Final Verdict...?

[Slyster]

SO... you who have now had a few days to play... is it a WINNER!? The best digital scanner to date? Blowing the other handhelds out of the water?

 

[Dubbin]

Still to early to tell

 

[bcd396towner]

SO... you who have now had a few days to play... is it a WINNER!? The best digital scanner to date? Blowing the other handhelds out of the water?

I wouldn't say winner here, it can't even do WFM, FM Broadcast radio. To me the 396 is the best.

But if u don't care about FM then buy it. All those amazing feature's and no FM radio lol?

 

[kikito]

SO... you who have now had a few days to play... is it a WINNER!? The best digital scanner to date? Blowing the other handhelds out of the water?

It's only been 2 days, give it at least 2 weeks.....

 

[kikito]

I wouldn't say winner here, it can't even do WFM, FM Broadcast radio. To me the 396 is the best.

But if u don't care about FM then buy it. All those amazing feature's and no FM radio lol?

OMG! If this ain't "troll-bait" I don't know what is.....

 

[Dubbin]

It's only been 2 days, give it at least 2 weeks.....

Yup, the problems are already starting to surface and I'm sure there will be more to follow.

 

[hoser147]

Lets see, Newly released radio, new and changing software, Id have to agree 2 weeks min. Ive never listened to FM Broadcast on a scanner Dont think I need that ?? I would bet that the initial reviews will be favorable. GRE has been the leader with the Digital IMHO......Hoser

 

[troymail]

Yeah there's a few problems but there were problems with the 396 the day it came out also. I recall that fire tone out on the 396 didn' work from the factory but they quickly fixed it. Others had problems tracking multi-site TRS's (if I recall correctly).

I can tell you that the digital decoding and audio quality of the PSR500 is excellent... just as I had expected after test driving a PRO-96 once or twice.

But if you're looking at the 396 vs. the PSR500, consider the features of both. It depends on what you want to do with it. I see posts about FM radio, etc... There's also fire tone out and a completely different way of setting up systems and scanlists on the 396 compared to the PSR500. I favor the 396 system/scanlist method over the PSR500 but others don't. You can do some interesting things with the "status bits" on the 396 that you can't on the GRE radios.

I have both because they each have their own features but you need to determine which is right for you.

When the company GRE-DEN or UNI-COM :lol: is formed, I may need alot of money but I'm sure they'll make one hell of a radio!

 

[bcd396towner]

OMG! If this ain't "troll-bait" I don't know what is.....

I was just kidding,btw I might go and buy it I just need more time to decide

 

[Slyster]

OK.. probably a bit early.. I am just anxious to see what up because I'd like to get one.. I really would love the color changes by bank especially.. and if it would decode better than my Pro-96 on the more distant MPLS system.. which I do get but it stutters into raw data a lot.. but considering the Pro-96 is also a GRE radio.. I am concerned that it will be roughly the same (not in new cool features.. but in reception and decoding)

 

[fmon]

For statewide systems, ROAM/ STAT/OFF are options within Multi Site Menu. If ROAM is selected, one can set the Low and High Threshold. Default is 75 Low and 95 High. Page 63-65 refers in the OM.

Mike's PSREdit makes this embarrassingly easy. Don't see this edit available in Don's Win500 yet but should be shortly.

 

[rvawatch]

im having a little bit of difficulty with it on smartzone systems (actually the chesterfield, richmond, henrico trs). I'd like to leave it on stat since depending on which scanlist im listening to, all the talkgroups are not simulcasted on all three sites. Leaving it on stat would allow the scanner to search all three sites for the current talkgroup. However, the prob is, it seems to sometimes take a bit longer to lock on to local talkgroups, while my 396 jumps right on it (with only the closest site programmed) if that makes any sense

 

[FCVPI99]

I wouldn't say winner here, it can't even do WFM, FM Broadcast radio. To me the 396 is the best.

But if u don't care about FM then buy it. All those amazing feature's and no FM radio lol?

i had a uniden that got in FM band and it didnt work i tuned to 101.1 (Q101) in chicago and i got spaich radio

plus the GRE sound far better then uniden

what i wana know is how it does on starcom 21

 

[KB8UYC]

Well I am in Michigan and I monitor the MPSCS system and its sub systems. The PSR500 even blows the PRO96 out of the water on the Digital systems. I still enjoy my PRO96 but the PSR500 is welcome site to the scanning world. In my opionion, it is and will revalutionize the scanning world. On the Digital systems, a uniden or radio shack scanner cannot compete with it.


but that is just my opionion....

 

[W4KRR]

Still a bit early for a final determination, but mine seems to work just fine in most areas, except for the digital decoding problems being experienced by me and lots of others.

In short, with my BCD396T and my PSR-500 sitting side by side, the '396 decodes some digital talkgroups on some systems that the PSR-500 doesn't, and this is with a full five bars of signal strength. On other digital systems it seems to work just fine.

 

[Stick0413]

Its still to early to tell but everything so far I am liking. Yeah there will be some bugs but there will be updates to fix many of them. In the end though it is by far my favorite radio (comparing to my 96, 2096, & 996).

 

[DaveIN]

Well I am in Michigan and I monitor the MPSCS system and its sub systems. The PSR500 even blows the PRO96 out of the water on the Digital systems. I still enjoy my PRO96 but the PSR500 is welcome site to the scanning world. In my opionion, it is and will revalutionize the scanning world. On the Digital systems, a uniden or radio shack scanner cannot compete with it.


but that is just my opionion....

How is it working on the Detroit or Wayne Co. systems?