536, 436 or Home Patrol

[lugnuts]

I am thinking about buying a 536 but I concerned about the android app not being released yet.

my sole reason for buying the 536 over the 436 is the app and wifi. I would be installing the unit in the trunk of my car and would need the app to control it on my tablet or phone. so not having the app available is a real issue for me.

I want to install the scanner before I go on a few road trips in June. if I get the 536 and the app is not available I would have to make shift install it in the cabin and I dont want to have to do that.

If I went with a 436 it would be a little easier to install and use in the cabin of the car but it would still be there along with the wires.

so do I bite the bullet and buy the 536 and hope the app arrives soon and works, or do I go with the 436? or would getting a home patrol 1 be a better option?

 

[JamesO]

I have all 3 scanners.

Be careful, not sure the WiFi will be the end all answer for you. Although it will work, not sure how you will be able to turn the scanner on and off remotely? May be able to have an ignition controlled wire, but there may be other issue with the 536HP doing this. 536HP needs to write to the SD card when powering off via switch.

HP1 in pretty nice, but if you can only purchase one radio, suggest maybe the 436HP for now, then wait and see what the 536HP App will allow and if it will do what you want it to do.

 

[davenlr]

I would get the 536 even without the app. Very capable radio. The 436 is very hard to read the screen while driving. Since its never been announced what the wifi app for the 536 will do, it may not do what you want it to when it is released, but the scanner itself is awesome, even if you had to spend a day trying to find a mounting location in your car. Since its DIN, you could even put it in the dash pretty easily, if you dont use your AM/FM/? radio much. I use pandora and XM in mine, so rarely use the radio at all.

 

[lugnuts]

before the anouncement of the 436 amd 536 I was planning on getting the hp. last summer I borrowed my friends hand held scanner and had a blast listening to it made some long boring drives more entertaining.

the thing I hated was programming so having the full database and gps is a must have for me.

with repect to the wifi in the anouncment video that Upman posted it was mentioned you could mount your scanner is the trunk or elsewhere in the car and control it with a phone or tablet, thats what sold me on the 536. so without the app being available and not knowing if this feature will still be available has held me back from buying anything.

there is no way to mount it in the cabin of my car I already have issues with the CB so adding another thing is not feasible.

If Uniden would come out and confirm that the app will do everything they claimed it would do or it wont do all they claimed it would do then I could make a decision on what to buy.

so do I take the risk on the 536 in the hopes the app will do what they said it would? do I wait for the app to come out first or do I just buy a 436 or hp1. the hp1 I can at least mount on my dash using a dash bracket like I made for my garmin gps.

 

[wk5h]

I am hedging my bets on the Uniden app being released soon. I made an order yesterday for the 536, and hope that within the next few weeks, the app is released.

I got it soley to be able to be at work, and listen on my iPhone without having to drag more stuff with me to and from work.

Time will tell, I guess.

 

[SCPD]

more confusion

I had the 536Hp and the home patrol,for me the home patrol is the handier radio,its easy to see,has the full database and its alot easier to stop on a town,a department or a channel and see whats going on by whats highlighted.When I had my other scanners and I was away from home,I always went back to the Home Patrol.I never had any issues with it,unlike the 536 and 436 users are having with belt clips breaking off or
dust in the screen or just poor performance ,and it doesnt skip over things like my 536 did.Oddly I wish I never sold my Home Patrol with extreme for the 536HP.The stock antenna does a decent job when you are
without good antenna.I put it side by side with a 996xt and it scanned exactly as fast and never missed a hit.
I programmed mine with ARC Patrol most of the time.

 

[lugnuts]

thanks k2ool, that was helpful. I was thinking of maybe just picking up a hp for now and wait it out and see what happens with the app and 536.

the only thing is will I be missing stuff without phase II capabilities on the hp?

 

[wk5h]

Got my 536 in this past Thursday from HRO. So far, I'm pretty impressed with it; WAY more radio that what I need. For instance, the local services here are not on a trunked system, and only using plain ol P25.

I haven't had much of a chance to just sit down in front of it an "play" just yet, but, I think I'm going to like it... AS LONG AS, the Siren app comes to fruition... If it dies as vapor-ware, I'll feel that I've had wasted several hundred dollars more than what I could've done, which would've been grabbing a raspberry pi and setting it up a streaming server with a much less expensive scanner.

Yeah, I could've bought the handheld, but, I already carry enough crap back and forth to work; didn't want "one more thing" to add to the mix...