Sold my Pro-106, looking at Pro-668 good or bad?

[marine_hm]

Anyone out there have some feed back as to if they like the 668, if not why?
My area (28540) went to P-25 Phase II. I sold the pro 106 for $150.00. Seemed like the going rate.
Now I'm looking to upgrade and have been combing over whether or not the 668 do the job.

I liked being able to easily turn on/off banks depending what I wanted to listen to. Will it still pick up the older 155. frequencies, HAM, CB etc?

 

[GM]

My experience with the Pro 668 was poor. Constant decoding issues, despite trying out different thresholds and programming options. I also dislike the keypad (or lack of one) very much. I felt that a Uniden BCD436HP decoded P25 Phase II much better and the audio quality was a bit cleaner sounding. However others have had success with the Pro 668 decoding so they will be able to assist and provide their input. I ended up selling mine and haven't looked back since.

Based on my experience, I would not recommend a purchase of one.

 

[DJ11DLN]

Pro-668

I've got one and am very happy with it. The decode quality is great and the audio is almost as good as your old 106 was, which is saying something as those were great radios too. Just my $0.02.

 

[Swipesy]

For what it is worth here is my opinion. Here in Northeast Ohio we have about 40 independent dispatch centers (consolidation in process) so we get to listen to many different radio systems including trunked analog, trunked digital, EDACS, P-25 (Phase I only). Personally I use a PSR-500 and PSR-800 and a BC-125AT.

Some of my friends use pure Uniden (436, 536). In comparing notes there is really no difference in the ability to monitor all these different systems. My preference is the Whistler/GRE/RS radios because despite what the Uniden supporters try to push, the Whistler/GRE/RS interface is far superior to Uniden's UI. You don't have to deal with departments, Favorites, etc. etc. No doubt there is a learning curve whichever brand radio you choose and once you learn it becomes second nature.

Lastly, I don't believe in being penny wise and pound foolish. I would stay away from the 668 because support is questionable. I would buy a Whister 1080, 1095 or Uniden 436, 536 whereby if something mechanically goes wrong with your investment you have a reasonably good chance to get it repaired.

Hope this helps.

 

[bharvey2]

I've had a 668 for about six months and like it. I've been sticking to RS scanners for several years and haven't had a Uniden in about 25. Not that I have anything against Uniden. My Likes and dislikes of the 668:

Pros:

Small form factor
decent P25 ph 1 decoding with ph 2 capability
Good price


Cons;

weak case - seems flimsy and scratches way too easily
no keypad/direct entry

I'd buy one again.

 

[fasteddy64]

I have both the 106 and the 668.
Since getting the 668 and getting it set up the way I wanted it, I have not turned on the 106 in weeks. The 668 meets my needs very well.

 

[coolderb]

Anyone out there have some feed back as to if they like the 668, if not why?
My area (28540) went to P-25 Phase II. I sold the pro 106 for $150.00. Seemed like the going rate.
Now I'm looking to upgrade and have been combing over whether or not the 668 do the job.

I liked being able to easily turn on/off banks depending what I wanted to listen to. Will it still pick up the older 155. frequencies, HAM, CB etc?

You can get the 668 for about $50 more than what you got for the 106. That's a pretty nice upgrade for $50. Not only do you get Phase II capability, you also get the built-in discriminator output which is great for decoding "unscannable" systems such as Provoice,etc. switching banks on and off is just as easy on the 668 by selecting and deselecting playlists. You can also create playlists for conventional freqs. such as HAM,CB, Mall Security, etc.

I had a 106, it was nice too. I sold it to get the HomePatrol-1, sold that to get the HomePatrol-2, then i picked up a 668 on Ebay for about $200. I use the 668 as my walkaround/mobile unit because of the small form-factor and it comes with a belt-clip. I use the HomePatrol as my main house scanner, love the big, bright color display. Both units pickup everything in my area except the surrounding townships which are still on Provoice. For those I use a PSR-800 which is fed into an ASUS netbook running DSD and then fed into a Raspberry Pi for streaming.

Long story short, I highly recommend the 668 with 1 caveat: swap out the micro-sd card ASAP. The one that comes with it is low quality and will most likely cause problems.

 

[ratboy]

IMHO, if you don't need P2 capability, the 651 is the way to go. I have 668, along with 106, a 651 and a PSR-500, all the same radio, except for looks, and they just work better in general in most places than the 668 does. At work, in my car, and at a friend's house, the 668 has a lot of problems and misses a lot of traffic. At my house, the 668 comes to life, it kills on VHF compared to the other radios, and does as good a job on digital as the 106/651/500 trio does. I can't say I like the user interface of the 668 much. It would be nice if there was just a "Turn on and go" setup that it would default to. The biggest improvement they could make in a future model would be to make the "squelch" knob the volume control, and do the squelch with the up/down controls. I never touch the squelch, and constantly go up and down with the volume pads.

 

[6Paul21]

I have two to go along with my 800's. I purchased the 668 because of the price. If you take your time setting it up it is great.

 

[marine_hm]

Thanks everyone for the input... I just purchased a Pro-668 for $200. So, yeah, like coolderb said; "$50.00 for an upgrade" That's a sweet deal since I had my 106 for 5 years. I did take very good care of it and it still looked new when I sold it. Had everything it came with except the original box. The 668 popped up yesterday on e-bay as "buy now". I snagged it before someone else could beat me to it.
Anyway, I'm excited to see what this thing can do. I am in a PHASE II county so it has to do that 1st.

 

[chaser237]

I bought the 668 from the local RS store before it closed last year, and it's well worth the $200 you invested. I think you will be well pleased with it for that price for sure . Enjoy !!!

 

[marine_hm]

Quick question... Same BNC antenna connection?

 

[Blackswan73]

Yep!

 

[chaser237]

buy you a 800 ant that is like regular at bottom and small at the top, mine seem's to pickup better with it and it is BNC... Also, invest in another micro-SD card for it - so you can format same time & time again. I think you will be more pleased with it having that card to work with .... I hope this help's; it did for me !!

 

[Circa]

I recently got a 668 to replace my 651.
I love the 668!
Usb charging, audio recording, and mine seems very sensitive, picking up am air crafts with the squelch all the way up and the stock antenna. This is something my 651 couldn't do with a large antenna.
My main complaint is that you can only program and access recordings(sd card content) while the 668 is off.
Second complaint is max sd card size is 32gb. Can't use anything above that capacity. (I even tried fat32 on a 64gb,but the programming software won't format the card and the scanner gives an error with the 64gb.)
The iScan radioshack software isn't that bad but I'm still trying to get play lists (aka banks) set up how I like them.

Also it's free to import frequency database and you can store the db on the sd card to program by zip code or county all on the scanner.

It also looks more like a cell phone or mp3 player, so people don't notice you have a scanner with you as much as the giant 651.

Another feature I like is that it has a clock that syncs with your computers clock.

And it has an option to schedule a time for it to auto turn on, like an alarm clock.

I wish I got my 668 sooner.

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk.

 

[marine_hm]

Back When I first got the Pro-106, I purchased a "whip?" antenna. DIAMOND RH77CA Great reception, should work with the 668 as well. Now, if it would just get here. Then I will have to play around with the database a little to figure out the way they set up scan lists, painstakingly assign items to specific scan lists: 1-10 Police, Fire, EMS, local airport etc.. 11-20 Military Police, Fire, EMS, Range Control, Military air. Weather is just a matter of pressing the weather button, but I want it to priority scan "skywarn". Some may think that's overkill but I work indoors and sometimes don't realize that all hell is about to break lose, or a tornado was spotted...

Anyway. This forum is great! WIll keep posting on this thread as I progress with setting it up. I pretty much understood the pro-106. Wish I could use the software I purchased (ARC500) to program instead of Radioshack's proprietary software.

 

[EMS911]

Pulled the trigger today; Need Phase 2 capability and the price was right. Previous Pro 96 and 197 and both work great.

Afraid encryption is just around the corner, so didn't want to sink too much into another scanner.
Also not afraid to return it if it doesn't work out.

I'll be back when I need help setting it up !

 

[marine_hm]

I finally got my Pro-668 scanner the other day. Updated the firmware last night.
I want this to be concise as possible with one post rather than bits and pieces;

Trunking:
When I look at the trunking tab on the pc and select an item, it lists all the frequencies. Should I remove all of them except the primary and maybe leave the secondary?

Banks(pro-106) vs scan list: pretty much the same thing? Then they throw in play sets…
To get to my playsets on the scanner, I have to scroll down to 150 – 165 to turn them on and off. Can I assign playsets to a scan list? Say Scan list 01 (Police) = playsets 150(dispatch),154(talk),158(tac) ; Scan list 02 (Fire) = playsets 152,155,157 etc…
I live in a military town(Retired military myself), the way I had my Pro 106 set up was banks 1-10 were police, sherrif, fire, EMS, local airport. Banks 11-20 were Military Police, fire, EMS, Ranges etc…
That way I’m only having to scroll down maybe 20selections (scan lists) to turn on & off rather than press & hold until I get to my play sets. You get the idea… Can I name my Scan List much like I did with the pro-106 (banks)?