The New Pro-106

[riccom]

i called they have 2 about 20 miles from where i am at, but the store is not open weekends sooooooooooo

i will pick it up monday!

 

[kevins669]

i called they have 2 about 20 miles from where i am at, but the store is not open weekends sooooooooooo

i will pick it up monday!

Closed on weekends? Is that Folsom? Drive across the lake... 2 stores have some left. The other 2 sold them.

 

[tommyscan]

I would say that radio shack is in deep trouble!! They not only lost touch with their BASE customer, they obviously show little interest in taking care of their employees with competitive wages and product training. I bet in a couple of years or so that you will only to buy the radio you want from on-line sources. THIS ISNT neccessarilya bad thing,BUT I like to walk out with it in hand rather than pay extra for delivery and hope the thing works right out of the box!!!!!!!!

 

[torontokris]

Online is already sort of happening.. if someone did want online only sales (for a discount) then they can pick up the GRE PSR-500 online for much cheaper and with a USB / AC Adapter.

But as you say most people want to have it in their hand, see it touch it etc which is a very valid point.

I would say that radio shack is in deep trouble!! They not only lost touch with their BASE customer, they obviously show little interest in taking care of their employees with competitive wages and product training. I bet in a couple of years or so that you will only to buy the radio you want from on-line sources. THIS ISNT neccessarilya bad thing,BUT I like to walk out with it in hand rather than pay extra for delivery and hope the thing works right out of the box!!!!!!!!

 

[kevins669]

Nevermind, I finally got a store manager who gave me the scoop. He said they are on restricted distribution. Only certain areas will get them for now.

This is a false statement of the "scoop" by that manager. There are many reasons why some stores get this radio and some don't, and in what quantities. There is no restricted distribution on this item, though.

-- Kevin

 

[riccom]

Closed on weekends? Is that Folsom? Drive across the lake... 2 stores have some left. The other 2 sold them.

no i work at night and sleep during the day on sundays they not open and its Picayune i live in slidell

 

[c_gutta]

I can't seem to find one anywhere. I called several stores and gave them the 20-106 cat. no. and they each checked the computer and said that no one in the district has them and they can't tell me if they will get any. What gives? Is it possible radio shack only distributed them to a limited amount of stores? Yeah, I know I can order one but I want to hold one in my hand first and look at it before making a decision.

Edit-

Nevermind, I finally got a store manager who gave me the scoop. He said they are on restricted distribution. Only certain areas will get them for now. I told him that Louisiana is building a statewide 700 MHz system that all the state agencies as well as most of the police and fire depts in the state will be using, that many agencies have already made the switch, and that you need a digital scanner like this one to listen to it. Someone at radio shack dropped the ball when deciding which stores will get them. This area definitely needs them. He said that he may talk with his district manager so that the dist mgr can reccommend that the stores here get them as well. I can only wait and see.

The manager knows how to build his in store quanity. When I didn't stock the PRO-96 I just did really good at selling them Direct2U (ordering for customer and shipping them to their home for free). This built my model quanity from 0 to 2. So I went from stocking 0 to stocking 2. RS doesn't want to spend the money stocking all stores. With a new system and the store not showing sales of digital scanners, they run the risk of stocking them and not selling them. If it was a pack of batteries then all store would have them. at 200 cost, they want to see who sells them before they distribute to that many stores.

 

[tommyscan]

That strategy will eventually put them out of business!!! I say stock your major stores in prime areas where digital and scanner buffs usually buy?!! My local store in wantagh usually stocks the most recent model but when I checked on the 106,they didnt even know or could find it in their computer system??!!!

 

[mancow]

They had three at the Mall in Overland Park, KS. I picked one up Saturday. The display and keyboard are even brighter than the PSR-500.

 

[kevins669]

That strategy will eventually put them out of business!!! I say stock your major stores in prime areas where digital and scanner buffs usually buy?!! My local store in wantagh usually stocks the most recent model but when I checked on the 106,they didnt even know or could find it in their computer system??!!!

If they did not know/could not find in their system, then how do they/you know they do not have them????

-- Kevin

 

[mancow]

When I called my store I gave them that 20-106 stock number and they looked it up in just a few seconds. I suppose that if someone only gave them the PRO-106 name they may not be able to find it.

 

[c_gutta]

When I called my store I gave them that 20-106 stock number and they looked it up in just a few seconds. I suppose that if someone only gave them the PRO-106 name they may not be able to find it.

Good point. You need the catalog number to put in the RSS or to check D2u availability.

Good luck.

 

[TechnoDave]

Am I missing something? I check RadShacks website and it cant find Pro-106 or 20-106

 

[SquierStrat]

The display and keyboard are even brighter than the PSR-500.

is it possible the light on that psr500 has been used more then the light on that pro106? you cant really make a good comparison on that unless both models are the exact same age and have had the exact same amount of usage

Am I missing something? I check RadShacks website and it cant find Pro-106 or 20-106

nope, you're not, its the website thats missing something

 

[emscapt9816]

They had three at the Mall in Overland Park, KS. I picked one up Saturday. The display and keyboard are even brighter than the PSR-500.

Side by side, I think the RS looks better, dare I say, "prettier".

 

[RDCat]

on the 106 -anyone like or dislike the speaker on the bottem?
i like the 500 for the spkr on the top

anyone have preference
pro106 sound better with the spkr on the bottem?
ron

 

[DonS]

I don't care where the speaker is... I care about the keypad's location. For one-handed operation, the keypad on the bottom (PSR-500) seems better for me. The battery location pushes the center of gravity down toward the bottom, and the scanner seems to "balance" better in my hand if I'm using my thumb to push keys near that center of gravity.

 

[n1das]

is it possible the light on that psr500 has been used more then the light on that pro106? you cant really make a good comparison on that unless both models are the exact same age and have had the exact same amount of usage


nope, you're not, its the website thats missing something

The age of each and amount of backlight usage is insignificant compared to the LED's rated life of 100k hours. That's 11.4 years! The Pro-106 appears to have brighter backlighting from what I can tell from the pic. I suspect the LEDs are being driven harder or different LEDs are being used due to the different board layout inside.

I played with a Pro-106 at a RS store in the Concord NH area over the past weekend. I tested P25 decode by talking to it using my Kenwood TK-5210 VHF P25 portable on a 2m ham simplex frequency. The P25 audio sounds good if not better than a Pro-96 handheld.

 

[c_gutta]

That strategy will eventually put them out of business!!! I say stock your major stores in prime areas where digital and scanner buffs usually buy?!! My local store in wantagh usually stocks the most recent model but when I checked on the 106,they didnt even know or could find it in their computer system??!!!

If they had a history of scanner sales, then they would have received it.

 

[mclove]

Pro-106

Does It Do Radio Ids? Can Trun The Led On With Ids Like The Psr-500???????