Well, I will start out by saying that I am not impressed with this device as a scanner receiver. Receiver sensitivity is really bad. The idea of the device is pretty neat, and with the help of the Sentinel Software, it is very easy to set up. If you are not a person is fluent enough with a computer to navigate the software, you will not be able to fully benefit from the device’s features.
Pros:
--Nice display. Not as nice as the iPhone 4, but good for a scanner.
--Descriptions of the channels are very nice. Not limited like most scanners to 12 or 16 characters per line.
--Owner information screen is nice. Name, full address, phone number, email address, and even more can all be displayed. It will help an honest person return the device if it is found.
--With the Sentinel Software, it is simple to configure the scanner to what you want to monitor. I look forward to other aftermarket software to make it even better.
--Very nice for someone that travels to many different locations in US and Canada. The entire Radio Reference database is stored in the scanner and it will automatically scan based on zip code and specified range.
--Audio recording is awesome! It’s like TiVo for the scanner.
Cons:
--The radio receiver of this scanner is probably one of the worst receivers I have used.
*Very very poor performance on VHF-High. This is disappointing as fire in Phoenix still uses VHF High extensively. I am comparing to my BCD396XT. I even swapped antennas on the HP-1 and BC396XT with no change. Monitoring the same VHF frequency side by side with my BCD396XT, the HP-1 will be scratchy and almost unreadable, while the BCD396XT is crystal clear.
*Poor performance on UHF.
*OK performance on 800mhz Analog.
*Adequate performance on a Digital Mixed mode P25 non-simulcast system.
*Terrible performance on P25 Simulcast! I have compared the radio with my BCD396XT that will decode about 40-60 percent of a transmission on the Phoenix RWC simulcast system. The HP-1 will successfully decode about 10-30 percent of a transmission. I have tried different locations, and switch antennas on the radios with similar results. This is very disappointing and makes the radios almost worthless for the radio systems that I monitor the most.
--Poor audio. The speaker is very tinny. It does not do a good job of filtering on poor quality transmissions. On a moderate strength signal, the audio quality is annoying because the static is in signal seems amplified rather than being filtered.
--For complicated trunked systems that have many simulcast and single IR sites, the range based programming selects a lot of garbage that is not useful for a scanner. As an example, on the Maricopa County trunked system, there are small filler sites that rarely have radios affiliated to carry talkgroups. This causes a waste of about 10 seconds in scanning unused IR sites. Scanner users must be familiar with what sites need to be “avoided” to a proper listening experience. This issue is caused by the comprehensive site information on RadioReference. All of the site information is nice to have docuemneted to get a full understanding of the system. These sites provide gap coverage for radio users of the systems. However, in Phoenix, most of the sites are unnecessary for a scanner. The same can be said for other complex systems like Douglas County Nebraska where I have heard similar complaints from one of my colleagues that tried the radio.
--Setting favorite lists via the device is more tedious than it should be. Example. To add the East and West Dispatch talkgroups on the Maricopa County trunked system you must: From menu, select “Manage Favorites Lists” and select your list. Select Review / Edit Channels, Add channel, USA, Arizona, Maricopa, Statewide(a system that covers multiple counties is listed under statewide), Maricopa County, MCSO East, MCSO East Dispatch, and Add Channel. To this point, I am ok. However, since the West channel is in a different “department” on the menu, I must then go back through the entire list, USA, Arizona, Maricopa…. If the channels are in the same “department” you can select multiple channels to add at a time. If they are in different “departments” it gets tedious. If it would not make me go back through the entire menu, that would be very helpful.
--Patched talkgroups on Pure P25 systems still do not decode properly on the HP-1! This is an ongoing issue I have with the BCD396XT that I was hoping would be addressed. GRE’s can properly decode patched talkgroups on a P25 system, but Uniden has not figured it out yet. This can be addressed by firmware, and hopefully will be addressed on BCDx96 series and HP-1 soon.
--No acceptable way to force the radio to continue scanning. Let me explain. My state agency is making a transmission that will last 45 seconds giving VIN, license info, make, model, color, etc. On my BCD396XT, I will hit “SCAN” and it will continue scanning and stop on the next active agency in the scan list. With the HP-1, I tap the channel name to hold, and then tap the channel name again to continue. However it scans the same agency and will stop on the same channel again. I have to do the about 2 more times before it will continue to the next agency.
--The device is larger and heavier than I expected. I was expecting something slightly larger than a modern GPS.
--No manual manipulation of programmed data. Something is incorrect or not included, you must submit to RadioReference and wait for the change to propogate to Uniden, then update the HP-1 via software.
--Now I am just getting picky… Battery low alert is annoying. The red symbol in the top right, and beep every few seconds is enough. We don’t need the popup on the screen that blocks everything and makes you hit ok every few minutes.
Overall as you can see by my long list of cons that I am not happy with the radio. I was not going to buy one, but I was offered a deal that I could not pass up.
I am an advanced scanner listener, but the cons I have above will come into play for anyone from a novice to a pro. This concept is definitely moving in the right direction for future scanners, but this idea is still in its infancy. I’m not gonna give up my BCD396XT anytime soon.
