New GRE Scanners in 2011
- Thread starter Eng74
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My 396XT has several colors available for the screen and the amber screen of my PSR-500 is easier to read by far than any of the396s colors.. In my opinion a colored screen is not useful at all.
I have jabra bluetooth adapter that I can plug into the scanners. It works well and was very cheap.
XTS3000
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An OLED screen has 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, while GRE/Uniden LCD screens at best will be 500:1 contrast radio. Have you actually seen an OLED display? An OLED screen would be much more visable at 2X-3X the distance, and draws less current than curent LED back lit scanners. Lots of people complain about battery life, OLED would conserve at least some of the battery.
Organic light-emitting diode - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yeah, I want a BT adapter sticking out the side/top of my scanner, so it can be yanked out, possably damaging the scanner. Also with external BT adapters, you have to worry about another set of batteries or charging it. Adding BT into a scanner would cost at the retail level about $15.00. I'd surely pay an additional $15, rather than have some "add-on" clunky BT adapter.
I've never seen an OLED screen but the amber screen of the PSR-500 is more than adequate. The power saving abilities sound good though.
I just didn't find BT that useful. I would prefer that GRE concentrate on what the scanners are actually used for.
The Unidens are loaded with non-useful bells and whistles but can't decode a simulcast digital voice nearly as well as a GRE. That is what I want the scanner to do, it is it's only task for me. I would trade the multicolor display on my 396XT for better digital decoding in a minute. I don't need the fluff.
You are entitled to your opinion but that is mine.
MarMatthias
Member
The color aspect of the 396 XT was one of the selling points for me. I can distinguish the type of call by color, ie: blue for police and red for fire. I fond the 396XT is easier for me to read over the GRE models I've seen.
MarMatthias
Member
I agree with the blue tooth...
With the P25 sites in my area, I've heard many people say that the 396XT does better then the GRE in decoding. I'm beginning to believe that the quality of the decoding process is very dependent on the encoding method used to transmit the original signal.
Connectivity
I am finding I need to get a mobile unit for the vehicle as my PSR 500 is getting beaten to death. However I would need the remote head. It doesn't sound like GRE is going to do that in the near future though.
My opinion is they need to improve connectivity and look at how smart phones are able to stream data and audio via bluetooth. Being able to stream right to a vehicle's audio would be key. I can do that with my Blackberry with a Ford Microsoft Sync system. If they could figure out a way to display the scanner data on the nav screen as a side module, I would be most happy. How about Win 500 for Microsoft sync....hmmm
I am finding I need to get a mobile unit for the vehicle as my PSR 500 is getting beaten to death. However I would need the remote head. It doesn't sound like GRE is going to do that in the near future though.
My opinion is they need to improve connectivity and look at how smart phones are able to stream data and audio via bluetooth. Being able to stream right to a vehicle's audio would be key. I can do that with my Blackberry with a Ford Microsoft Sync system. If they could figure out a way to display the scanner data on the nav screen as a side module, I would be most happy. How about Win 500 for Microsoft sync....hmmm
On my PSR-500 I have an LED that can be set for alerting. It can be set to 8 diffferent colors and two states(steady or flash). I can set it for steady red for fire dispatch, and flashing red for fire tac, etc. It is more eye catching than the 396XTs colored backlight. I can customize the 8 colors as well. In addition, there are audio alerts that can be set. GRE clearly wins on the alerting capabilities. And I still have a nice easy to read amber screen.
I don't really use alerting very much because I listen enough that I recognize the type of call just by hearing the call but you brought it up.
P25 sites are a piece of cake. Even my 396XT does quite well on the local P25 site. It is the simulcast Motorola Smartzone with analog and P25 CAI voice that my396T and 396XT completely fails at. There is no way that the 396XT would be able to produce good audio with the high digital error rate that it displays. The PSR-500 has a single digit error rate compared to the 50% and higher error rate of the 396XT.
Here on the ILL Digital Starcom 700/800 9600baud system my GRE500 does nothing but flicker, and choke on the multi-site systems digital decoding while the 396XT decodes perfect...Its wierd how these two scanners work different on different P25 systems...I would have purchased a RS106 when they were on sale but did not want to fight the multisite problems again....
Bluetooth would be great, then I could use my phone to listen to it while having the scanner hide from the robbers in the area while I'm at work. Just need to setup a app for I phone thru the bluetooth.
??????????
Add me to the list of people interested to see what GRE is putting out. I have really enjoyed my PSR-500, excluding a couple durability issues with the belt clip. (I have talked about these issues with GRE reps, while ordering replacement pieces.)
Another thing I would appreciate seeing in future models would be a stiffer squelch control, as mine routinely gets moved my coat, when the radio is clipped to my best/pocket.
Another thing I would appreciate seeing in future models would be a stiffer squelch control, as mine routinely gets moved my coat, when the radio is clipped to my best/pocket.
and mute encryption, how annoying verses Uniden, GRE has been behind the eight ball on this one for ever.
smason
Member
I'm afraid that it'll be a dumbed-down Home-Patrol-like scanner, rather than an improved/updated 500/600. The marketing guys will tell the engineers what to do, namely compete with the "I don't need a brain" Home Patrol. Kinda like the marketing guys running the digital camera business. Now we have way more pixels than anyone would ever need, and silly features like smile detection, but crappy noisy image quality. But I digress. 
I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to see the 500/600 with some RF improvements, some decoding improvements, better volume control and more scanlists. One thing they *could* copy from Uniden is volume/squelch control via the remote interface.
I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to see the 500/600 with some RF improvements, some decoding improvements, better volume control and more scanlists. One thing they *could* copy from Uniden is volume/squelch control via the remote interface.
I'm afraid that it'll be a dumbed-down Home-Patrol-like scanner, rather than an improved/updated 500/600. The marketing guys will tell the engineers what to do, namely compete with the "I don't need a brain" Home Patrol. Kinda like the marketing guys running the digital camera business. Now we have way more pixels than anyone would ever need, and silly features like smile detection, but crappy noisy image quality. But I digress.
I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to see the 500/600 with some RF improvements, some decoding improvements, better volume control and more scanlists. One thing they *could* copy from Uniden is volume/squelch control via the remote interface.
I agree with everything in that post. Everything.
Jakemcgraw
Member
I was speaking with a staff member from GRE today , complimenting on the PSR-310 i bought....I was told, they have some pretty cool stuff in the future planned, to stay tuned. Sounds exciting .
ve3cnu
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IC301
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I only wish there was a setting to invert the Display, might even save a bit on the batteries.
I did not do any cheating, these images are pixel for pixel identical.
The inverted appears to have a larger font and would not be as bright for nighttime viewing. It would be a simple feature to add (programming wise).
Which do you like better normal or inverted ?
IC301
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