the 396xt is already rebanded, out of the box. The GRE, with their object oriented programming I found more confusing than the Unidens programming. The terminology is different between the two though te end result is the same. A friend bought over his GRE 500,used arc 500 for programming. That costs money. Freescan with the 396xt is free. The GRE was alittle bigger, felt heavier to the touch. The speaker sounded louder. Unless you need the features that the new Unidens have, like type 2 p25, the 396xt is a better value and they work, and they have software support.