The 536 had all its issues corrected by the time I received it, or so I hope. No clock issues and perhaps the display issue was corrected (or not) in later production runs. IMHO the HP-2 was cheapened up with no AC power supply, NO DC power cord (both were included with the HP-1) and the construction just did not seem as quality as the HP-1. The loose USB port worried me as it is constantly in use for power, data or even short periods of topping off the batteries before taking it somewhere (I don't normally charge batteries inside the units). The only saving grace is buying with a credit card that extends the original warranty by a year, but why should I have to do that because of substandard workmanship. As you say...why no three year warranty?
I don't think companies should have the opportunity to "fix" products over and over and keep sending out temporary patches, some even long beyond the warranty period. In my opinion, they should accept returns for new product with all the glitches fixed. This isn't a car or an airplane. It's a scanner. It should have been engineered to such a high level as to be flawless when it went out the door. Other companies who manufacture electronics can do it, such as Kenwood, Alpine, Harman-Kardon, Panasonic, Sony, even Audiovox and Jensen. Why not Uniden? Some of these mobile electronics are at least as sophisticated as scanners and have changeable color and animated displays, integrated clocks, etc.
I feel your pain Magnumforc. Most of us folks work hard for our money and don't like to receive substandard products when we spend it.
As you know, the HP2 was not a revolutionary product--- it simply added Phase II and perhaps one or two other minor changes to the already existing and highly successful HP1. (Incidentally, I considered the HP1 to be a brilliant revolutionary product and I have sung its praises many times. It was a work of genius.)
My guess is the Uniden got a little sloppy with the HP2 given the fact that there was not much design change. Perhaps they should have paid a bit more attention to the details.
Another factor, which I already mentioned, is that and "initial" production run of practically any electronic device is going to exhibit some unforeseen issues in the field, and we would hope that these would be corrected in future runs of the product.
I share your hope that the 536 problems were addressed in later runs (I got mine about a month ago and am very happy). although I must tell you that only time will tell, and I am not overly confident in Uniden at this particular junction. So we might still experience the RTC and dimming issues going forward, which is why I have been advocating for a three year warranty.
The other thing to consider is that we are in a field where competition is extremely limited. While Whistler is attempting to make inroads, it is going to take a bit of time for them to have any decisive impact. And companies like Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu and the rest have been producing equipment which is arguably of higher quality but unarguably of higher price.
When we look at the overall picture in relation to what we get for our money, Uniden delivers a pretty big bang for the buck, especially with the high end units like the HP1, HP2, 436 and 536 scanners. Notwithstanding the RTC problem, the "dimming" issue and and the fact that the Siren project has not been adequately addressed, you're still getting an awful lot of radio.
I loved (simply adored) the genius that went into the HP1, but I must tell you that my HP1 has taken a back-seat to the 536. With the additional of a pretty damn good priority system, the flexibly of monitoring with both scan and search implementation, and several other notable features which are buried deep in the menus but still very powerful for the avid listener, the 536 his become my primary radio (and I have a LOT of equipment).
So good luck to both of us, and everyone else here in the forums, with our equipment, and PLEASE Uniden, put the icing on the cake with three year warranties across the board.
