: Newest reviews & opinion SDS 100

FoeHammer · Oct 18, 2018

I'm Still on the fence with this thing , here is what concerns me , reports of missed signals & decodes , I am mostly interested in DMR ,Nexden, & the p25 simulcast fix would be great , but I need top performance in uhf digital modes , So I need to know , is this thing flawless on DMR ,Nexden ? because if its not then what other radios can give me perfect tg tracking on those modes ,..I am willing to sacrifice the p25 simulcast upgrade if I can get a radio that works perfectly on uhf dmr& nexden ,..at this point I dont know how to judge the reports Im seeing , I dont know how many have been sold & how many have these issues , or how many may be some sort of programming error , Another reason I'm wondering about it , is are these reports indicative of how a sdr behaves & it's limitations vs a "Real " radio ? Outside of the simulcast performance ,..would I actually get better more consistent performance with radio like the 436 /536 ?

radio3353 · Oct 18, 2018

FoeHammer said:
I'm Still on the fence with this thing , here is what concerns me , reports of missed signals & decodes , I am mostly interested in DMR ,Nexden, & the p25 simulcast fix would be great , but I need top performance in uhf digital modes , So I need to know , is this thing flawless on DMR ,Nexden ? because if its not then what other radios can give me perfect tg tracking on those modes ,..I am willing to sacrifice the p25 simulcast upgrade if I can get a radio that works perfectly on uhf dmr& nexden ,..at this point I dont know how to judge the reports Im seeing , I dont know how many have been sold & how many have these issues , or how many may be some sort of programming error

Asking a question like this will get you no where. You will just get responses from the lovers and haters. No answers.

Just buy one and see if it works FOR YOU. If it does, enjoy it. If not, return it. Do your own research. It is much more rewarding than sifting through endless opinions.

woody_46 · Oct 18, 2018

I am in Windsor and have the 436. It performs well on the UHF and VHF NXDN and DMR systems in the local database. I do not have the money to get the SDS100 at this time.

Hope that helps for the other part of your question..

FoeHammer · Oct 18, 2018

woody_46 said:
I am in Windsor and have the 436. It performs well on the UHF and VHF NXDN and DMR systems in the local database. I do not have the money to get the SDS100 at this time.

Hope that helps for the other part of your question..

Have you had any luck with the Detroit system ? In theory the sds should be able to get it here ,.My old 396t gets good signal , but poor decode , So I guess if I am willing to forget about the Detroit system ,..the 436 should do everything else I need

woody_46 · Oct 19, 2018

FoeHammer said:
Have you had any luck with the Detroit system ?

I have no real interest in the Detroit system but have better results with the whip antenna with casual listening. Decode on that system is decent when not using the outdoor antenna and problematic with it.. I live on the east end near Seminole street. The receive on the 436 will be comparable to your current 396. Obviously I can't comment on the SDS100 receive.

KK4JUG · Oct 19, 2018

radio3353 said:
Asking a question like this will get you no where. You will just get responses from the lovers and haters. No answers.

Just buy one and see if it works FOR YOU. If it does, enjoy it. If not, return it. Do your own research. It is much more rewarding than sifting through endless opinions.

Logic is a rarity in this forum.

woody_46 · Oct 19, 2018

radio3353 said:
Just buy one and see if it works FOR YOU. .

@ Foehammer

This is the only way as YMMV. Just check the vendor return policies beforehand.

Hit_Factor · Oct 19, 2018

FoeHammer said:
Have you had any luck with the Detroit system ? In theory the sds should be able to get it here ,.My old 396t gets good signal , but poor decode , So I guess if I am willing to forget about the Detroit system ,..the 436 should do everything else I need

I was in Detroit last weekend - using full DB and GPS. Worked as expected.

scannersnstuff · Oct 19, 2018

radio3353 said:
Asking a question like this will get you no where. You will just get responses from the lovers and haters. No answers.

Just buy one and see if it works FOR YOU. If it does, enjoy it. If not, return it. Do your own research. It is much more rewarding than sifting through endless opinions.

Sorry, but this is a ridiculous statement. Getting opinion's is part of the learning process. Maybe he doesn't want the hassle of getting a dud, and having to return the radio, at a loss. This is one reason radio people come here. I respectfully disagree .

There are not only lover's and hater's. there are middle of the roader's.

radio3353 · Oct 19, 2018

pdfdems286 said:
Sorry, but this is a ridiculous statement. Getting opinion's is part of the learning process. Maybe he doesn't want the hassle of getting a dud, and having to return the radio, at a loss. This is one reason radio people come here. I respectfully disagree .

There are not only lover's and hater's. there are middle of the roader's.

My suggesting somebody do ORIGINAL research (like trying the radio on their system(s) of interest) instead of soliciting opinions is ridiculous? I think not, except for those too lazy to do the work.

Look, it is well known that the performance of this radio is location specific. Works for some, doesn't work well for others. So what is gained by asking for opinions? That won't answer the question of how well it will work for YOU.

Buy from the right dealer (again do research) and there will be no financial loss if the radio doesn't work for you.

Frankhappyg · Oct 19, 2018

Thought this site is World Wide.
Finding someone who has one in the same county or even close might give him better thoughts at least.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

scannersnstuff · Oct 19, 2018

radio3353, Ridiculous may be a strong word, but I still think he should ask for opinion's. If he get's the 100, and want's to send it back, there would be a shipping loss. I did not mean to ruffle your feather's. It's all good.

My personal opinion is there are just too many unhappy post's, as there are happy one's. I will wait and see what future review's reveal. $700, plus, is just too much to gamble.

Let me just expound on what I said. I eagerly awaited the bcd436hp, from the first post about it, thru all of the growing pain's,problem's and complaint's. The issue's were eventually resolved, and I purchased one last year. I am confident that I'll eventually purchase a sds100, especially if I win the mega million's jackpot, tonight.

gonzalu · Oct 19, 2018

Got mine yesterday and I LOVE IT... Great Radio so far. No regrets... Lovely display... It's not an iPhone Xs Max but still

scannermike11 · Oct 19, 2018

i have some big problems with this radio
1 battery 2 radio is too big it is should not be called a hand held there are lots of time i need to put my hand held
in my pocket you can not do that with this radio and you have to use the uniden battery
there are bigger battery you can buy at
i am news reporter and there lots of time my battery dies on a story and i have run into wallmart
to get a quick set of battery,s can not do that with this radio not smart uniden who this decision bad call

budevans · Oct 19, 2018

FoeHammer said:
I'm Still on the fence with this thing , here is what concerns me , reports of missed signals & decodes.

Yes the SDS100 can miss signals & decodes. Just for the record so can the 436 and every other scanner.

FoeHammer said:
I am mostly interested in DMR ,Nexden, & the p25 simulcast fix would be great , but I need top performance in uhf digital modes , So I need to know , is this thing flawless on DMR ,Nexden ?

In the case of DMR, it's almost impossible to be flawless. DMR is an open standard, each manufacturer includes certain features to make their product unique.

The best that I can say is. That currently the Uniden scanners follow the Motorola systems standards more closely than the other scanner maker.

FoeHammer said:
because if its not then what other radios can give me perfect tg tracking on those modes,

Motorola radio's track Motorola systems better than their competition. The same can be said for each manufacturer.

Simple answer, there is no radio that will perform everything perfectly.

FoeHammer said:
I am willing to sacrifice the p25 simulcast upgrade if I can get a radio that works perfectly on uhf dmr& nexden .

See my previous reply.

FoeHammer said:
at this point I dont know how to judge the reports Im seeing , I dont know how many have been sold & how many have these issues , or how many may be some sort of programming error..

Welcome to the real world. You're in the same boat as the rest of us.

FoeHammer said:
Another reason I'm wondering about it , is are these reports indicative of how a sdr behaves & it's limitations vs a "Real " radio ? Outside of the simulcast performance

I don't have an SDR setup so I can't answer that question.

FoeHammer said:
Would I actually get better more consistent performance with radio like the 436 /536 ?

There's no way to know, until you do you own comparison. The SD100, 436 and 536 performance are very close. The biggest difference is the simulcast. Which the SDS100 wins hands down.

If you are waiting for the perfect scanner, you will probably never buy another scanner.

Good luck with your decision.

FoeHammer · Oct 19, 2018

ok maybe i did not word it correctly ,..Ill try again & to be more specific ,..For those that have used the 436 AND the sds 100 ,..which one did they find caught more signal & had more consistent decodes on uhf DMR & NXDN , Im not so much asking , do you like it or hate it , It would appear reports indicate everyone agrees its great on simulcast 800mhz p25 ,..there were reports of missed signals & decodes in other bands & there have been a few firmware releases , so Im trying to find out what peoples experiences are at this point , I know about the analog performance & am not focusing on that either , Its going to be around a thousand dollars here , & yes I dont want the hassle of getting a radio at that cost , only to find although simulcast it great ,..the 436 decodes dmr & nxdn more consistently for half the cost ,..therefore the best resource would be to ask people that already have the experience with it

KK4JUG · Oct 19, 2018

gonzalu said:
It's not an iPhone Xs Max but still

Thank goodness.

Frankhappyg · Oct 19, 2018

FoeHammer said:
ok maybe i did not word it correctly ,..Ill try again & to be more specific ,..For those that have used the 436 AND the sds 100 ,..which one did they find caught more signal & had more consistent decodes on uhf DMR & NXDN , Im not so much asking , do you like it or hate it , It would appear reports indicate everyone agrees its great on simulcast 800mhz p25 ,..there were reports of missed signals & decodes in other bands & there have been a few firmware releases , so Im trying to find out what peoples experiences are at this point , I know about the analog performance & am not focusing on that either , Its going to be around a thousand dollars here , & yes I dont want the hassle of getting a radio at that cost , only to find although simulcast it great ,..the 436 decodes dmr & nxdn more consistently for half the cost ,..therefore the best resource would be to ask people that already have the experience with it

In my opinion the SDS100 wins in NXDN & DMR over the 436.
I may also add I don’t have the problems with analog transmissions with the SDS100 in my area as others have using a tuned j pole 155mhz @ 40 feet.
Good luck on your quest

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

mancow · Oct 19, 2018

Frankhappyg said:
In my opinion the SDS100 wins in NXDN & DMR over the 436.
I may also add I don’t have the problems with analog transmissions with the SDS100 in my area as others have using a tuned j pole 155mhz @ 40 feet.
Good luck on your quest

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

agreed

Ubbe · Oct 20, 2018

You can review and comment on features and functions but reception quality opinions can not be applied to the next guy.

I receive 1/10 of the signals with the antenna on a scanner compared to a roof antenna and the 1/10 are different ones depending on where on the table I place the scanner. 10 inches at the side makes me receive a totally new set of frequencies and loose others.

Not to mention I have to lock out numerous channels due to interference from all electronics in the room. Then also consider if you use the scanner near any strong signal sources like FM broadcast transmitters and cellular towers that could affect the receive capabilities of a scanner.

So even a next door neighbour will probably have a totally different opinion on the same scanners receive performance.

/Ubbe

SDS100/SDS200: Newest reviews & opinion SDS 100

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