My thoughts on the PSR-800

[brownlab]

The market will sort out the details and the best designed scanners will prevail. Until then, if you can't afford a mistake you had better do your research before you make your purchase. I bought the 800 just to play with it. I found myself going back to my 500. So that's my review. I like the PSR 500 better, but that's just based on my experience.[/QUOTE]

I enjoyed reading your post and it took me back to my first crystal scanner and all of the fun (not really) of hunting down crystals using that big book of frequencies that they used to sell at Radio Shack. I understand your returning to your 500 just like I generally prefer my Uniden 996XT to the PRS 800 yet I have to admit that the 800 is now my go to radio. Because of the two counties here in DC metro using X2 TDMA/FDMA many of us have purchased the 800 since it is the only way to monitor these systems. It was nothing more frustrating for me than watching my 996XT picking up the signal yet not hearing anything so I broke down and purchased the 800 and others around here have also done the same. Before X2 TDMA/FDMA I never even considered purchasing a GRE scanner. Now I love the thing and many the many things it can do. It will be interesting to see what happens as more jurisdictions move to Phase 2 P25 TDMA/FDMA now that these radios are being manufactured and shipped. We are betting that the PRS 800 will be able to update to Phase 2 however opinions vary about that. Some large systems such as Riverside County CA and Fairfax CO VA (maybe) are in the process of adopting Phase 2 TDMA/FDMA. It's sad that Phase 2 will render many good scanners useless. The engineers at GRE are at least thinking about this. I don't know about Uniden. However I read the RR posts everyday looking for some kennel of new information.

 

[dugan]

I guess we all have to hold our collective breath when it comes to the new systems and react in any way that works, as long as it is legal.

In my previous post I digressed to talk of GPS systems, but I remember in the early days of the technology Magellan made a whopper of a firmware upgrade for the Meridian series. They went from simple mapping to routing capabilities in one step. We were thrilled, because our hardware had literally evolved to the next generation of handheld GPS.

I always hope for companies to continue support wherever possible when it comes to firmware.

 

[mtindor]

What kind & brand are you using? I use these and it's lasts pretty long.

I'm using PowerEX 2700 mAh batteries in a Maha charger [I forget the model - it has room for 4 batteries at a time]. Although, I wasn't calculating battery life in the PSR-800 based upon the batteries being charged in the Maha. I was calculating battery life based upon the PSR-800 charging the batteries. Perhaps it takes forever for the PSR-800 to charge batteries, or perhaps they are never anywhere near full charge when the charge indicator says it is. Not sure.

With what I thought was a full charged based upon the display on the PSR-800, I get about 4 hours of use with no lights on and moderate to less-than-moderate traffic.

I'll have to just start charging these batteries in the Maha again and then see how long a full charge lasts. It might be that the batteries have seen better days. I've had them for at least two years. They've probably seen 10-12 charge cycles on the Maha. I don't use them very often.

Mike

 

[mtindor]

Both scanners seem to do what they were designed to do very well, plug and play scanning.

Draf

Yeah, I guess they do. Unfortunately I paid closer attention to the actual specs on the technology and not the intended audience. A scanner with the abilities that this scanner has shouldn't be relegated to 80 year old grandmas. So much capability but very limited ways to access said capability.

Give me TUNE/ANALYZE and Multisite STAT and I'll shut up

Mike

 

[Chris45]

There is no question that the PSR-800 poses some challenges and is far from squeaky pefect. All scanners have their plus and minus aspects that are largely defined by the consumers. I do not care for this radio mainly because it is a power hog (really eats batteries) compared to the other digital portables. I had to tape around the inside of the screen cover to keep debris from entering the radio. But remarkably it receives probably the best of all the portable digital scanners. I think it is a good choice for travel with the capability to extract programs from the memory. But many of the features I would trade for more power reliability. I have found that the best batteries seem to be the Duracell Copper Tops. I do not need a clock-callendar, recording, date stamping, or anything Mpeg and iPod in a radio scanner. The more BS crammed into a scanner will ultimately degrade the dependability of expected performance. To this end, I find my Pro-106 and BCD 396XT more desirable.

 

[mtindor]

There is no question that the PSR-800 poses some challenges and is far from squeaky pefect. All scanners have their plus and minus aspects that are largely defined by the consumers. I do not care for this radio mainly because it is a power hog (really eats batteries) compared to the other digital portables. I had to tape around the inside of the screen cover to keep debris from entering the radio. But remarkably it receives probably the best of all the portable digital scanners. I think it is a good choice for travel with the capability to extract programs from the memory. But many of the features I would trade for more power reliability. I have found that the best batteries seem to be the Duracell Copper Tops. I do not need a clock-callendar, recording, date stamping, or anything Mpeg and iPod in a radio scanner. The more BS crammed into a scanner will ultimately degrade the dependability of expected performance. To this end, I find my Pro-106 and BCD 396XT more desirable.

That pretty much sums it up for me. A fully charged pack of 4 2700 mAh rechargeables lasted no more than three hours in the scanner today. I turned it on, had no lights and minimal traffic, and it started beepgin and complaining 3 hours in. I think you can set when it will actually alert you, but the bottom line is that it died way way too fast. I don't know what the hell it's doing to consume that much power. My PSR-500 lasts a lot longer than that on fully charged NiCads.

The PSR-800 does sound good though.

Here is an instance that really peeved me today. I had programmed in multiple trunked system sites into various scanlists. I thought I had everything programmed in. Today, while I was away from the computer [but near both the PSR-800 and a PSR-500], I start hearing traffic on the PSR-500 that isn't happening on the 800. It's not a signal issue. It was an issue with me forgetting to program in a private wildcard for an EDACS site that I had programmed in so that I could hear the utility guys talking amongst themselves and making a call back to HQ. I didn't have the computer around to add the wildcard, and I couldn't add it any other way.

I'm under the impression that you couldn't enter in a talkgroup in an HP-1 either.. I don't know for sure. At any rate, the scanners are too dummed down. They need to hvae some flexibility for manual programming. Wanting to add a talkgroup on the fly, or a frequency on the fly is not unrealistic and shouldn't be beyond the scope of one of these devices.

I'll echo your sentiments about the PSR-800 reception again though -- they have very nice audio quality and seem to have no trouble at all on the Motorola Astro and P25 systems I monitor.

Mike

 

[OCO]

I'm under the impression that you couldn't enter in a talkgroup in an HP-1

. You can, since the upgrade....more info here..HP1 isn't that much better on batteries - if I don't turn the display brightness down, I'm getting about 4 hours out of a charge. I did get a 12 volt cable as part of the package though, along with the wall wart.

 

[W4KRR]

That pretty much sums it up for me. A fully charged pack of 4 2700 mAh rechargeables lasted no more than three hours in the scanner today. I turned it on, had no lights and minimal traffic, and it started beepgin and complaining 3 hours in. I think you can set when it will actually alert you, but the bottom line is that it died way way too fast. I don't know what the hell it's doing to consume that much power. My PSR-500 lasts a lot longer than that on fully charged NiCads. Mike

Sounds like you have a bad cell. I also have 2700 mAh rechargeable batteries, and I can get about 8 to 8.5 hours per charge. This is while scanning, back light on 100% of the time, medium brightness.

 

[mtindor]

Sounds like you have a bad cell. I also have 2700 mAh rechargeable batteries, and I can get about 8 to 8.5 hours per charge. This is while scanning, back light on 100% of the time, medium brightness.

Well, you called that one right. The particular 4 PowerEx batteries that I had in the PSR-800 hadn't been on the charger in some time. I depended upon the scanner charging them [and it indicating when they were fully charged]. Foolish.

I took the batteries out and checked them on the charger, and wouldn't you know it two of them failed the impedence test with the usual HIGH displaying on the charger.

I grabbed four that I had on charge which showed to be fully charged according to the charger. I'll report back how long the scanner can function on this set before requiring a charge.

Mike

 

[SCPD]

I was calculating battery life based upon the PSR-800 charging the batteries.

Well hate to inform people of this .... but your scanner is good at scanning and as you found out NOT SO GOOD at charging batteries.

It doesn't matter the brand ... Uniden, Realistic or Gre. They are ALL the same ... battery charging is not their strong points, in fact I would say that they just shoved it in there in the last moment cause someone might like it. Now many years later .. some people still think that their scanners should charge their batteries reliably. This still hasn't happened. Like why spend 16 hours to charge batteries in your PSR800 ... when you can use a proper charger and do it in 2.

Just search here on RR .. and look at the pics of melted batteries in peoples scanners. It shows that battery charging was an afterthought.

I have NEVER charged a battery in a scanner and never will. Ask me if I ever have problems with my scanner batteries. NEVER has happened and as I continue to charge my batteries in dedicated battery chargers, I never will have problems.

You are going to do much much better with your Maha charger cause guess what .... thats what it is designed to do. It does it very well .. and your scanner well it scans very well. But leave the battery charging to the real devices.

But there will still be people that will charge their batteries in their scanners. Cannot teach the clueless.