Just my opinion....BCT-8..
What do I think of the BCT-8..? I guess the fact that I own 3 of them should say something!! The first one I bought new, the last two from eBay sellers. I use one in my van..it has a good bright easy-to-read display and it only takes a few button presses to change any of the settings...so I don't get distraced from my driving... The "State" scanning feature is handy so that during a vacation, you can just select the state you are in and not have to worry about trying to enter some frequency list. It has a good audio amplifier so when in the car you can turn it up to overcome the road or traffic noise very easily.
There is absolutely nothing functional wrong with the NASCAR logo radios...I have a BR330T which also has this logo... Many people just object to this additional advertising on the radio...some paint over it or cover it with black tape...and...as you apparently have heard, some just refuse to buy any Bearcat models because of this...but...again...there is NO problem with the actual scanner.. I am not a NASCAR fan at all, but it's very easy for me to overlook that small logo on the scanners...in fact, just now, I looked at my BCT-8 and it took a few seconds before I even could locate it....!
So, to wrap it up, I think that is a good price for one that comes from Bearcat...as I recall, I gave in the neighborhood of $80 for mine from eBay.
An additional note...I see that someone responded to your other thread by saying, "If 100 channels are enough for you, the 355C will be fine." Actually, you can store 300 of your own favorite channels in the 3 separate banks. There is one 100 channel bank with each of the Police/Fire/Emerg and the Air/Mrn groups as well as 100 channels in the Private bank... Since you said you live in a a smaller town, I think you will find this a perfectly adequate number of options. The BCT-8 can store 250 channels, but in a different arrangement...5 groups of 50 channels...both work out fine...
Hope this helps...
