PSR-500 better than Pro-96 ?

[Budman231]

I figured there are at least a few folks that have made the move from the Pro-96 to the PSR-500...

I mostly listen to a Motorola Smartzone II system and some analog frequencies. I was wondering if folks could comment on whether or not it worth the money to upgrade ? Is there any big differences between the 96 and 500 from an audio quality perspective ?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Bud

 

[iMONITOR]

Hi Bud!

This has been discussed and debated countless times before. Searching the forums will find you all the pro's, and con's.

In a nut shell, if your PRO-96 is doing all you need, the PSR-500 won't make a big difference. If you require capabilities and features beyond what the PRO-96 provides, then consider the PSR-500.

 

[DiGiTaLD]

As for the 500: Digital voice is (subjectively) a tad bit better, IMHO. The object-oriented programming is a thousand times more customizable and flexible than the banked-subbanked system used on the 96 and earlier models. Roaming is great if you are monitoring a wide-area system travelling with your scanner. NAC decode is awesome for conventional P25 channels. The size is a bit more compact than the 96.

About the only thing I don't like about the 500 is the concentric squelch control around the volume/power knob. I don't like this feature on my 2096 either. The seperate controls on the 96 were more conducive to not accidentally adjusting the squelch when you don't want to.

I still have a 96 and really haven't used it since getting the 500, but I keep it as a back-up as its not a bad radio.

 

[N9JIG]

The Pro96 is a digital version of classic scanners, those that use Channels and Banks. It has good audio and digital decode and some neat features.

The PSR500 (or its RS PRO106 clone) adds to that more memory capacity, the new GRE Object Oriented User Interface (instead of Channels and Banks) and many new features like Unit ID etc. The audio and digital decode is a bit better due to updates in the vocoder and firmware.

They can often be found on sale at RS or online.

You might also want to consider the Uniden BCD396XT, it has just about everything the PSR500 has plus many other features like GPS connectivity, fire tone out and more. It is usually a bit more money, about a third smaller and has a different style interface.

 

[DonS]

The PSR500 (or its RS PRO106 clone) adds to that more memory capacity

Technically, the PSR-500 has slightly less memory capacity than the PRO-96.