So long Home Patrol, its just not working out

[eaf1956]

$50 Plus Shipping

If you can't get your money back, I will start the bidding right now at $300 USD, I could use a second HP if there is a real bargain floating around out there somewhere.

If he pays me $50 plus the cost of shipping I'll take it off his hands.:roll:

 

[hfxChris]

...or even simpler "Do you want to include adjacent state databases?" "Yes" "No"

That's actually a really good idea. The thing obviously knows what state or province you're in based on your zip or postal code.. that should be an option you can turn on and off in the configuration. You could also have an option to also stay within your county too if you so desired.
I dunno.. I generally like my HP-1 and what it can do, but it has a few quirks that I'm not too fond of.

 

[larryh64]

Home Patrol -Uniden Are You Really Kidding ???

What a hughe waste of money. I have been a big scanner fan for over 40 years and I have used them all. The Home Patrol by far is the most useless scanner I have ever used. Uniden should recall all of them. Uniden is charging $100 for an upgrade when they should be giving the upgrades for free. They designed this crazy thing and its their problem not the customers that purchased them. You can forget about receiving local channels. Oh it's out there scanning some where, every where but where it should be scanning. The Uniden 50 800MHz beats the pants off the Home Patrol when it comes to getting the job done for conventional channels. The antenna that comes with the Home Patrol unit is junk, and I needed to purchase an adapter just to get the radio connected to my outside roof antenna. Of course Uniden provides very little information about this little issue. Don't through your money away on this one.

 

[rescue161]

This scanner was not intended for experienced scanner folk. It was designed for someone to put in their zipcode and start scanning. I like mine; sorry you don't like yours.

 

[lindsay34654]

Did you read the on line manual.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2.1; en-us; Droid Build/FRG83D) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Dear Home Patrol,

You looked so good at first glance when you said things like
"Listen to local emergency calls"
"Help sidestep accidents"
"Hone in on information"
"Quick and easy zip code based setup"

So I figured, yeah, let's go out.

On arrival, you kept asking me to connect you to a computer. Fine, easy enough and done.

When taking you for a spin, you spoke too softly. Your P25 is great but you needed to speak up! I wanted to hear you. You are the only one that always needs to speak at a minimum of 50% of your volume max and usually around 95% and still barely be heard.

When you are talking, its often about activity that I am not interested in. I know you don't know much better, its the circle based coordinates you have access to. For example, I didn't care about Illinois statewide freqs in Indianapolis, New York statewide freqs in Philadelphia, Mississippi statewide freqs in Birmingham, or Kansas statewide freqs in Lincoln Nebraska. You need to move away from using circles. Just like the centers of zip codes are available, you can get polygon based boundaries for all cities, towns, counties, and states in the US that GPS can recognize.

It would help if you could let me restrict to certain states or counties but you kept talking about profiles on the computer which defeats the purpose of saying you are easy. You should have an option in the menu to let me filter your blabbering a bit.

I also hated that when I locked in on an agency which often means county, you wouldn't scan trunked systems within the same county. Radioreference knows a trunked system is active in a certain county and so should you!

I really liked that you were completely on top of rebanded systems. I also liked that you can be updated weekly but for now you keep blabbering about areas I do not care about. If I need to use your Sentinel software I may as well use Win500 or Freescan.

You were very good when locked on statewide trunked systems with lots of towers. At $200 or $300 I could keep you around. Maybe $400 if you included a built in GPS chip instead of a NMEA hockey puck, kitchy cables, adaptors, and another power source requirement. You and your baggage are just too much for me to handle for $600.

I really had high hopes for you. If you have a sister or cousin, I could be tempted to go out with them but for now I need to end our relationship. Its just not working out.

Sincerely,
r9a9d9i9o9

I have had mine for over a year with NO issues, read the online manual and instead of complaining spend about 1 hour with it and watch all the tricks it will do for you and give you what you want it to do, If not contact me and I will send you the $400 for every thing including the hockey puck as you call it for the whole unit.

 

[KE4ZNR]

What a hughe waste of money. I have been a big scanner fan for over 40 years and I have used them all.

Well then, as rescue161 correctly notes, the HP-1 was not designed with you in mind.

The Home Patrol by far is the most useless scanner I have ever used. Uniden should recall all of them.

:roll: Yep, because you were not happy means that Uniden should naturally recall all HP-1s. I am sure you take the same approach in buying an automobile. "I am not happy with my Dodge Charger which means that Dodge should recall all Chargers nationwide..even those used by law enforcement agencies. They should do this because I am not happy".
That is really a realistic approach to the issue.

Uniden is charging $100 for an upgrade when they should be giving the upgrades for free.

You obviously did not take the time to learn the difference between HP-1 Updates vs. the Extreme Upgrade. HP-1 Updates are free and fix possible radio issues as well as add new features. The Extreme Upgrade on the other hand added new features never before offered in any other scanner on the market and only seen in industry service monitors. A lot of time and effort went into adding these features and it is not unreasonable for any company to charge for breakthrough options never before offered. The Extreme Upgrade is optional and the radio works perfectly fine without it.
For those that wish to "live Extreme" the additional features pay for themselves in no time at all.

They designed this crazy thing and its their problem not the customers that purchased them.

Not quite understanding your point above. Should the consumer not research on the product they intend to purchase?

You can forget about receiving local channels.

That's funny...mine receives local channels just fine. Don't believe me?
I have videos on Youtube to prove it:
Quick look at new Uniden Home Patrol HP-1 - YouTube

Oh it's out there scanning some where, every where but where it should be scanning.

This is a good example where Favorites Lists would come in handy. Just program in the local channels you wish to monitor.

The Uniden 50 800MHz beats the pants off the Home Patrol when it comes to getting the job done for conventional channels. The antenna that comes with the Home Patrol unit is junk, and I needed to purchase an adapter just to get the radio connected to my outside roof antenna. Of course Uniden provides very little information about this little issue. Don't through your money away on this one.

Uniden Provides very little info on what? The fact that any aftermarket antenna will usually perform better than the stock antenna?
That should be pretty common knowledge.
Especially going from a rubber duck to an outside antenna. That is a night and day difference.

I do understand you are frustrated. Hopefully you can find a radio that will make you happy...me I love my HP-1 and take it most anywhere.
To each their own.
Marshall KE4ZNR

 

[W9NES]

I have a Unden Home Patrol Hp-1 and love it. I have had ZERO PROBLEMS with the scanner, A lot of people have them for sale on Craigslist and e-bay along with RR Base and moblie scanners for sale,I have been PRO Uniden for a very long time and well continue to do so.

 

[Dewey]

Personally, I tend to think that post #23 is more aimed at trying to relight a fire against Uniden/HP-1. Why would someone just joining the forum and on their very first post cry foul so loudly against Uniden. Not to mention bringing back a rant that has been dead for over a year and a half. Again, just my opinion, but I know when I first joined back in the old trunkedradio.net days, it was seeking the wisdom of the masses already here.

Just saying'...

 

[KE4ZNR]

I have a feeling you are spot on correct.
Marshall KE4ZNR

Personally, I tend to think that post #23 is more aimed at trying to relight a fire against Uniden/HP-1. Why would someone just joining the forum and on their very first post cry foul so loudly against Uniden. Not to mention bringing back a rant that has been dead for over a year and a half. Again, just my opinion, but I know when I first joined back in the old trunkedradio.net days, it was seeking the wisdom of the masses already here.

Just saying'...

 

[wa8pyr]

This scanner was not intended for experienced scanner folk. It was designed for someone to put in their zipcode and start scanning. I like mine; sorry you don't like yours.

Ditto. Too many folks seem to forget that little point; the thing was designed and intended from the outset for folks with little or no scanner knowledge.

Scanning statewide frequencies for an adjacent state when you're visiting a state that's only a few miles wide? Sometimes it just works out that way.

Having trouble creating favorites lists to scan only what you want to scan? Really not a huge problem, I've done it and it works fine.

Seriously, most of these issues just are not issues; the HomePatrol is successful in the area of what it was designed to do: provide an easier way for the average joe or jane with little scanner knowledge to scan their town with as little fuss and bother as possible.

 

[N8IAA]

I am constantly amazed that a thread, almost two years old, is resurrected, and the same people say the same things they said over two years ago when the HP-1 came out.
Good Grief!
Larry

 

[rescue161]

So I'm suppose to change my mind just because two years have gone by?

Good grief!

I liked the scanner when it came out and I still like it. Some people don't and that is fine. But don't bash a scanner (or any product for that matter) just because you didn't do your research.

I've been scanning since the mid 80s and I bought one. I knew the limitations of it going into the deal though. I bought it for travel as I was in the military. It proved useful during trips to other areas where I didn't have time to program up other scanners.

I am constantly amazed that a thread, almost two years old, is resurrected, and the same people say the same things they said over two years ago when the HP-1 came out.
Good Grief!
Larry

 

[hfxChris]

So I'm suppose to change my mind just because two years have gone by?

It's generally considered bad form on message boards to post in an old thread. There's often a good chance that the original person or persons are no longer actively monitoring this board, and it generally causes confusion as other users who may not look at the dates will also start replying as if this was a current thread.

 

[UPMan]

It is also possible that some or all of the original complaints have been resolved (or at least moderated) by one or more of the firmware updates or database improvements that have been issued in the last two years.

For example, the OP laments circle-based locations. HP-1 now supports multi-rectangle support for much more precise geoselection.

I have absolutely no issue with someone liking or not liking one of our products. Well thought-out criticisms are a primary source for the improvements we make within a product or product line. And, as mentioned, not every product is suitable for every user or application. But (and you knew there would be a but), I do agree that it can be misleading to thread surfers to see what at first appears to be a current thread which has very stale complaints.

 

[pjtnascar]

The HP looks like it's neater than a skeeter, I just wish I could afford one!

 

[KE4ZNR]

It is also possible that some or all of the original complaints have been resolved (or at least moderated) by one or more of the firmware updates or database improvements that have been issued in the last two years.

For example, the OP laments circle-based locations. HP-1 now supports multi-rectangle support for much more precise geoselection.

I have absolutely no issue with someone liking or not liking one of our products. Well thought-out criticisms are a primary source for the improvements we make within a product or product line. And, as mentioned, not every product is suitable for every user or application. But (and you knew there would be a but), I do agree that it can be misleading to thread surfers to see what at first appears to be a current thread which has very stale complaints.

And with that I believe this thread has run its course.
Thanks for the participation to everyone.
Marshall KE4ZNR