The Future of Whistler

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daggit

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First, I want to say this is not a rant. Just giving my honest opinion and would like feed back. I have been happy with Whistler in the past. I was looking at a SDS100 and other Uniden scanners. I decided to get a refurbished TRX-1 and they gave me a discount for being a vet. Here are my concerns. Things have changed. The way you track you order is through a third party app, gave me very false info on my delivery. Today I called Whistler and they gave me a real tracking link with out the third party. I expected it here yesterday or today will take another few days with the new link provided by Whistler. Another concern is they cancelled the TRX-100. I've done my research and was going to wait for this product. Last concern is you can only use Ez-Scan to program the TRX-1, I guess they have an agreement with Radio Reference. Is Whistler going to keep supporting the TRX-1? What happens if the agreement with Radio Reference ends?
 

KK4JUG

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Shipping is often a hit or miss proposition for almost any company. A dealer will create a shipping label with UPS/FedEx/USPS but the item may sit around for a day or two or more, before it's picked up. I recently ordered an item and I received notice that it had been shipped the Friday before Labor day. Checking the shipper's web site, I found the shipping label had been created. Saturday, same thing, Sunday, Monday, the same thing. It was picked up by the shipping company on Tuesday afternoon. I realize the holiday threw in a extra day but this type of thing is not uncommon. A company will "ship" a product on Friday but likely won't hit the streets until Monday.

And, with everything going on (that my term for the havoc created by COVID-19), the shipping companies are up to their armpits in alligators when all they really want to do is just drain the swamp.
 

Enjoi19

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I don’t think there’s any “deal” with RadioReference - aren’t they just scraping the database every so often for updates?
 

fxdscon

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First, I want to say this is not a rant. Just giving my honest opinion and would like feed back. I have been happy with Whistler in the past. I was looking at a SDS100 and other Uniden scanners. I decided to get a refurbished TRX-1 and they gave me a discount for being a vet. Here are my concerns. Things have changed. The way you track you order is through a third party app, gave me very false info on my delivery. Today I called Whistler and they gave me a real tracking link with out the third party. I expected it here yesterday or today will take another few days with the new link provided by Whistler. Another concern is they cancelled the TRX-100. I've done my research and was going to wait for this product. Last concern is you can only use Ez-Scan to program the TRX-1, I guess they have an agreement with Radio Reference. Is Whistler going to keep supporting the TRX-1? What happens if the agreement with Radio Reference ends?

You can address your concerns to Whistler support directly by following this link, and using the "Start Conversation" button after typing your message. They would be best suited to assist with your issues:


.
 

fxdscon

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I don’t think there’s any “deal” with RadioReference - aren’t they just scraping the database every so often for updates?

There are licensing deals in place.

.
 

DJ11DLN

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Nothing new here. Whistler knows if they're in it for the long game or not and they're keeping that knowledge/those intentions to themselves. Same deal with Uniden. All we can do is keep making feature/change requests and see what tomorrow/next month/next year brings.

Personally I hope both companies are developing new products and refinements for the current line...but I suspect I share that attitude with about 99+% here so even mentioning it is redundant.
 

daggit

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I saw a good thread on this topic in the TRX-1 and TRX-2 Facebook forum, I hope they stick around in the scanner biz too, just had second thoughts about the TRX-1 scanner I bought, with the future of the company. Hoping to get it today.
 

Hit_Factor

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Saint Joseph, MI
Nothing new here. Whistler knows if they're in it for the long game or not and they're keeping that knowledge/those intentions to themselves. Same deal with Uniden. All we can do is keep making feature/change requests and see what tomorrow/next month/next year brings.

Personally I hope both companies are developing new products and refinements for the current line...but I suspect I share that attitude with about 99+% here so even mentioning it is redundant.


We have seen recent FCC applications for Uniden.

I have not heard of any from Whistler. Wendy leaving, while unemployment was skyrocketing due to covid, wasn't a good sign.
 

billpritjr

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

....sold out


whistler.JPG
 

Citywide173

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As has been said, it has been discussed elsewhere, but I still hold to my assessment when the TRX-100/200 was cancelled.

All of the scanners offered to this point were technology that was the original intellectual property of GRE that they had purchased. They have never successfully introduced a new scanner to the market. The 1080/1095 was the final development of the PSR-800/900, the 1088/1098 was a Class II permissive change to the 1080/1095 that simply added a more robust keyboard entry and the TRX-1/2 was another Class II permissive change to the 1088/1098 that made very slight changes, even though they marketed it as an entirely new radio.

The TRX-100/200 was going to be their first original entry into the market but there were never any FCC applications filed, which means it never got to the testing phase before Whistler abandoned it. There is some speculation going around based on the timing of the announcement of the products that it was actually just a ruse to accelerate Uniden's release of the SDS200 in the hopes that it would be incomplete upon release, like the x36 line and they could capitalize on the shortcomings. Whether or not that is true is anybody's guess.

The fact remains that all they have done is sell someone else's scanner. The technology they are selling is over 10 years old and has been replaced with much newer and more efficient technology-which they have not been able to keep up with. The addition of the scanner antennas to their product line was a huge gimmick in my opinion to make it appear that they were still in the game-they could have at least picked less gaudy antennas. Unfortunately some people fell for it hook, line and sinker even though these antennas had been available on ebay for years.

I understand that in these days of COVID, it's more difficult to source your parts and coordinate overseas production, but as pointed out above, everything is showing sold out. Add the fact that many of tthe online retailers are no longer carrying their product and I think the writing on the wall is pretty clear. I believe Whistler has produced their last scanner. They currently don't have the in-house talent and I don't think the market is worth the investment to bring it in. I have said it before, if they want to remain competitive they should look into a collaborative effort to produce a scanner with Unication. While they would have to share profits, the radio would probably blow everything else out of the water.
 

wizardofid

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On a brighter note... As of 09/12/2020, the Whistler TRX-2 appears to be available on Amazon . It was unavailable for a period of time, but Amazon is now showing that one of their Dealers has 14 of them in stock and available for delivery.
 

jimg

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I purchased a refurbished TRX-1 directly from Whistler last month and received it in less than a week. As "Brian" in customer service advised, it was "like new" and, so far, its performance has been excellent.
jimg
 

vagrant

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I too picked up a "Scratch & Dent" TRX-1 from Whistler and it had neither a scratch or dent. It did have a fine price and performs very well.

I have not spoken with Old Man Whistler and Uncle Uniden in a while. Who knows what they're doing. The last time I spoke with uncle Uniden, he handed me a BC2500XLT.
 
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