Suggestion for new scanner? PSR-310 vs PSR-700?

[LYAmusic]

Greetings! So, recently I've been interested in buying a scanner for emergency preparation purposes, and after doing some research, I've narrowed down my choices to the GRE PSR-310 and PSR-700, both of which are analog trunking scanners. I've looked on these forums and on Google for more information but couldn't really find any direct comparisons between these two specific units.

Even after browsing through the specifications, I can't really distinguish between which one has "better" features. As someone who's never done scanning before, I'm having a hard time identifying the practical differences between the two units, and which one would be more "useful" in, say, the aftermath of a natural disaster (e.g. earthquake, flood) where there is no internet connection etc. From what I'm understanding, the PSR-700 has a SD chip that is already pre-programmed with the RadioReference database of the entire U.S.? That seems like it would be useful? Is that the only significant difference compared to the PSR-310?

What suggestions/advice do you guys have regarding those two units? I'd be really interested in hearing what you guys have to say about the feature set of either one, and the ease-of-use for a beginner like me.

 

[oregontreehugger]

Haven't owned a PSR-700, but I did have a PSR-310 for a while. The 310 is a great analog scanner, and actually received the VHF air band better than my RS Pro-106 does. Battery life was pretty darn good, especially running a set of Sanyo's "eneloop" cells. I think the PSR-700 is a neat idea, but what worries me is the lack of a keypad. What if you want to enter in a frequency immediately and you're away from the computer? That is the major thing that held me back. But I think for everyday use it's probably great, just not what I would want to rely on in if Mother Nature came calling as you suggested.

 

[scannersnstuff]

another vote for the psr-310.

 

[fredva]

Greetings! So, recently I've been interested in buying a scanner for emergency preparation purposes, and after doing some research, I've narrowed down my choices to the GRE PSR-310 and PSR-700, both of which are analog trunking scanners. I've looked on these forums and on Google for more information but couldn't really find any direct comparisons between these two specific units.

Even after browsing through the specifications, I can't really distinguish between which one has "better" features. As someone who's never done scanning before, I'm having a hard time identifying the practical differences between the two units, and which one would be more "useful" in, say, the aftermath of a natural disaster (e.g. earthquake, flood) where there is no internet connection etc. From what I'm understanding, the PSR-700 has a SD chip that is already pre-programmed with the RadioReference database of the entire U.S.? That seems like it would be useful? Is that the only significant difference compared to the PSR-310?

What suggestions/advice do you guys have regarding those two units? I'd be really interested in hearing what you guys have to say about the feature set of either one, and the ease-of-use for a beginner like me.

My only recommendation is to try to make sure an analog scanner is all you'll want or need in the next couple of years. I don't know what the situation is where you live, but in general, analog scanners can monitor fewer and fewer public safety systems as time goes by. I'm not saying you have to buy a digital scanner (which monitors analog too), but just consider that as expensive as digital scanners are, buying a new analog scanner and then a new digital scanner would cost you more in the long run.

 

[mke65]

psr-310

get the psr-310.

I have had both and the psr-310 is so beautiful in its display readout. and the keyboard is much better than the "virtual" keyboard of the psr-700

if size is of concern, then go with the psr-700 as it's definitely smaller and more pocketable

both have similar sensitivity. Not sure about the psr-700 but the psr-310 covers pretty much all the frequencies (minus am/fm broadcast) including military air.

I currently roll with the psr-800 (San Diego is digital) and gotta say I am still in the honeymoon phase and really really loving this radio

 

[datainmotion]

Wirelessly posted (Clacking rocks together: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-us; DROID X2 Build/4.5.1A-DTN-150-30) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Another vote for the PSR-310

 

[N8IAA]

Love my PSR-700. Small analog version of my 800. Audio is really good. The fact that you can have the RR library at your fingertips is nice to. But, for setting up what you want to hear on the scanlists, I believe the 310 is a better scanner. My reasons are, pushing one button to turn on/off the scanlists 1-10, and two button pushes to turn on/off the next 10. Haven't tried any of my milair freqs in the 700 yet. My vote is for the 310 for ease of use. With a premium subscription on RR, and Win500, you'll be up and running in no time at all
HTH,
Larry