First of All, I am needing User Feed Back on whether I should purchase A Bear Cat SC100 after Reading This Review on Amazon that I am Including in My Post Seeking Feedback from Actual BC SC100 Owners before I buy.
Cut & Pasted from Amazon
December 4, 2018
Style: Single
Reading some of these interviews I saw a lot of fanboy BS, so I wanted to share my review. I bought this scanner in June with high hopes, and returned it within two weeks, so let me tell you why. First off, I've been involved in scanning for about 40 years, and have owned pretty much every digital scanner made, and many analog scanners, along with the Unication G4, just for background. I had the SDS100 programmed quickly using my well-vetted 436 program, and immediately noticed that the scanner failed to go from control channel to voice channel about half the time on the simulcast that carries Phoenix PD. The 436 and Unication G4 sitting right next to it has no issues. At home, in Glendale Arizona, it couldn't pick up Glendale PD (same as 436 and other scanners). The range at which it could lock onto a control channel whether stationary or driving was pretty bad. It was lucky to properly pick up the simulcast it was sitting within, much less pick up any simulcast farther away. UHF performance was so-so, with odd noises making it through that I have never heard after monitoring the same system for years (AZ DPS). Airband and VHF were so-so, with no improvement over any other scanner. For reference, my Unication G4 can lock onto simulcast systems from much, MUCH farther away. I met with a Uniden beta tester, and other new owners, and was able to confirm the same results with their SDS100 scanners put up against the 436 and Unication, and even older units like the PSR-500. Again, I want to emphasize that I didn't just "get a bad one", I saw the same behavior with three other SDS100 scanners owned by other people in the Phoenix area, including the Uniden Beta tester.
Bottom line on 700 MHz reception is that it's weak, and prone to having problems with interference. VHF and UHF are OK, but no better than previous models. Reception on the MCSO 800 MHz system completely sucked and was a lost cause, and I verified this with other owners, in person, against known equipment. You will hear people tell you that firmware will eventually fix everything, but that's nonsense. A bad receiver with cheap components is just that, a bad receiver with cheap components...firmware can't and won't ever fix that. Yes it has all the bells and whistles, pretty colors, waterproof (as if the average scanner user really needs that feature), tons of options and menu settings, etc. Unfortunately it fails as a radio receiver, and that's what I care about most, not the window dressing.
The amount of heat generated by this unit is simply absurd. There is no way that the processor on this unit has anywhere near the power of a new high-end cell phone, and the screen is nowhere near the resolution of a new high-end cell phone screen, yet the heat given off, in a much larger device than a cell phone, is ridiculous. It's simply inexcusable, as there is no reason this should be the case. I got the original small battery and only got a few hours of use, before needing to charge it again for many hours. The charge time vs. usage time was ridiculously bad. Of course now Uniden has released a GIGANTIC battery for this unit that is WAY out of proportion size-wise and looks absolutely ridiculous. That was their "solution". I can just imagine charging that huge beast for a full day before getting 5-6 hours use out of it. No thanks.
Fanboys (like most of the reviewers here) will tell you this thing is the best thing since sliced bread, and how firmware has fixed all of the early issues, but it hasn't, as recently verified by testing the SDS100s belonging to people I know.
If you care about non-simulcast, get something else. If you care about simulcast, get a Unication G4 or G5, just understand the programming limitations before buying.
Oh, and unlike others, I have video documentation of my testing. Just look for "SDS100 Phoenix Review" on Google or Youtube, and my youtube channel has multiple videos illustrating the problems. No my videos are NOT monetized, they were made purely to inform others of what I observed. There is no music, no talking, no funny graphics, just head to head testing. See for yourself. Yes I worked with the Uniden tech guy on Radio Reference trying different things, and no it didn't help. Again, I've tested multiple units in the last month and firmware did NOT fix the issues, so if you are a Uniden person getting ready to reply by going down that road, save your breath.
Will these problems occur in other geographic areas outside of Phoenix? I don't know. Some swear that they have had good luck with the SDS100, but I've seen too much first hand evidence to the contrary to ever recommend it.
Can Actual BC SC100 Owners please tell me if you notice any of what this user is experiencing please before I spend my money on a Scanner I may regret?
Thank you,
Stephen Bried
Cut & Pasted from Amazon
December 4, 2018
Style: Single
Reading some of these interviews I saw a lot of fanboy BS, so I wanted to share my review. I bought this scanner in June with high hopes, and returned it within two weeks, so let me tell you why. First off, I've been involved in scanning for about 40 years, and have owned pretty much every digital scanner made, and many analog scanners, along with the Unication G4, just for background. I had the SDS100 programmed quickly using my well-vetted 436 program, and immediately noticed that the scanner failed to go from control channel to voice channel about half the time on the simulcast that carries Phoenix PD. The 436 and Unication G4 sitting right next to it has no issues. At home, in Glendale Arizona, it couldn't pick up Glendale PD (same as 436 and other scanners). The range at which it could lock onto a control channel whether stationary or driving was pretty bad. It was lucky to properly pick up the simulcast it was sitting within, much less pick up any simulcast farther away. UHF performance was so-so, with odd noises making it through that I have never heard after monitoring the same system for years (AZ DPS). Airband and VHF were so-so, with no improvement over any other scanner. For reference, my Unication G4 can lock onto simulcast systems from much, MUCH farther away. I met with a Uniden beta tester, and other new owners, and was able to confirm the same results with their SDS100 scanners put up against the 436 and Unication, and even older units like the PSR-500. Again, I want to emphasize that I didn't just "get a bad one", I saw the same behavior with three other SDS100 scanners owned by other people in the Phoenix area, including the Uniden Beta tester.
Bottom line on 700 MHz reception is that it's weak, and prone to having problems with interference. VHF and UHF are OK, but no better than previous models. Reception on the MCSO 800 MHz system completely sucked and was a lost cause, and I verified this with other owners, in person, against known equipment. You will hear people tell you that firmware will eventually fix everything, but that's nonsense. A bad receiver with cheap components is just that, a bad receiver with cheap components...firmware can't and won't ever fix that. Yes it has all the bells and whistles, pretty colors, waterproof (as if the average scanner user really needs that feature), tons of options and menu settings, etc. Unfortunately it fails as a radio receiver, and that's what I care about most, not the window dressing.
The amount of heat generated by this unit is simply absurd. There is no way that the processor on this unit has anywhere near the power of a new high-end cell phone, and the screen is nowhere near the resolution of a new high-end cell phone screen, yet the heat given off, in a much larger device than a cell phone, is ridiculous. It's simply inexcusable, as there is no reason this should be the case. I got the original small battery and only got a few hours of use, before needing to charge it again for many hours. The charge time vs. usage time was ridiculously bad. Of course now Uniden has released a GIGANTIC battery for this unit that is WAY out of proportion size-wise and looks absolutely ridiculous. That was their "solution". I can just imagine charging that huge beast for a full day before getting 5-6 hours use out of it. No thanks.
Fanboys (like most of the reviewers here) will tell you this thing is the best thing since sliced bread, and how firmware has fixed all of the early issues, but it hasn't, as recently verified by testing the SDS100s belonging to people I know.
If you care about non-simulcast, get something else. If you care about simulcast, get a Unication G4 or G5, just understand the programming limitations before buying.
Oh, and unlike others, I have video documentation of my testing. Just look for "SDS100 Phoenix Review" on Google or Youtube, and my youtube channel has multiple videos illustrating the problems. No my videos are NOT monetized, they were made purely to inform others of what I observed. There is no music, no talking, no funny graphics, just head to head testing. See for yourself. Yes I worked with the Uniden tech guy on Radio Reference trying different things, and no it didn't help. Again, I've tested multiple units in the last month and firmware did NOT fix the issues, so if you are a Uniden person getting ready to reply by going down that road, save your breath.
Will these problems occur in other geographic areas outside of Phoenix? I don't know. Some swear that they have had good luck with the SDS100, but I've seen too much first hand evidence to the contrary to ever recommend it.
Can Actual BC SC100 Owners please tell me if you notice any of what this user is experiencing please before I spend my money on a Scanner I may regret?
Thank you,
Stephen Bried
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