346 or 396?

[FireRaider61]

Recently I purchased a Uniden BCRH96 remote head because I got a sale email from Scanner Master (I think it was an omen) and my big reason for not running a scanner anymore had been space and convenience. After my impulse buy I now need to decide between the 346 and the 396.

My last two purchases were a brand new Pro-95 and a brand new BC245XLT so you can see I have been out of the loop for a while but started out many years ago with the Pro-2004 and the snipped diode, for those of you that remember the days.

Would there be any reason why I wouldn't be able to be content with the 346 at half the price of the 396? It looks like the 346 doesn't do digital, is that going to be a problem for me in the future or do you think Utah is so big and spread out that the digital wont catch on for a long while? Or is it inevitable and I should spend the money now? Or am I misunderstanding the difference?
I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the two Uniden scanners. I am going to have it tucked away in my truck and listen mainly to UHP between Kaysville and Cedar City on weekends and then DCSO, Kaysville Fire ( I used to work there), and SLCFD during the weekday commute.

 

[MK]

You should really consider buying the 396XT. Digital communications has too much momentum to be ignored -- unlike a few years ago. A significant problem with buying any scanner right now is the risk of getting something near the end of its life cycle. For that reason you might want to consider the lower priced scanner because your interest appears to casual and infrequent.

 

[fireraider]

I was thinking the same thing. I see that they have both been in production for several years.
Looks like my best bet is to try and find a used 346 on eBay or something like that. I was mainly concerned about the lack of digital but looking through some of the threads it looks like the whole state hasn't even made it to 800mhz yet?
( I remembered my old password, thats why my username changed)