PSR-800 or HP-1 in Richmond area?

[BoxAlarm187]

Hey friends...

I know that a lot of you all have purchased either a PSR-800 and/or HP-1 over the past year or so. My wife has told me just to go purchase myself a new scanner for Christmas so it's one less thing she has to stress over as the holiday approaches. I've spent hours and hours looking over the PSR-800 and HP-1 threads, and neither of them jump out at me as a front-runner. I'm a long-time Uniden user, but don't want to just throw faith into the HP-1 just because its a Uniden.

I was wondering if any of you all in the Richmond area have either one that I might be able to look at, listen to, etc? Heck, I travel all over the place, so I don't mind traveling either.

Unfortunately, it seems like my work schedule constantly interferes with the CVRE meetings, so I haven't been able to see any of the members radios there either.

Thanks for any help y'all might be able to provide!

 

[brownlab]

I really cannot speak for the HP1 but there is something about "just inputting your zip code and the radio does the rest" that bothers me. It seems like the radio is controlling what gets programmed, not you. Enter 23215 and you probably get at least 25 systems. Right now I think the PRS 800 is the best digital scanner on the market and Metro Richmond is a digital world. It is very easy to program and you get to decide what you want to monitor. Only thing I do not like about the 800 is that it is powered through the USB port. Bothers me that you power and program in the same port. That said they are great radios and I have not found many negative comments about them (and I do look-LOL). Good luck and let us know what you get………….

 

[BoxAlarm187]

I really am leaning towards the PSR-800 over the HP1...too many mixed reviews on the HP1 for my taste. I like the thinking behind the HP1, but just don't get a warm-and-fuzzy about it yet.

I already have a RH-96/996XT combo that I'll be mounting in my truck, but I'd like a little better improved performance on the Richmond regional system that I believe that the PSR-800 can provide. That, and the good things I've heard about it's audio quality.

 

[OCO]

Let's be more accurate...

I really cannot speak for the HP1 but there is something about "just inputting your zip code and the radio does the rest" that bothers me. It seems like the radio is controlling what gets programmed, not you. Enter 23215 and you probably get at least 25 systems. Right now I think the PRS 800 is the best digital scanner on the market and Metro Richmond is a digital world. It is very easy to program and you get to decide what you want to monitor. Only thing I do not like about the 800 is that it is powered through the USB port. Bothers me that you power and program in the same port. That said they are great radios and I have not found many negative comments about them (and I do look-LOL). Good luck and let us know what you get………….

You might want to update your knowledge of the HomePatrol before commenting on it...It's no more limited to just the RR supplied database than the 800. It's possible and most likely for anyone using a HP1 for more than a short time to be running solely on scan lists (Favorites - up to 256 of 'em at a time) created from the DB or if something is not in the DB, totally created from scratch using the Sentinel software or using screen entry on the HP1 itself. You get to decide what you want to monitor... However, if I land in a new area, scanning is as easy as zip code and choice of services to monitor. Enroute monitoring ? - plug in the GPS and it'll keep scanning the area your moving through.
I prefer the touch screen over the MP3 player interface; the separate power supply, not dependent on USB charging and several other things, but those are all personal preference. As far as real advantages, the 800's P25 Phase II TDMA decoding is the only thing the 800's got over the HP1 and at this time, there's none in my area. I question whether in the near future that's going to be the most desired modulation encoding anyway (TRBO, anyone?). On the other side, look at the discovery and analytical features the extra cost Extreme update added to the HP1..

 

[brownlab]

you might want to update your knowledge of the homepatrol before commenting on it...it's no more limited to just the rr supplied database than the 800. It's possible and most likely for anyone using a hp1 for more than a short time to be running solely on scan lists (favorites - up to 256 of 'em at a time) created from the db or if something is not in the db, totally created from scratch using the sentinel software or using screen entry on the hp1 itself. you get to decide what you want to monitor... However, if i land in a new area, scanning is as easy as zip code and choice of services to monitor. Enroute monitoring ? - plug in the gps and it'll keep scanning the area your moving through.
I prefer the touch screen over the mp3 player interface; the separate power supply, not dependent on usb charging and several other things, but those are all personal preference. As far as real advantages, the 800's p25 phase ii tdma decoding is the only thing the 800's got over the hp1 and at this time, there's none in my area. I question whether in the near future that's going to be the most desired modulation encoding anyway (trbo, anyone?). On the other side, look at the discovery and analytical features the extra cost extreme update added to the hp1..

lol-lol