I have owned a PCR-1500 for a few months now and I have had mixed feelings about it. I wanted a wideband receiver so I could do a bit of poking around the spectrum to see what was out there and - compared to the other options - the PCR-1500 seemed rather affordable to me at the time.
Part of me wishes I had sprung for the R-1500 with the control head, just because the software that comes with it is so bad (Hope you have Windows XP, because in Vista it is unreliable and in 7 the software refuses to even see the radio, why Icom couldn't have just reference a virtual COM port instead of a driver name I have no idea.) Another part of me wishes I had purchased a PCR-1000 from the used market, primarily because of it's simple serial interface, but also because of native support for it in Ham Radio Deluxe. Speaking of HRD, some nice person wrote a utility called PCRCloak (
Files and support) - which lets HRD see the PCR-1500 as a PCR-1000 - but it can be a bit of a pain to get working if you're not used to this sort of thing.
Other third-party software exists, like TrunkPCR and PCRPro, which (in my opinion) is better than the stock software that comes with the radio - but with the requisite nag screens for registration if you actually like the software, just leaves me disappointed that the stock software from Icom is so terrible and unfriendly. Oh, and the USB audio interface will make your sound cut out, sending you into the Windows control panel to adjust your default audio settings - something that seems like it should be unnecessary for a product intended for ordinary computer users.
On the plus side, and this is coming from an inexperienced radio owner (all of my previous radios have been scanners), the performance of this thing has been quite good. It seems immune to the overloading issues I have had with my scanners and my Yaesu HT, caused by several powerhouse FM broadcast transmitters just 5 miles to the north of me. Also, with the addition of a 20m inverted vee that I built in my backyard a couple of weeks ago, I've been picking up a lot of things that I couldn't receive with my VHF/UHF scanner antenna.
If only this thing had the control head so I could just spin the freaking dial every now and then!
In the end, my love/hate relationship has been more hate than love. Like several old cars from my past, I've spent more time getting this thing working than I have actually using it. If I were doing this again, I'd probably hunt down a used PCR-1000 or save up my money for something with a control panel on the front.