New Whistler WS1080

[HWG]

Do NOT purchase a scanner from this guy.

It was listed on Ebay as new, unused. It arrived in just a couple of days. I took the scanner out of the box and it is obviously used. No protective film on the display and the display was scratched up. Everything else in the box looked new. Manuals, antenna, etc. Like someone just slipped the new scanner from it's plastic bag and put the used one in.

I have returned it for a refund. What a bummer.

Hate to hear this. I was out of offers so I have not purchased one yet and probably will not now.

 

[HWG]

Remember on EBay .. you are not buying the product .... you are really buying the Feedback score.

If you have someone with thousands of positive feedback reviews .. you are probably good. If someone has 4 .. then it is very suspect.

As you found out ... Ebay is only good where people have something to lose when they screw you.

The old saying "If it is too good to be true .. it probably is" applies here.

I think that should be a red flag .. if you are getting something at a much lower price than the going rate .. I would be very wary.

This seller has a feedback of 60,507 with 98.6% positive feedback. On eBay, it is really hard for someone to screw someone especially if PayPal is used for payment. He should have an easy return process. I have used eBay for years and only have had a couple of items not be what I was expecting and every time I had no issues with it being made right.

 

[HWG]

The only new update I can give is a thumbs up. This WS1080 has worked fantastic since day 1 of getting it, always doing a little tweaking with my scan list and scan sets. The stock antenna seems to be decent in my area, still alternate with the RS 800mhz and the Diamond RH77CA.
Thing I like about the WS 1080 is that it worked good right out of the box, no tweaking of anything to try and make it sound better. Not having a keypad is no problem, I can control everything on the the scanner easily with just a thumb while held in hand. I get great battery life out of Panasonic Eneloop Pro's charged in a PowerEx MH-C9000. Totally happy with this radio, goes along good with my PSR 500 when things get busy on the radio. My WS 1080 is used almost every day and have not had 1 single issue with it.

Thanks for the update. I'm leaning heavily towards this scanner.

 

[HWG]

I'm pretty sure I checked well for that protective film. I used my fingernail on the edge to see if I could peel anything up. I'd sure feel stupid if I missed that but I'm pretty sure it wasn't on there. Wish I still had it so I could check again. Oh well......

Time to shop for another one.

Ooohhh I sure hope this wasn't the case! Ooopps

 

[AA6IO]

Same thing happened to me. I purchased a WS-1080 brand new from a dealer in Sept. Within 1 week , had all kinds of display scratches. I even complained about this on another thread. Woops, two weeks later, I realized the screen protector was still on it. Took it off, and no problems since.
Steve AA6IO

 

[victorspecial]

Well,it wouldn't be the dumbest thing I've ever done. I'll give the seller a heads up to check it more closely.

 

[Ed6698]

sd card upgrade

I made a upgrade to the micro sd card in the WS 1080. I originally took out the 4gb card that came with the scanner and put in a 2gb card, the boot up time reduced and would get going pretty quick. I went ahead and got a 16gb class 10 card, boot up time takes longer now due to the larger sd card. I have set up recording on some of the stuff that is not the basic dispatch. There sure is a difference in the boot up time going from a 2gb card to a16gb even though the new card is a class 10.

 

[SCPD]

It has been mentioned many times here ... you can expect about 1 second per GB as far as boot up time goes.

The speed .. ie Class 10 will not have any difference in this regard.

 

[HWG]

I made the purchase of the WS1080. Arrived today. Can it be powered with just the USB cable without batteries inside?

 

[JD21960]

Yes

 

[HWG]

What rating is advisable for an AC plug for the USB cable to power the radio? I don't see any of this type of information mentioned in the manual.

 

[JD21960]

This page has one of those. Whistler WS1080 Scanner Radio
I just use the USB and Batteries.

 

[stingray327]

I made a upgrade to the micro sd card in the WS 1080. I originally took out the 4gb card that came with the scanner and put in a 2gb card, the boot up time reduced and would get going pretty quick. I went ahead and got a 16gb class 10 card, boot up time takes longer now due to the larger sd card. I have set up recording on some of the stuff that is not the basic dispatch. There sure is a difference in the boot up time going from a 2gb card to a16gb even though the new card is a class 10.

32GB class 10 works

 

[Ed6698]

I myself would never need a 32gb card, probably really do not need a 16gb card, unless I would have one of those Unidens that records everything, because there is no control on what is recorded. The only reason I got the class 10 16gb card is for the price.

 

[buggiecar]

Yep

Another update with this scanner, I am having no issues with the radio itself, however I happened to look at the back of my radio and the serial number is now gone. Sent a email to Whistler about this with a picture included. I know that number was there when I registered the radio on their website. I now wish I would have taken a picture of the serial number when I first opened the box. I will wait and see what they say. Is anyone else seeing this issue? I do not use the belt clip very often and that may have contributed to the number coming off. Never had this issue with any scanner before.

Number not printed very good on it rubs right off.

 

[HWG]

What software are you using with this scanner? Can ARC500 or PSREdit500 be used or is it best to be using EZScan?

 

[RDGDigital]

As far as I'm aware the EZ Scan software is the only one that will work with the WS1080. ARC500 and PSREdit500 will not work with it.

 

[stingray327]

I myself would never need a 32gb card, probably really do not need a 16gb card, unless I would have one of those Unidens that records everything, because there is no control on what is recorded. The only reason I got the class 10 16gb card is for the price.

It made a big difference from going from 4gb to 32gb scanner is alot faster.

 

[HWG]

It made a big difference from going from 4gb to 32gb scanner is alot faster.

Faster how?

 

[HWG]

Is there a limit to the number of items that can be scanned? Is that just determined on the size of the SD card? I was in the Columbus area yesterday and used the EZScan software to dump MARCS and MARCS-IP into the scanner for Franklin Co to see how it would work with a lot of traffic. There was over 3000 items imported.