Uniden And Whistler Opinions ?

[BOBRR]

Hi,

I guess Whistler has been around now long enough for some general
opinions to have been formulated.

Would like to ask the following, please:

a. I had a few GRE scanners many, many years ago. Liked them.
Is the Whistler "quality" levels "pretty much" the same as Uniden's ?

b. In general, are the Whistler scanners any easier to program and actually use
than Uniden's ? I have a 436 that I have given up on.

c. Customer service, etc. pretty much the same ? Recall handling, etc. ?

Any caveats or other opinions ?

Thanks,
B.

 

[jonwienke]

Draw your own conclusions here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pDX7yhQP03RC7yOzeAnkH530ux9hQcNpIirA4CnpS3M/edit#gid=0

Whistler's programming software is worse. Their receivers are more prone to overload than Unidens. They don't have the option to scan with GPS--a must if you scan on the road. IMO switching to Whistler would be a step down in every respect.

The 436 is a fairly easy scanner to use. Why are you giving up on it?

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

The only thing I liked better on a GRE 800 / Whistler 1088 was the fact that you could program audio recording into an individual channel, so anytime that channel became active, it would be recorded. None of this FUNC+Replay to start recording on my 436.

 

[N8IAA]

Hi,

I guess Whistler has been around now long enough for some general
opinions to have been formulated.

Would like to ask the following, please:

a. I had a few GRE scanners many, many years ago. Liked them.
Is the Whistler "quality" levels "pretty much" the same as Uniden's ?

b. In general, are the Whistler scanners any easier to program and actually use
than Uniden's ? I have a 436 that I have given up on.

c. Customer service, etc. pretty much the same ? Recall handling, etc. ?

Any caveats or other opinions ?

Thanks,
B.

Bob, I presently use a WS-1088 for my main scanner. Also have a PSR-800 that doesn't work as well on simulcast as the 1088.
There is a Pro-197 that does the majority of my conventional P-25 monitoring.

I find that, after having a HP1 for a few years, the EZScan was much easier than Sentinel. Got rid of the HP1 because it sat collecting dust, and just did't work well.
Now, saying that, I do own two old school Unidens. 396XT and a 15X. I use FreeScan with those two.

I know that there are those out there that really love the GPS feature on their Unidens. I don't need any more electronic connections in my car to make my scanning easier. Usually on my day trips with the 1088, I set my scanlists for the area I'll be driving through.Scanner runs, I listen

Have never had to use customer service with either company. No repairs for any of my scanners.But, when I registered my 1088 two years ago, I get updates sent to my email address.

One thing that I do like about SD card scanners is the ability to record individual frequencies and TGID's . I enable the wildcard function on my 1088. It finds and records the TGID, the CC and and slot on DMR, plus any RID's on P-25. Same with any others I have in the REC mode.

HTH,
Larry

 

[bob550]

You'll get 100 different opinions from 50 different people. It's very much a Coke vs. Pepsi or Windows vs. Mac comparison. It really all boils down to your own experience as to which system is easier to program. I've had experience with Sentinel, ProScan and FreeSCAN, for my unidens, and Win500 and PSREdit500 for my RS PRO-651. I really don't have a favorite, and to me, they're just different and not better or worse.

New product glitches and performance levels aside, I don't think there'd be much of a difference in production quality between Uniden or Whistler. As you say, GRE made some great scanners years back. What we can't know, however, is how much of that experience and competence migrated to Whistler. Uniden, on the other hand, has been marketing scanners under their name since the dark ages, if that kind of thing matters to you.