I happen to own both. I keep the 996XT at home as a base unit. I program it using Freescan and have a premium membership here at RR.
The HomePatrol-1 is my mobile/handheld. I have also upgraded with Extreme features and enjoy using the Trunk Discovery mode to map LCN's and new talkgroups.
If you only want to be a casual user and not learn the intricacies of programming, then the HomePatrol may be what you need.
You only need to upload a new version of the whole RR database with HomePatrol Sentinel software to keep current, you can do this weekly.
If you want to learn advanced features and customize your scanner then the XT may be a better choice.
You could make changes to your programming on the spot.
Both retail around $500 or less if you search around. The extreme upgrade for HomePatrol will add an extra $99.