The Future of Whistler

[TailGator911]

It's really too bad that Whistler could not keep up in the scanner department. I was looking forward to their next scanner and had high expectations. There was a guy on Reddit awhile back who claimed that the SDS100 was rushed because Uniden feared Whistler was about to get the jump on them, and that is why he claims the first-run SDS100s are 'plagued with problems' - his words not mine. It was an interesting perspective.

 

[vagrant]

For me, the 2500xlt still is. While the repacked battery I installed has given up the ghost years/decades ago, I still use it for single freq monitoring, or search/scans of a range using a wall wart for power. I would repack another battery, but the lack of alphanumeric means it stays as-is and is often used.

Oh dear...I just did some comparative testing and oh dear. I have a significant issue I need to resolve.

 

[buddrousa]

you can rebuild the battery pack yourself as i have done with others.

 

[Ed6698]

the "future" of Whistler can be summarized in their availability of their scanners.

....sold out

Radio Scanners

Whistler is a leader in automotive radar detectors, power inverters, dash cameras, portable jump starters, rear-view cameras, police radio scanners and diagnostic inspection cameras.

whistlergroup.com

View attachment 91274

I guess Uniden is just about out of scanner market also then going by this logic.

sold out

Radio Scanners

With a mission to make life better, Uniden is creating easy-to-use, affordable, cutting-edge technology you trust.

uniden.com

 

[KevinC]

I guess Uniden is just about out of scanner market also then going by this logic.

sold out

Radio Scanners

With a mission to make life better, Uniden is creating easy-to-use, affordable, cutting-edge technology you trust.

uniden.com

No, no, no. When Uniden is sold out it's due to massive sales. Only when Whistler is sold out is it a sign of them going out of business.

 

[billpritjr]

Gents, my opinion is Whistler is not going anywhere. The only thing they, or GRE, needs to work on is TDMA Simulcast capability.

Have a wonderful day

 

[Citywide173]

No, no, no. When Uniden is sold out it's due to massive sales. Only when Whistler is sold out is it a sign of them going out of business.

I know it's sarcasm, but when online distributors have the radios in stock and Uniden is sold out, it's different than online distributors either being sold out or no longer carrying Whistler products and Whistler being sold out.

 

[vagrant]

You went on a diatribe about this before. Perhaps I can help. Using the very slightest of effort via Google, I found several sellers on Amazon as well as SolidSignal.com having the TRX-1 in stock. Also, exactly which online distributors no longer carry Whistler products? That would indeed be very interesting.

 

[Citywide173]

Bearcat Warehouse has completely removed all Whistler products and Zipscanners is out of stock on most Whistler products. Scannermaster is showing in stock. I was referring to the actual online distributors, not Amazon sellers.

You also forgot to mention that although the TRX-1 is in stock, the TRX-2 is showing "currently unavailable" and many other Whistler products are listed as on backorder at Solid Signal.

 

[gmclam]

The fact that Whistler has not introduced a truly new design since coming into existence as a "scanner company" speaks volumes. Perhaps their initial intention was to acquire GRE's assets and move forward. Then they became educated as to how much real R&D costs. Some companies think they can hire two people @ $25 per hour (for example) to do the work of one person @ $50 per hour. This is not something you can cut corners in, and must acquire and maintain the most capable engineers if you are going to succeed.

There have been things they can do to GRE designs that are great: add a keypad where it's needed, add features in software, etc. But that only goes so far and doesn't address where radio communication has gone. At the very least they MUST handle newer protocols and simulcast distortion. If you don't, all that's left is rural America where just about any old radio works any way. They can't restrict their radios to only work with their software, YUCK.

I have always been a GRE guy as is likely obvious from my tag line. But they no longer have a product that works for me. I've tried a couple of their new offerings (such as the TRX-1) and found it to be a huge step backwards from where I already am. I know their models may work for some people, but I doubt that continues to be true. If they plan to successfully be in this business in the long run, they MUST $pend now on development. And honestly, that's scary considering that monitoring public safety radio has always been a "moving target".

 

[billpritjr]

does anyone have any data or factual information that indicates Whistler is not working on something now?

 

[fxdscon]

does anyone have any data or factual information that indicates Whistler is not working on something now?

There have been no such announcements from any official Whistler source, just the usual rumors and speculation from others.

.

 

[Citywide173]

does anyone have any data or factual information that indicates Whistler is not working on something now?

Does anyone have any data or factual information that indicates Whistler is working on something now? You are asking people to prove a negative. The affirmative should be easier, as there would be FCC filings of some type, especially if they took all of the data they had gained in the TRX-100/200 project (if it was real) and applied it to a forward moving project. The 1080/1095/1088/1098/TRX-1/TRX-2 all share the same FCC ID with Class II permissive changes in the same time period that Uniden brought forth the x36 line, 996P2(permissive Class II change of the 996XT), HP-1, HP-2 (permissive class II change of the HP-1), 325P2(permissive class II changes of the 396XT and 125AT), SDS100 and SDS200 for a total of 7 unique FCC IDs. There is no way that Uniden would be that far in front of them if they were working on something.

 

[fxdscon]

Does anyone have any data or factual information that indicates Whistler is working on something now?

Be serious Ed, do you really think Whistler is going to share their business strategy with us? Regardless of proof one way or the other, only time will tell... and time is only answer that will reveal the true story. Your endless speculation and ranting is entertaining - and even comical at times, but that's as far as it goes. You are the one claiming Whistler is going down the drain, care to offer any REAL OFFICIAL facts to back up that claim?

.

 

[fxdscon]

Bearcat Warehouse has completely removed all Whistler products and Zipscanners is out of stock on most Whistler products. Scannermaster is showing in stock. I was referring to the actual online distributors, not Amazon sellers.

You also forgot to mention that although the TRX-1 is in stock, the TRX-2 is showing "currently unavailable" and many other Whistler products are listed as on backorder at Solid Signal.

From a couple of weeks ago:

We are receiving products regularly and have increased production however current demand continues to exceed production capacity causing several items to be in back order status. They are shipped continually within days of being received. We are doing our best to shrink the back orders and hold inventory.

.

 

[Ubbe]

I had a dialog with Whistler to help them with loacalised settings, bandplan and different service groups with dedicated frequencies. The same where done for other european countries. Then the dialog died and shortly after that Whistler Wendy left the company. It wouldn't have cost much ta make several country specific options to add to the ones already in their TRX scanners. If they don't go ahead with that small resource requirement I would think that they do not have any other higher cost scanner projects in their plan, even less so if there's no one left to drive a project forward.

As the development costs must have been covered by now they can lower the price of their scanners in stages to keep up the sales figures but there will probably be zero development done and there's no point in trying to compete with Uniden if simulcast systems are going to be the norm and maybe encryption are also being used more. If Uniden wants $500 for a 436/536 then Whistler can continue to sell TRX scanners if they go for $450 or lower when that includes DMR and NXDN decoding.

/Ubbe

 

[MTS2000des]

I call B.S. If a guy like this can crank out a home grown P25/DMR capable SDR with excellent support and a low price, what excuse to the "big boys" have? Maybe Whistler doesn't want to commit to the level of support needed, who knows. Regardless, it is laughable that companies sell the same old, tired product and put a new set o' pants on it and it's supposed to be "hot". Give me a break.

I took a chance on BlueTail and glad I did. Supporting a REAL RADIO ENTHUSIAST who listens and constantly improves his/her product. If he can do it and make money, than these "massive" by comparison companies can to, or they're doing it wrong by not innovating and responding to their customers.

 

[pb_lonny]

We will only know, when they want us to know, either way...

 

[Citywide173]

Be serious Ed, do you really think Whistler is going to share their business strategy with us? Regardless of proof one way or the other, only time will tell... and time is only answer that will reveal the true story. Your endless speculation and ranting is entertaining - and even comical at times, but that's as far as it goes. You are the one claiming Whistler is going down the drain, care to offer any REAL OFFICIAL facts to back up that claim?

.

You know as well as I do that there will be no "real official" facts to back up my observations, but no FCC applications, no new model releases in over 4 years, no scanners with a NEW FCC ID in over 6 years-none of which were their design, a project announced and then abruptly cancelled and the spokesperson bailing in the middle of a pandemic? I think the only thing we're going to hear from @Whistler_Support on this matter is silence. I don't think they're going to announce they're out of the business, but I do think they'll sell what they have until no one is buying them anymore and then just keep the sold out sign up. 10 years from now, people will still be asking "hey, is Whistler gonna come out with something that can compete with the Uniden SDS800XLT?" and people will still be trying to defend Whistler by asking for facts that they aren't producing anything new.

I do hope I'm wrong, but the writing on the wall sure reads badly to me.

 

[CycleSycho]

.


WHISTLER did a great job on my GRE upgaded it to dmr and know it is a ws 1080.


I have come to find out this is not 100% true (it is NOT a WS-1080, it is acting like a WS-1080). If your going to post like this above, you might need to reread some of the previous posts you posted in after you posted in them.


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