Is It Ready for Prime Time?

[k5xs]

I am about ready to take the plunge and buy a 500, and I have spent the last several weeks reading the traffic here.

Realizing that scanner folks are like hams--sometimes reluctant to admit they plunged too fast into a new product--I would appreciate your feedback on whether the critical issues have been resolved with the 500 to your satisfaction.

Is it meeting yoru expectations? Is it stable enough now? Is it reliable for digital reception?

Radio Shack has its PRO-96 on sale for $350 for a few more days, and I'll admit it's tempting. But for a a little more I could have the GRE 500. But the 96 is stable now (v1.4 cpu), and I wonder about the 500.

Thoughts and feedback appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[windchaser]

i guess it depends on were you live. some areas of the country have no problems with them and others do. i am like you not ready to jump in at this time until gre fixes a lot of the problems. it sounds like a good scanner to have but not at this time. windchaser usmm ret.

 

[bee]

Those are also the reasons I haven't yet, purchased the "500"! Just need a little more assurance all issues are settled.

 

[DaveIN]

None of the current P25 capable scanners on the market are as good as a dedicated P25 radio as far as digital decoding for *all* P25 systems in use. However for ~$500, I'd say that they do come as close as your going to get. IMHO, It's on a par with the BCD996T and slightly better than the BCD396T at P25 decoding. The PRO-96/2096 sounds great on P25, but is being left behind for the available feature set that the PSR-500 has.

The ability to update the CPU and DSP firmware on the PSR-500 vs. DSP only on the 96/2096 is also a big plus. GRE can now actually fix problem identified with a system in the field and not have to be returned to the factory for a firmware fix.

As for the feature set the 500 has vs. the Uniden features, it depends what you want to do with the radio. The lines are much more blurred now between manufacturers. Many of the features are the same. Each radio has special features that the others do not.

The bottom line, I think it's ready for prime time.

 

[Tom_G]

Yes...

I would say its definately ready for primetime.
I continue to be very impressed with the PSR-500.
The digital audio quality is excellent. The best I have heard.

I was going to keep my 2096 in the shack and use the PSR-500 portable, but I like the 500 so much, I'm going to sell the 2096 and but the PSR-600 when they are released.

Its THAT good to me..... :wink:

 

[iMONITOR]

I was sitting on the fence over this too. I ended up purchasing the PRO-96 while it was on-sale, and getting an additional 10% off, by opening up a RS charge card. This resulted in a price of $315.00, a difference of $185.00 had I bought the PSR-500.

I like the PSR-500, and had a chance to see it, and hear it. While it has a lot of new features, none of them were anything I couldn't live without. It's very likely when the PSR-600 base/mobile version comes out, I'll be more tempted. But for typical everyday hand-held use, the PRO-96 serves me well. The PRO-96's updated CPU v 1.5, and the DSP firmware update v 1.4, has pretty much resolved any issues I was having in Macomb County, Michigan, an area that really puts digital scanners to the test.

 

[ROCKnTIME]

Gre Psr-500

The PRO-96 is outdated and on the brink of retirement. Plus you'll need to purchase a charger, programming cable and batteries. I have owned the PRO-96, BCD996T, BCD396T and just purchased the GRE PSR-500. Compared to the others, the GRE PSR-500 has the best reception and digital sound quality for my area (Detroit, MI) and It’s only going to get better!! Another bonus, if you don’t like it there are several people on this site willing to take it off your hands I'm sure!!

 

[n4jri]

Also remember that the PRO-96 had problems of its own when it was new, and that there were (and are today, I think) systems that it can't deal with. The PSR500 is doing just fine, but because of its upgradeability we have some very high expectations of it.

Even if you don't count the improvements in DSP, the ability to include freqeuencies, talkgroups, and search ranges in any scanning combination, or something like NAC functionality, you get--with 'spectrum sweeper' and and LTR capability--the best of the PRO-96 and PRO-97 combined...plus increased channel capacity, memory storage, and the ability to deal with 700 and 380 MHz trunks.

I've always been a huge fan of teh PRO-96, but the PSR-500 does more with one radio than I used to do with 2 PRO-96's. It's definitey ready for prime time.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[n4voxgill]

I assure you that my Pro96 and 2096 will not be retired anytime soon. They meet my needs.

 

[iMONITOR]

Don't forget about PRO96COM!

 

[W4KRR]

Remember also that the PRO-96 doesn't do LTR trunking, Mil-Air (at least not without a software mod), has only 12 alpha tag characters vs. 16 for the PSR-500, has a poor backlight compared to the '500, has less memory capacity; other than these things, there's nothing wrong with it. Really. :roll:

 

[caseyc]

I took the plunge and mine will be shipped out on the 26th...I just ordered the Max800 and the RH77 antenna to try out also...Glad they would hold one of the PSR500's with a down payment so i dont have to wait until the new year for a new batch to get in...Very Excited to try it out...

 

[DaveIN]

Don't forget about PRO96COM!

Pro96Com works with the PSR-500 too!

<Thanks Mike>

Also Motorola analog and P25 systems with UniTrunker!

<Thanks Rick>