Pro-106 or get the Uniden bcd396xt need your input?

[N4TUX]

Pro-106 or get the Uniden bcd396xt need your input?

I am mostly at this point leaning towards the Pro-106 though.

I am in the most southwest tip of Virginia in Lee County in a small town of Jonesville. I miss listening to VA. State police and they went to P25 and STARS I reck'n. I am sorda torn between the uniden bcd396xt vs pro-106. Can you share you opinion please?

Thanks so much and hope to hear back from you.

If you want, please reply in e-mail n4tux@hotmail.com

N4TUX Boyd.

 

[dgruber]

Pro-106

I would get the pro-106 because I think its more user friendly and is not as complicated to program.

 

[Spitfire8520]

I have only ever owned the Pro-106 and have never messed with the BCD396XT so take that into consideration when reading my reply. I enjoy it mainly due to the quality of audio that comes out of it vs any of the Uniden products I've heard via online feed or videos. To me, it sounds a bit more natural and doesn't sound like digital audio, but there are plenty of people who say the audio quality is just fine on the BCD396XT and doesn't bother them. I found the programming (by hand) to be fairly straight forwards, but again there are people who have found the Pro-106 to be hellish and confusing to the brink of tossing their scanner out of window.

The probably biggest thing to consider between the two scanners is that the Pro-106 was manufactured by GRE for RadioShack (and have since gone out of business). From what I can tell so far is that RadioShack will no longer support their Pro-106 product as it is now considered discounted by them. That means a Pro-106 investment comes without the guarantee of you being able to find support for it. You could always look at the Pro-651 (essentially the same product, but manufactured by Whistler) or the Whistler WS1040 (again same product, different branding).

 

[mainetrunk]

Pro 106 decodes certain systems while in TUNE. I LOVE that part. The V-scanners are excellent. That's 2 of 100 reason's to get the PRO 106, or the Whistler version.

 

[Bubba1661]

I have both radios, while they are great radios, I prefer the Pro-106.

 

[jaspence]

106 vs 396

I also have both and prefer the Pro 106. I find the V-Scan Folders more user friendly than the quick key system. The 396 has a size advantage, but the multi-colored diode on the 106 makes identifying what you hear easy when you are not close enough to read the screen. The Pro-106 requires a cable purchase, but the 396xt cable comes with a serial cable, which is not found on many newer computers and atheUSB cable is about the same price as the 106.

 

[Volfirefighter]

I have a 396XT and both the GRE and RS versions of the PRO 106's desktop cousin. The one thing that clearly stands out as being better with the RS/GRE units is the ease of object oriented programming. Both the GRE/RS and Uniden units receive P25 systems very well. I listen regularly to Ohio MARCS.

Whichever one you purchase, I cannot stress enough the value of Butel software for programming. I own 6 different Butel software programs and they make programming so much easier.

 

[oregontreehugger]

My choice would be the Pro-106, unless you live in an RF-saturated urban area. (It can be prone to front-end overload.) The keypad programming can be a little more complicated on RS/GRE/Whistler units vs Uniden, but as mentioned, nowadays software makes it easy, regardless of what brand or model you choose.

One thing that I noticed over the years -- most of the GRE-produced (and likely by extension, Whistler) scanners seem to have much better audio clarity & "punch" versus the Uniden models.

 

[wise871]

Hard choice. I own both and each provides it's own uniqueness. The only thing I don't care for with the Pro-106 is the fact it doesn't auto mute encryption channels. I have several TG and frequencies were encryption is one-sided only or seldom used which allows me to still monitor them. Other than that you can't go wrong with either one.