I now have two 536HP scanners and just sold my Pro 197. This is mostly about the two Unidens, with a couple of comments about the Pro 197.
I bought the first unit last summer and have been generally pretty happy with it. My main complaint was that the display was not as bright at that of the 996XT that it replaced. No matter what I did, I couldn't see it particularly well. There is at least one thread about display issues here in the forum, but I was never sure if it was me or the scanner.
When I got the second scanner, I noticed that the display appeared to have the same brightness in my house. However, when I swapped them around the newer unit is much more readable in my truck than was the older unit. I've done side by side pictures (in the house), but I can't see a difference. Yet, there clearly is one. Since the older unit is now in the house and will stay there, I'm not in any rush to send it back to Uniden.
I'm not sure if this is actually a problem or just unit to unit variation.
The newer unit also seems to have a "hotter" receiver. I'm picking up stations in my truck that the older unit never heard. The two scanners are programmed identically, so logically they should receive the same. Yet they don't. Again, this might just be unit to unit variation.
Which brings me to the Pro 197. The older 536HP has a "hotter" receiver than the Pro 197. Which is not to say that either of them are bad, but the 536, especially on 700/800 frequencies receives more.
Finally, the digital decoding on the Pro 197 is still better than on the Unidens. Not as much so as with the earlier Unidens, but noticeably so. The Unidens do a credible job and I could probably improve on that if I spent some time adjusting the audio, but the Pro197 doesn't need any adjusting.
I know that there are other members out there that have more than one 536HP, I wonder if any of them have done unit to unit comparisons and what they found?
I bought the first unit last summer and have been generally pretty happy with it. My main complaint was that the display was not as bright at that of the 996XT that it replaced. No matter what I did, I couldn't see it particularly well. There is at least one thread about display issues here in the forum, but I was never sure if it was me or the scanner.
When I got the second scanner, I noticed that the display appeared to have the same brightness in my house. However, when I swapped them around the newer unit is much more readable in my truck than was the older unit. I've done side by side pictures (in the house), but I can't see a difference. Yet, there clearly is one. Since the older unit is now in the house and will stay there, I'm not in any rush to send it back to Uniden.
I'm not sure if this is actually a problem or just unit to unit variation.
The newer unit also seems to have a "hotter" receiver. I'm picking up stations in my truck that the older unit never heard. The two scanners are programmed identically, so logically they should receive the same. Yet they don't. Again, this might just be unit to unit variation.
Which brings me to the Pro 197. The older 536HP has a "hotter" receiver than the Pro 197. Which is not to say that either of them are bad, but the 536, especially on 700/800 frequencies receives more.
Finally, the digital decoding on the Pro 197 is still better than on the Unidens. Not as much so as with the earlier Unidens, but noticeably so. The Unidens do a credible job and I could probably improve on that if I spent some time adjusting the audio, but the Pro197 doesn't need any adjusting.
I know that there are other members out there that have more than one 536HP, I wonder if any of them have done unit to unit comparisons and what they found?
