Highest priced scanners I have ever seen in USA!!!!

[safetyobc]

I was sitting in the firehouse today and noticed a new Galls magazine had come in. I started browsing through looking at uniforms and equipment (usually don't buy from them but I do "window" shop). I came across a picture of a BC296D and BC785D. I looked at the price and liked to have fell out of my chair..... :shock: $999.99 for the "Handheld Scanner" and $849.99 for the "Desktop Digital Scanner" :shock: :shock: :shock:

It may very well be a BCD796D, but the front case says, "BC785D" Even if it is the 796, what a price...WOW :shock:

Also, they have a picture of a BC245xlt but the description describes a BC246T perfectly memory setup, close call etc. It is only $314.99 :wink:

Also selling a BC350A for $179.99 and a BC248CLT for $159.99

What is the funniest thing is on the same page in a seperated box it reads, "Galls No Hassle Guarantee......"

If somebody pays these people $999.99 for a scanner, there best not be no hassle. They just screwed somebody.

It gets me to thinking how many of these are they really selling? Some Administrator decides to buy some for the PD or FD to monitor other agencies and knows nothing about scanners......I guess that could happen. That should be against some rule or something.....Maybe the Better Business Bureau should look at that?????? Man, I guess if they are willing to pay that price, Galls didn't "screw" anyone. Who ever buys it screws themselves. :wink:

 

[bigcheez69]

I ... noticed a new Galls magazine had ... a BC296D and BC785D ... $999.99 for the "Handheld Scanner" and $849.99 for the "Desktop Digital Scanner"

Being it was in Galls, could it possibly be the unblocked versions?

 

[JnglMassiv]

Priced any new public safety two-ways lately?

 

[safetyobc]

I don't think they make unblocked versions for sale. Besides any Joe can order from Galls. They ask what agency you are with but nothing more no proof you actually do work there.

 

[safetyobc]

Priced any new public safety two-ways lately?

What's that have to do with scanners? Yeah, I have priced ps 2ways, but they aren't scanners either. We use Vertex V180's that are priced very reasonable $340. They have 16 channels and can scan those channels (Some Moto HH $596) . Also Moto mobile units aren't that bad and they have paging capability $476. And pagers..$385 each. Still doesn't compare to the Galls scanner prices. :wink:

 

[N_Jay]

Priced any new public safety two-ways lately?

What's that have to do with scanners? Yeah, I have priced ps 2ways, but they aren't scanners either. We use Vertex V180's that are priced very reasonable $340. They have 16 channels and can scan those channels (Some Moto HH $596) . Also Moto mobile units aren't that bad and they have paging capability $476. And pagers..$385 each. Still doesn't compare to the Galls scanner prices. :wink:

What is the MSRP on those scanners?

Does Galles offer discounts on government purchases?

 

[JnglMassiv]

What's that have to do with scanners?

Ya, I wrote out the first sentence and got called away and it somehow posted..

Anyway, it was supposed to go on to say that many PS radios have equivent but much, much less expensive models for amateur use. Before anyone screams "Type acceptance!!" consider what the type acceptance process really consists of. It begs the question of the value of the PS radio vs a ham rig that literally come off the same line and are for all intent and purposes identical radios.

The point is that government buyers of equipment have always got been gouged in one way or another. In this case, I feel its a distributor (Galls) having the gall (*snort*) to make a massive profit by relying on the purchasers not shopping around. It's not difficult at all to imagine a communications officer paging through the catalog and, being used to super high priced two-ways, just generating a PO for a scanner from a vendor he trusts. Even if he knows it might be significantly cheaper elsewhere, to enter another vendor into the system is trouble he'd rather not encounter and, besides, it's just the department's money. It happens all the time.

 

[K5MAR]

I was sitting in the firehouse today and noticed a new Galls magazine had come in. I started browsing through looking at uniforms and equipment (usually don't buy from them but I do "window" shop). I came across a picture of a BC296D and BC785D. I looked at the price and liked to have fell out of my chair..... :shock: $999.99 for the "Handheld Scanner" and $849.99 for the "Desktop Digital Scanner" :shock: :shock: :shock:

At those prices, they'd better kiss you and buy you breakfast afterwards!

Mark S.

 

[safetyobc]

I went to Galls' website to try and post a link but they only have the BC350A on the site. The others aren't there.

Some of their equipment isn't priced all that bad, it is actually competitive. I'm talking uniforms, footwear, jackets, etc. I can't imagine why they would hike up the prices of the scanners? :?

 

[Al42]

Some of their equipment isn't priced all that bad, it is actually competitive. I'm talking uniforms, footwear, jackets, etc. I can't imagine why they would hike up the prices of the scanners? :?

Because they can? Because they get orders at those prices?

 

[PhilJSmith67]

Wow, $179.99 for a BC350A. I bought one brand new in 1997 for $99.95 from Communications Electronics in Michigan. I bought another for someone else a year later for $95. I wish I would have bought more of them, seeing how they appreciate in value!

It makes sense for Galls' to do it, though. If these products are selling, they might as well charge whatever they can to peak the profit. They're basically leveraging ignorance on a specific line of equipment, in this case scanners, to make decent profit. Advertise anything in the right place to the apathetic and they'll buy it.

I have seen digital voltmeters in auto mechanic issues of tool catalogs line Snap-On and Matco for years that were marked up anywhere between 50% to 200%.

I once bought a cool looking steel wine rack out of Sky Mall catalog for what I thought was a fair price for something that nice -- around $150. About three weeks later I found the EXACT same rack at Marshall Fields (sort of like Macy's), which is not a "discount" store, for $75. Did I feel like I'd been had? Sort of... But does a regular, weekly traveler know any better? Do they care? I doubt the persion who exclusively flies first class cares about the markup when he's more concerned with giving his next lecture at Mayo on genetics, or if she's wondering how to surprise her husband with a new 7-Series BMW thanks to her sales commissions.

 

[Voyager]

I ... noticed a new Galls magazine had ... a BC296D and BC785D ... $999.99 for the "Handheld Scanner" and $849.99 for the "Desktop Digital Scanner"

Being it was in Galls, could it possibly be the unblocked versions?

Threre are no unblocked versions of those models.

They are just selling them at full list price. A crime? No. Not good business? That's debatable. Should everyone just give them away at $20 over dealer cost? Or is making $20 on each one too much?

Joe M.

 

[cellblock776]

Galls could probably save a ton of money if they would stop printing and mailing out so many catalogs each year.
I get 3 versions at a time every 4 months or so. A Fire/Rescue version, a Police version and then their 'general catch all' version. They send multiple catalogs to the same address but with different spellings of my name. They will send one with my First and Last names only in the address. Then I get one the next day using my first and second initials and my last name. Then sometimes I get one with my middle and last names on it. One person, 3 of the same catalog with three different versions of my name. I've called them and tried to straighten them out to get only one catalog but nothings helped. All those glossy paged catalogs and postage has to cost a fortune.

 

[safetyobc]

All those glossy paged catalogs and postage has to cost a fortune.

Maybe why they sell the scanners at such a high price..... :lol:

 

[LarryN]

What I get a kick out of is the first aid/equipment/shooting/blood drawing boxes. Same box made by Flambeau(sp). Different catalogs $60-$80, different colors orange/black/red, EXACT same EMPTY box. Wally World back in hardware, EXACT SAME box, gray in color, but called a tool box $8. Go figure. $72 for some color. I'm sorry the one from Wally World has a little hammer stamped in the front. Gotta love it. I wonder what the IRS would do if I sent them a couple of BC 296D's to pay may tx bill with. I would even willing to kick in a few tool boxes towards the Presidential Election Fund. :lol: :? :lol: :? :shock: :?

 

[nmfire10]

This is why I haven't opened a Galls catalog in years.

 

[Eng74]

You want to really get upset look at what they charge for shipping!

 

[Colin9690]

There was one I saw that was designed for the media, can't remember the manufacturer though, anyways, it could receive anything and I mean ANYTHING. It was about $2000. :shock: Definetely the ultimate scanner frequency-wise.

 

[PhilJSmith67]

There was one I saw that was designed for the media, can't remember the manufacturer though, anyways, it could receive anything and I mean ANYTHING. It was about $2000. :shock: Definetely the ultimate scanner frequency-wise.

Perhaps it was made by IFR? The last IFR unit I had the opportunity to play with tuned from 10kHz (yeah, that's 50kHz below WWVB) up to 2.99999999 GHz. It was slow from a scanning/searching perspective (something like 8ch/sec), but reception was absolutely phenomenal. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if it had a "scan" feature; maybe it could only search. Price over $10,000. Outputs up the wazoo including things like first and second IF taps, discriminator tap, first het stage, superhet stage, etc. Granular IF bandwidth settings from 500Hz to 100kHz, AM/FM/SSB/ACSB/etc., and anything beyond could be tapped from the outputs. It was not cell-blocked, perhaps because the FCC classified it as monitor/test equipment, but I am not sure. Receivers of that class shout out, "Give me a good antenna and I'll give you everything!"

IFR used to make lower-end models too. They could have made units as cheap as $2000, but I really don't know.

 

[rick521]

All I know is I really could not afford a scanner from Galls.