BCD396 /PSR500 comparison

[powerhouse]

I have had my 396 for almost a year now and thought it was the greatest thing until the PSR 500 came out. I have been reading all of the threads here and was wondering what those of you who have both of these units think about them in a side by side comparison?
I monitor Carroll County, Anne Arundel County,Baltimore County, Baltimore City Maryland and York County Pennsylvania.
I will probably down load and read the owners manual but in the interim, can someone advise if the 500 has tempory lock out, latching function key and perhaps a one touch weather feature,( or at least less key strokes than the 396)?
I really wish I had both units to compare side by side but another $500 unit is fiscally impossible at the moment. If the 500 out performs the 396 and has better features, I will probably trade in my 396 and/or sell off some of my other radio equipment.
There seems to be some cool features on the 500 that the 396 doesn't have but performance is what really counts.
Would I be giving up any "must have" features by giving up my 396 for the 500 in anyones opinion?

 

[troymail]

It REALLY comes down to personal choice....and the options you like and/or use on the BC396.

I have both the 396 and the 500.

I can tell you that the 500's strongest feature (in my opinion) is it's ability to pull in more distant systems and it's digital voice decoding and sound quality (which is really why I bought it).

With exception of Baltimore City, all of your primary systems that you listed are analog.

Analog systems sound pretty good on the 396 - on the 500, everything (particularly the digital systems) are much clearer and therefore the analog systems also sound more "scratchy" (now that I have a radio that receives that digital systems better, I know why things are going digital!)

The display and system talkgroup "groupings" on the BC396 is more advanced. The 500 is focused on performance - and I'd say overall more towards the digital systems.

I drove towards Ocean City Maryland yesterday and I was really impressed with the 500's performance against the digital systems down through the eastern shore (Upper Shore, Dorchester) and in particular, the Sussex County Delaware system - booming and clear... sometimes clearer than the analog EDACS systems in Worcester County (and I was visiting my parents in Berlin for a few hours). On my 396, I've always struggled to hear what was being said on most of these digital systems... not a problem on the 500.

So, like I said, you have to compare features. I have an opinion that if I were you, given everything I know (including what you listen to - being mostly analog) and the fact that you stated you can't really afford both.... in my case, I'd stick with the 396 (sorry GRE).

Every situation and need is different.

Features you asked about:
Temp Lockout - yes
Latching function key?
One touch weather - yes

 

[DaveNF2G]

I have both and the only 396 feature that interests me at all and is lacking on the 500 is fire tone out. All that means is that I won't be getting rid of my 396.

 

[powerhouse]

Thanks for the replys guys.
I'm gathering opinions and weighing my options at the moment.
I particularly like to monitor Balto.City since that is where I'm from and my family is still there. I work nights in a power plant in Anne Arundel Co. and my 396 just barely pulls in the city freqs. Error rate is usually no higher than 32 with 2 signal bars. I know there is a lot of interference but I was hoping with a more sensitive receiver, I would get better audio. Also I like the LED feature of the 500 and I'm thinking I can better organize my systems with GRE's folder structure i.e. Home=folder 1/Carroll Co.,Balto.Co,York Co.
Work=folder 2/ Anne Arundell Co.,Balto.City etc.
Right now I have Carroll Co. sys.1, Balto. Co. sys.2,Anne Arundell Co. sys.3,Balto.city sys.4
etc. and sometimes I can't remember which goes where with out looking at them. Also a temp. lockout feature would be worth it's weight in gold on the 396. Can you advise on the "latching Function" and simpler weather access.?
Once again, Thanks for the feed back and input.

 

[powerhouse]

Sorry troymail, I didn't realize you answered my question concerning temp.lockout,one touch weather and latching function. I just reread your post after posting my reply.

 

[littlebus34]

Hello all. I'm in the same boat with powerhouse. I have looked at most of the posts on each of the 396 and 500 scanners. But I haven't decided on which one has the most features and performance for the money. And I'm afraid that asking people which one is the best is like asking which truck is better chevy or ford. I think you see where I'm coming from here. I have come to the conclusion that both radios have had problems when they were first sold. And it seems to me that both radios
are about the same with a few differences in them. The customer service however seems to be pretty good from GRE from what I have heard. But I would be greatful to have more input from you guys that own both of these radios. And people that have been in this hobby along time. Thanks so much! Shane KI4SOU

 

[jonny290]

It's a holy war.


For what it's worth, GRE scanners are BIG. This is much of the reason for their 'better audio'. Unidens are much closer to what you'd see out of a modern HT - more compact, more tinny.

P25 is an afterthought to me, I'll never move to a major city and there are only so many State Police drawls I can listen to before I get bored. I will say that the "virtual scanner" feature in GRE's is great, and wish Uniden would attack it as well.

Like I said, holy war.

 

[Dubbin]

I will say that the "virtual scanner" feature in GRE's is great, and wish Uniden would attack it as well.

Uniden crushed the virtual folders with the DMA radios.

 

[RagnarD]

Uniden crushed the virtual folders with the DMA radios.

That's your opinion...

Personally I like the V-Folders.

If I try to load up my 396 with the same frequencies that are in my GRE rigs (including V-Folders)I run out of memory loooong before I can upload all of the systems.

 

[Viper43]

And I'm afraid that asking people which one is the best is like asking which truck is better chevy or ford.

Thats an easy one to answer..... DODGE!

V

Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.....

 

[fmon]

Hard to beat TGRP's forever in 21 scanners on one belt clip.

 

[LEH]

I like the V-Folders. I'd like them even more if they were more easiliy accessible. I like the 396's 99 banks (with 10 sub banks per bank). Each bank can be accessed with a max of three key presses (sub banks a couple of more).

Overall the 500 has more memory to store systems.

Ease of use, I'd take the 396 before I'd take the 500. Both are fairly complicated, but the 396 just seems easier to handle (except for when you are handling it with or without the belt clip).

As a general scanner, the 500 is difficult to beat. Comes time to listen to a limited subset of your systems, I'd put my money on the 396.

Here's my scenario for this.

For my primary, multi county system, I have eight sub banks on my 396 bank for the system. One for each of the three PD's and FD's. The other two are for special events and the college. To do this on the 500 would take 8 of the 500's twenty-one scan lists. For my local area, I have 18 scan lists (banks) loaded each basically needing to be broken down the same way.

 

[kikito]

For what it's worth, GRE scanners are BIG. This is much of the reason for their 'better audio'. Unidens are much closer to what you'd see out of a modern HT - more compact, more tinny.

I think the most significant reason for the better audio in the GRE is the decoding methods. Wouldn't you say that hooking up each one to an external speaker would take away the physical "advantage" you mentioned? Well, I've done it and the GRE still sounds better to me.....

I don't know what "modern HT" you're referring to but in our area, agencies use the top of the line, latest and greatest such as Motorola XTS5000, EFJohnson 5100, etc. I would say that's as modern as it gets for now.

Here's some comparisons in dimensions and weight:

(Dimensions are in HxWxD format and taken from each product's spec sheet)

Motorola XTS5000: 6.58" x 2.44" x 1.83", Weight: 12.5 oz (with battery)

EFJohnson 5100: 6.65" x 2.55" x 1.80", Weight: 24 oz (with battery)

GRE PSR-500: 5.71" x 2.56" x 1.65", Weight: 8.5 oz (without battery)

Uniden BCD396T: 5.35" x 2.40" x 1.22", Weight: 6.4 oz (without battery)

Going by those numbers, you can safely say that the radios carried by our Public Safety personnel are still bigger and heavier than even the PSR-500. And those same numbers illustrate the most significant physical difference between GRE and Uniden latest models is a depth of .43".

So I guess it's all in the reference and personal preference just like everything else....

 

[kikito]

Let's not forget some great features the GRE's have now and that I love:

-- P25 NAC decoding
-- LTR Home Repeater AutoMove
-- Trunking Multi-Site features (Stat/Roam) (I can't put a price in being able to pause on a TG and now the radio continually scans through all the programmed CCs looking for it)
-- Hit Counters (For TGs and frequencies)
-- The Priority feature (Works better than ever and any other scanner I've used, including in 3600 systems uses the subaudible data, similar to the real radios)
-- Temporary Lockout of TGs and frequencies
-- Spectrum Sweeper (Which for my purposes and preference, works better than CloseCall)
-- Virtually unlimited Talkgroups (Unless you need way more than 1700+)
-- Sharing of talkgroups and frequencies between any and all systems or scanlists
-- A lot of advanced settings and tweaks available to the user.
-- Super fast upload/downloads to computer and V-folders
-- 21 V-folders
-- Individual delay times per TG or frequency
-- The data output mode (CCDump) that enables using software like Pro96Com and very recently UniTrunker too! It also works for LTR, EDACS, SAME WX alerts, etc.
-- The great robust audio (of course!)
-- They finally offer computer control!
-- The Alert LEDs (at first I thought of them as just gimmicks but I have found several neat uses, including alerts to new or rarely used TGs or frequencies)
-- Individual lighting for display and keypad
-- QuickText feature (Haven't use it much but I can see it'll come in handy when programming by hand)
-- The 5-way push button pad (Now that I got used to it, I love it!)
-- The brighter, easier to read display (When compared to the BCD396T and for my taste anyway)
-- Individual volume and squelch "analog" knobs (Didn't know how much I missed them after using my BCD396T for so long)
-- The built-in Help feature for each of the settings in the radio
-- The software available and support from GRE is getting better and better

Anyway, there's probably many more things I don't remember right now. I do own the Unidens and still use them and they obviously offer some things the GRE doesn't. But I think the PSR-500 is a great scanner and is my new day-to-day radio that goes with me everywhere now.

 

[scannersnstuff]

sensitivity ?

without going into all the dynamic's about uniden sensitivity again, here's my question ?. i know i'm in the minority,but i don't listen to too much trunking/and 800 mgh.how does the 500 compare with the 396 in good old conventional sensitivity ?. i have not been overly impressed with my 396t's conventional sensitivity especially in the 400 mhz range. any comment's/discussion greatly appreciated.in a non scientific experiment i had a r.s. pro-82/r.s. pro-97 and my 396t sitting together.the 396 had a band specific uhf antenna,the other 2 did not. i was listening to a police transmitter located,i'd say about 20 mile's away give or take.the other 2 were pulling it in just fine.nothing on the 396. i tried moving it around,nothing.the squelch on the 396 was set at level 1.

 

[bonus1331]

IMHO-The 500 is more sensitive in the 400 MHZ spectrum than the 396.
My issue is that the 500 was overly sensitive and caused overload in my suburban setting, even with attentuation.

 

[kikito]

latching function key

In case it wasn't answered clearly, YES, it has a latching FUNC key.

 

[powerhouse]

Thanks to any and all who responded. It looks like that, pending the sale of my other equipment, I'll be picking up a 500. I can't wait to start pushing all the buttons.