Introducing the SDS200

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caldwest

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I run my unit with a high dimmer of 70% and it seems to have caused the flickering to stop. I certainly agree that the flickering line is not normal . . . although lowering a setting from 100% to 70% makes the flicker go away, that only 'treats' the problem, it does not 'cure' what is causing the problem.

Today the flickering line below the SYSTEM DEPT CHANNEL text on the screen of my SDS200 has returned. It now makes no difference what setting I have assigned to the dimmers . . . the flickering line is easily seen with a dimmer setting of 10%. It has been non-stop for the past three hours.
 

TxScanner

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Glad i returned mine, cause at this point, it seems your either gonna get one out of the box with issues, or the problems will start after some time. I’m gonna wait awhile before trying again, already tried 2, i dont trust them right now for $700 bucks.


Sent from my iPad Pro using Tapatalk Pro
 

Meskoman

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Today the flickering line below the SYSTEM DEPT CHANNEL text on the screen of my SDS200 has returned. It now makes no difference what setting I have assigned to the dimmers . . . the flickering line is easily seen with a dimmer setting of 10%. It has been non-stop for the past three hours.

That's exactly how mine is today and been running dimmers at 10%
 
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Ncfirewire

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How are all of these problems not found with the beta testers and fixed ahead of time? Are the beta testers just so happy to get a hold of new products ahead of time that they overlook things and do not want to rock the boat with Uniden?
 

mule1075

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How are all of these problems not found with the beta testers and fixed ahead of time? Are the beta testers just so happy to get a hold of new products ahead of time that they overlook things and do not want to rock the boat with Uniden?
It has been stated many times more than likely the beta units did not exhibit the issue or issues.
 

KR7CQ

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It seems nearly certain that there were unfortunately some bad apples that got out in production. I'm the farthest possible thing from an apologist or fanboy, and if my SDS200 were to display any critical faults (in my view) I would be on here sharing videos showing those faults just as I did with the SDS100, but it's just plain kicking butt without excessive noise, display issues, or reception issues. Someone with a defective unit is a lot more likely to post about that than someone who is happy with their device, so there might not actually be more than a few dozen bad units for all anyone knows at this point. I mention this only because my experience makes me quite confident that it's possible to get a "good one", and the majority are probably just fine. I would say send a bad apple back without hesitation, but don't give up hope on finding a good one, they 100% exist.
 

03msc

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How are all of these problems not found with the beta testers and fixed ahead of time? Are the beta testers just so happy to get a hold of new products ahead of time that they overlook things and do not want to rock the boat with Uniden?

The entire point of beta testers is to report issues, which they do. It is likely that the beta units are put together with prototype components that don't exhibit the issues the final run units do. And, apparently not all of the final run units do...and that's what I'm sure Uniden is working to figure out right now.
 

glimerman

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ya so far knock on wood mine has been perfect had it for about a week run it 24/7 screen brightness 60 percent works perfect..
 

BBossman1

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How are all of these problems not found with the beta testers and fixed ahead of time? Are the beta testers just so happy to get a hold of new products ahead of time that they overlook things and do not want to rock the boat with Uniden?

I have no clue on Uniden's testing schedule, but I do have fringe experience with "new" product development unrelated the consumer electronics industry. In most industries "beta" testers don't receive random units selected from a production line. Instead these units are generally individually assembled by technicians from the proposed production components. "Beta" testing is usually 2-3 steps before the actual consumer product is released.
 

KB4MSZ

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When starting vehicle with sds200 powered up it doesn’t reboot like the 536
I wouldn't advise starting a vehicle when radio equipment is in the "on" state. Unless protective circuitry is in place, a sudden battery or voltage regulator fault (or both) could do some serious damage, especially with today's micro processor dependent gear.
 

radio3353

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I have no clue on Uniden's testing schedule, but I do have fringe experience with "new" product development unrelated the consumer electronics industry. In most industries "beta" testers don't receive random units selected from a production line. Instead these units are generally individually assembled by technicians from the proposed production components. "Beta" testing is usually 2-3 steps before the actual consumer product is released.

How are the circuit boards of these radios "individually" assembled when they contain tiny surface mount components like microBGAs, flip chips, 0402 and 1005 size resistors and caps, etc? These components need to be machine placed and reflow soldered whether you are talking prototype assembly or full production. I don't think your analogy from "most industies" works in this case.
 

BBossman1

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How are the circuit boards of these radios "individually" assembled when they contain tiny surface mount components like microBGAs, flip chips, 0402 and 1005 size resistors and caps, etc? These components need to be machine placed and reflow soldered whether you are talking prototype assembly or full production. I don't think your analogy from "most industies" works in this case.

Are the circuit boards, screen, speaker and covers machine placed onto the chassis? Honest question as I have no idea how consumer electronics are assembled...
 

03msc

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Anybody looking for a used SDS200? There's one listed for $1,000 in the classifieds...and an SDS100 for $900...
 

WILSON43

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I must have received a good one as it is working fine. Sad that buyers have to experience this "hit or miss" merry go round on this expensive radio.

I will say this, with no issues this is a hell of a nice scanning receiver, hands down best of the current technology available to consumer users. (Remember, these are not commercial grade radios).

The only way for us to send Uniden a message would be for everyone who received a bad unit to send it back for a refund, and refuse to buy another until we are assured the new batches being shipped are without these known flaws.
 
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