If your Dad is interested in listening to local PD/FD on the UCAN trunk system, then yes, Re-banding would influence what you got him. I often get the question, "what is the right scanner for me to buy?". It depends very much on what you (he) wants to listen to. I've know folks who spend several hundreds of dollars for the latest and greatest, only to keep it tuned to the local Airport tower freq, or listen to the railroad dispatch. Do you know what your Dad might want to listen to? That will determine what scanner to get him.
I even once had a NASCAR (Non-Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks) fan ask me what scanner to buy, so that he could listen to the Cars-Pits comms from his living room. Not going to happen unless he lived at the track.
So bottom question, what do think he will want to listen to?