SDS200 Hum repaired, but returned

[MTS2000des]

It is PATHETIC for a $699.95 scanner.

Certainly makes me pause before purchasing one. These types of defects are common in radios, even Motorola has them (Jedi microphonics, Jedi display failures, XTS housing defects).

The difference is a how the vendor owns it and takes care of the customer. For a premium product, I would expect better than "send it in at your expense and wait weeks only to have the same issue re-appear". That's utter nonsense.

A vendor concerned with customer satisfaction would replace the defective built unit with a corrected version at minimum effort for the customer. End of story.

 

[MisterLongwire]

Don't know why a good majority of listeners seem to think that all receivers are bad. I have 3 SDS200's and ok...I must be lucky. I haven't done any squeezing...caressing, etc. to the cover of the units. I am positive though that there are alot of good units out there that are being enjoyed and the few that I currently see on these boards with the noise. The SDS200 is one heck of a radio. Don't let that hinder you from buying one. If all else fails buy it from a reputable dealer with a generous return policy and if it does happen with the hum then return it promptly. Its not a crapp shot but give it a try. In my opinion the ones with the issue are the old stock, or better yet, the first in from VietNam. Something happened which isn't being talked about and it seems the problem was silently remedied

 

[TailGator911]

Agreed with Mr Longwire. The SDS200 owners with a noise problem all come here to complain so it only seems like a lot. Maybe 1 in 50 customers complain, others are happy campers. Buy from a reputable company (ScannerMaster) and you can't go wrong. If one were to get the sales stats and returns you would see that the problematic scanners are way in the minority. No different from any other electronic consumer product you would buy. If I would have waited to purchase any of my SDS scanners based on the negative posts from the naysayers here in this forum I would have cheated myself out of the best scanners to ever hit the market. You are seeing maybe 25-30 complaints in here out of thousands sold. Just sayin...

JD
kf4anc

 

[allend]

Certainly makes me pause before purchasing one. These types of defects are common in radios, even Motorola has them (Jedi microphonics, Jedi display failures, XTS housing defects).

The difference is a how the vendor owns it and takes care of the customer. For a premium product, I would expect better than "send it in at your expense and wait weeks only to have the same issue re-appear". That's utter nonsense.

A vendor concerned with customer satisfaction would replace the defective built unit with a corrected version at minimum effort for the customer. End of story.

The Motorola APX 7000 radio had an over load and a popping noise coming out of the speaker on all radios which was a huge defect. They were never able to resolve it. Keep in mind that the APX6000 and the APX8000 never had this issue. If you were in a quiet room you could hear the popping noise coming out of the speaker when a conversation opened up.

 

[iMONITOR]

It is PATHETIC for a $699.95 scanner.

I couldn't agree more! Would you jam a Brillo Pad into your new TV or a coat hangar in your new cars computer so you could start it every day?

 

[allend]

I couldn't agree more! Would you jam a Brillo Pad into your new TV or a coat hangar in your new cars computer so you could start it every day?

I agree. I have to use tin-foil from my kitchen to get me a fix for a 700 dollar scanner radio. O well why not buy more scanner radios and use more tin foil. Maybe I will try and use duct tape tonight to get rid of HUM completely

 

[KevinC]

Agreed with Mr Longwire. The SDS200 owners with a noise problem all come here to complain so it only seems like a lot. Maybe 1 in 50 customers complain, others are happy campers. Buy from a reputable company (ScannerMaster) and you can't go wrong. If one were to get the sales stats and returns you would see that the problematic scanners are way in the minority. No different from any other electronic consumer product you would buy. If I would have waited to purchase any of my SDS scanners based on the negative posts from the naysayers here in this forum I would have cheated myself out of the best scanners to ever hit the market. You are seeing maybe 25-30 complaints in here out of thousands sold. Just sayin...

JD
kf4anc

Do you think Uniden would make a special part for an issue that only affected 25-30 radios out of thousands? And give it away including shipping? My vote would be no...but I could be wrong.

 

[MCode]

Be advised for a quality, expensive CE product a 2% failure rate is unacceptable...
And for a 1% failure rate for the same issue is even more concerning...
Either the subject product has a design flaw, faulty internal component or an assembly problem during mass production. I don't want to trash Uniden but in my humble opinion these levels of failure & defect rates should be addressed promptly without additional expense to the purchaser. If these issues arise after some years I would be less critical but to have this happen right out of the box is bad news..
Note that I have >30 years of designing/sourcing/delivering CE products form Japan/Korea/Taiwan/China, Malaysia/Vietnam and I would be promptly terminated if this happened on my watch.....

Just my $0.02...

 

[TailGator911]

Do you think Uniden would make a special part for an issue that only affected 25-30 radios out of thousands? And give it away including shipping? My vote would be no...but I could be wrong.

I'm really curious about the numbers out there. Out of my personal friends and fellow hams I count 4 of us with 5 SDS200s altogether and no hum issue, so it is armed with this fact that I base my assumptions in general. I could be wrong, too. Whatever the statistics, I only hope that the people with this issue gets it resolved so that they can continue to have fun with this radio and the hobby in general.

 

[Bob1955]

Beginning to wonder if the SDS 200 i bought and never took out of the box is worth what i paid for it after reading this

I highly doubt it. UNIDEN released it too soon.

 

[TailGator911]

Maybe I will try and use duct tape tonight to get rid of HUM completely

Hey I use duct tape for just about everything. I draw the line at radios, tho. And guitars. Or dogs and guns. Everything else is game on. lol Let us know how that works for you, allend! You might patent that and sell it to Uniden

JD
kf4anc

 

[iMONITOR]

Uniden has numerous distribution centers that supply numerous dealers. It's entirely possible that the first manufacturing batch had the problem and was sent out in various quanities to distributors and then the dealers. As dealers deplete their inventories the distributors would also deplete their inventories until the manufacture releases another batch. At some point the problem may have been resolved at the manufacture. Then the distribution process would repeat. At some point newly manufacture units would begin to reach the consumer. This all hypothetical of course but it might explain why some have the problem and some don't.

 

[allend]

Be advised for a quality, expensive CE product a 2% failure rate is unacceptable...
And for a 1% failure rate for the same issue is even more concerning...
Either the subject product has a design flaw, faulty internal component or an assembly problem during mass production. I don't want to trash Uniden but in my humble opinion these levels of failure & defect rates should be addressed promptly without additional expense to the purchaser. If these issues arise after some years I would be less critical but to have this happen right out of the box is bad news..
Note that I have >30 years of designing/sourcing/delivering CE products form Japan/Korea/Taiwan/China, Malaysia/Vietnam and I would be promptly terminated if this happened on my watch.....

Just my $0.02...

This SDS-200 had design flaws including the BCD536HP radios too. The 536HP radio had that pulsing noise coming out of the internal speaker that never got fixed. Now there is a huming noise coming out of the 200 series radios. Seems fishy

 

[iMONITOR]

This SDS-200 had design flaws including the BCD536HP radios too. The 536HP radio had that pulsing noise coming out of the internal speaker that never got fixed. Now there is a huming noise coming out of the 200 series radios. Seems fishy

I don't think there is anything similar in the design of the 536HP or the SDS200. The SDS series being an SDR is a major departure from previous Uniden scanner radio designs. Not to derail the thread, I'll just said I've owned a few and still own a 536HP and never experienced a pulsing noise, perhaps it was eventually fixed?

 

[MisterLongwire]

My own opinion...and I am sure some will agree, that the SDS100/200 are the top of radio scanners. Why do you think Whistler backed down and out? My own observation of the 200 (because I don't have the 100 fearing about the lipo battery--another subject) is that it is years ahead for scanners that we all have been waiting for. Unfortunately the "humming" issue is preventing others from enjoying this fine radio receiver, let alone purchasing one

 

[bravo14]

I added more tin-foil tonight. I kept folding over and over until it was really snug as a rug and it seems better. Here is a pic.

Did you left the black strip on?

 

[iMONITOR]

I guess I am lucky with the 3 units I have (SDS200). And no I am not selling. I have had 2 people over to my QTH and verify they are non-hummers...lucky I am! I feel bad for everyone else however I still stand behind Uniden products....good or bad

I understand how you feel. I have the same situation regarding simulcast issues, I don't have any, and most don't believe me. All the other Uniden P25 scanners work very well at my home, mobile does have some problems in my area. That being said, I had to return my SDS200 as the noise issue was concerning as there still does not appear to be a definite fix and it appears the problem continues to return for some. My home office is very quiet and I spend an enormous time in there due to health issues. Even at 69 years old my hearing is exceptional and the background noise however faint is something I can't adjust to. My wife who's hearing is also very good said she hardly notices it! Some must be more sensitive to it than others. I even changed my computer's video card to one with a passive heat sink (no cooling fan) due to the noise that was ever present. I also purchased an high end workstation that is overkill for my needs because it just idles and the BIOS allows you to adjust the cooling fan speeds right down to zero RPM's as in OFF if you're not putting a reasonable load on it.

I will miss the SDS200 and will no doubt re-buy one or TWO in the future if a permanent fix is found. It is a remarkable scanner!

 

[MCode]

My own opinion...and I am sure some will agree, that the SDS100/200 are the top of radio scanners. Why do you think Whistler backed down and out? My own observation of the 200 (because I don't have the 100 fearing about the lipo battery--another subject) is that it is years ahead for scanners that we all have been waiting for. Unfortunately the "humming" issue is preventing others from enjoying this fine radio receiver, let alone purchasing one

The SDS100/200 may be the latest/greatest in technology & electrical design but if there are quality issues either in internal product layout, circuitry, component choice and/or mass production then the final product should not be released for market distribution until they are resolved. Again I am not going to trash Uniden but in my opinion the subject units should never go into mass production until the known problem issues are fixed. Keep in mind, every returned SDS100 or 200 for repair and/or exchange costs Uniden $.. And with even a 1% return rate the costs to Uniden could exceed the profit they make on the unit.. I think the old Fram oil filter TV commercials said it best... "U can either pay me now or later.."

Just my $0.02...

 

[radio3353]

I'm really curious about the numbers out there. Out of my personal friends and fellow hams I count 4 of us with 5 SDS200s altogether and no hum issue, so it is armed with this fact that I base my assumptions in general. I could be wrong, too. Whatever the statistics, I only hope that the people with this issue gets it resolved so that they can continue to have fun with this radio and the hobby in general.

Forming an assumption from a lot size of 5 is poor practice and pretty much useless. Read up on using statistics.

 

[radio3353]

Be advised for a quality, expensive CE product a 2% failure rate is unacceptable...
And for a 1% failure rate for the same issue is even more concerning...
...snipped

Just my $0.02...

I have said the same thing here several times and gotten flamed for it. It seems many people here do not understand quality assurance, first pass yield, failure rate and zero-defect manufacturing. People will accept whatever is fed to them by manufacturers before they will admit to a problem.