So far my interest is in the 396XT.
Hard to believe the 436 comes with no charger...wow.
Even if they iron some of the bugs out of the 436 I hear that the screen wont show what your locked on to.
IMO a better scanner needs to have a easy to read screen, plus being more user friendly.
Not hang on for updates...or this will be fixed in our next what ever.
Anyway I'm still interested in what you would pick for a upgrade from a 396t.
If you are looking for something portable the 536 I think its called, is portable. The 396XT might be able to scan the newer P25 systems like Halton, Hamilton and Metrolinx, I am not sure but I know that the 396T, you couldnt scan them.
The 396XT makes it easier to build scan lists with and listen to a system like Fleetnet from one tower to another. The 396T will stay on the control channel until you lose the signal if you have more than one tower that you programmed in. The 396XT was designed so that if tower A is quiet and you could hear tower B it would switch from A to B,and back and etc.
If you are looking for something thats portable stick with the 396XT or go with a GRE, PSR800. The 396T I used to have was perfect for mobile use. When I was out walking it fit perfectly in a pocket, I also had one of the short stubby antenna"s perfect if you are not trying to attract attention. I also enjoyed it while driving, it would easily stick on my vents and I could see what was scanning as I drove without taking my eyes of the road.
Where are you in Ontario? Are there new systems in your area? A lot of the new systems are MOTO Turbo, a scanner by itself will not allow you to monitor them but there are programs that you can use with a computer to listen in. Do a search here about DSD, and see what you come up with.
I have been buying scanners for over 30 years, I cant remember getting a charger with a scanner, the 396T comes with a AC power source and you can use that to charge your batteries but I never used it to charge, I invested in battery chargers to charge the batteries outside the scanner so to speak.
I had a Radio Shack purchased PRO scanner, handheld with an outlet for AC use and another to charge the batteries. I picked up a AC power source with different power settings as needed. Using the correct amount of power I was able to get 6 years of use from the batteries, Radio Shack Double A's. I have not been that fortunate with batteries since.
There are some cheap chargers available anywhere, or you can look at the appropriate wiki page and threads about batteries and chargers, some take 12-16 hours to charge, some do it in an hour, I have one that charges batteries in 15 min. There are chargers that can 'repair' batteries. A lot of people have different opinions on chargers,if you need speed and understand that the fast chargers may lower the length of the batteries then get one of those.