Uniden 325P2 Price Increasing?

[rs16]

It look like the 325 is going up in price. Both Amazon and Bearcat Warehouse had it for around $338 for awhile. Now BW has it for $379. That's quite a jump. Any idea why?

 

[hiegtx]

I've noticed that Amazon also increased the cost of the HP-2, as well as the 536HP.

 

[cmdcomm]

Uniden is raising the price on all their scanners to wholesale distributors. We were notified last week.

 

[Boatanchor]

Interesting..

Beginning to look like the beginning of the end..

 

[Fireboat03]

Oh yeah it is the beginning of the end. Scanner sales are done for them. Increasing prices means the company is loosing steam really fast and they are doing everything they can to increase profits which is not going to happen.

HAHA> The Truth is out finally

 

[Boatanchor]

Probably a directive from Tokyo, but it makes little difference where it came from.
The US dollar has been increasing in value to just about every other currency in the world, for at least the last five years. So theoretically, the price of these scanners should be dropping, not increasing.

Regardless, It's just another nail in the coffin for 'hardware defined' scanning.

Uniden are quickly running out of options. Their sales revenue is plummeting yoy, they have a shrinking product portfolio, their costs are likely increasing and their share price is heading for the basement.

Bottom line, there appears to be little future in domestic (non-military/Government) high end 'hardware constrained' scanners. The development and support costs associated with such receivers and scanners, that we want and now expect, can simply not be amortized by companies like Uniden, AOR and Whistler, in their current form. The business case for such products just doesn't add up.

It's hard to see how any company can make money out of this market now.

Sadly, it's just the harsh reality in 2016..

 

[kd7ckq]

So your happy about the speculation of Uniden going out of business? Really!?! You guys must be starting your own Scanner Manufacturing company to pick up the slack when (if) Uniden leaves.
Fireboat03, you need to reread your post. Then see how it comes across to others. Sad, really. you feel that way. you must hate the hobby.

 

[Voyager]

Oh yeah it is the beginning of the end. Scanner sales are done for them. Increasing prices means the company is loosing steam really fast and they are doing everything they can to increase profits which is not going to happen.

HAHA> The Truth is out finally

Using that logic the oil companies should have been gone a few years ago when gas prices doubled.

Old folks take note: Things cost more than they used to!

 

[nr2d]

I seriously doubt Uniden is going out of business. Uniden makes other electronics besides scanners. If anything they might get out of the scanner business. This may be due to new digital modulation use and the rise in encryption which makes scanners useless.

 

[Fireboat03]

Unless Uniden makes a good solid scanner that is built FORD tough and gives us more modulations then they are done. Period the END of story.

Scanner market is dead now. Everybody has the latest and greatest for whatever that is worth. If you have the red headed step child X36HP models then you will just have to struggle with the hardware related issues and promises that will never happen. The rest of the market will move onto the latest and greatest of the SDR market and that will be it. Not sure what else to say at this point.

There is no constraints and push back when it comes to SDR radios and the software that can be produced. Open source KIDS

 

[kd7ckq]

LOL, Really? Thats all you got. SDR? I have a SDR Dongle. Is it portable? Is it stand alone? You really want to compare a SDR to a full blown dedicated scanner.
You really want to start with name calling? This is a hobby, or are you just to juvenile to see it as such.

 

[Boatanchor]

Using that logic the oil companies should have been gone a few years ago when gas prices doubled.

Old folks take note: Things cost more than they used to!

Gas = Non-discretionary spending
Scanner = Discretionary spending

People have to buy gas at any price, people will not buy radio scanners at any price.

Big difference there and hardly an apples to apples comparison.

 

[br0adband]

You really want to compare a SDR to a full blown dedicated scanner.

I would, because that's all I use now and it's infinitely more capable than a hardware-based physical scanner plus my entire monitoring setup (which is infinitely more capable, I said that right?) cost me about one-third of what a modern physical scanner does these days that ends up being less capable (see a pattern here?). Monitoring just one frequency at a time? That's so 2000's.

I love physical scanners just as much as the next monitoring hobbyist, always have since the early 1970s with my first crystal-controlled Bearcat, but times have changed and Uniden and Whistler haven't changed with them fast enough or to enough degrees that some of us want to continue with them. I moved to SDR when I got back into the hobby because I a) already had the computing hardware (a business class model from Dell that I got off-lease for $100) b) spent ~$25 for two RTL-based sticks and c) the SDR software to make use of said sticks (including the drivers) is free of charge thankfully.

I'm not saying I wouldn't mind having a brand spankin' new Uniden 436HP at this point in time (I prefer handhelds to mobile/base units), but for that amount of money I could literally triple my current setup (3 laptops + 6 RTL sticks + antennas) for the same amount of money and - you knew it was coming - have even more capabilities once again than any scanner on the market today and for the foreseeable future.

SDR ain't for everyone yet but it's damned sure moving in at a pace that Uniden and Whistler simply can't keep up with. There will always be a market for the hardware scanners sure, but SDR hardware has a place as well and it's taking up more "space" in people's shacks all the time.

Of course, there's nothing stopping Uniden or Whistler from coming out with their own SDR hardware, now is there? Airspy and SDRplay have proven there's a market for hardware in that class so, who knows what will happen.

 

[kd7ckq]

SDR ain't for everyone yet but it's damned sure moving in at a pace that Uniden and Whistler simply can't keep up with. There will always be a market for the hardware scanners sure, but SDR hardware has a place as well and it's taking up more "space" in people's shacks all the time.

Nicely put. I had to wrap mine in aluminum tape to help keep the noise level down. I hate the constant drift to boot. Still only use mine every now a then.

 

[kd7ckq]

I was under the impression that the Homepatrol line of scanners where SDR scanners. Just feel how light the BCD436HP is. I was sure it was just a shell when I picked it up.

 

[Voyager]

Unless Uniden makes a good solid scanner that is built FORD tough and gives us more modulations then they are done. Period the END of story.

Ford tough! ROFLMAO! The paint never fell off my scanner. My scanner doesn't eat coil packs to the point none last more than a year. BTW, Ford refuses to fix either of these issues. Uniden is fixing theirs. That puts them ahead of Ford.

BTW, Uniden added a new modulation a couple months ago.

There is no constraints and push back when it comes to SDR radios and the software that can be produced. Open source KIDS

That's true as long as the term "IP Infringement" means nothing to you.

The only reason some of these programs are allowed is because the pockets are not deep enough yet.

Gas = Non-discretionary spending
Scanner = Discretionary spending

People have to buy gas at any price, people will not buy radio scanners at any price.

Big difference there and hardly an apples to apples comparison.

So nobody drives to eat out. Nobody drives on vacation. Nobody visits friends. Everyone only drives to work and that is it?

Granted, there is some non-discretionary spending, but there is a good bit of discretionary spending as well. And the point was that companies do not raise prices because they are going out of business - especially companies with competent leadership.

Nicely put. I had to wrap mine in aluminum tape to help keep the noise level down. I hate the constant drift to boot.

There are SDRs that do not drift and do not have any PPM correction needs. Of course they do not cost $20 either.

 

[KB6KGX]

I’d LOVE to have a “SDR” scanner in the car. Anyone make one?

I didn’t think so.

 

[Fireboat03]

The sky is the limit with SDR radios. Give this newer technology time to grow and take off. There is no more room for growth with the scanner market. Phase II TDMA scanners have been out on the market for almost two years now or so and that's the top of the market.

Nothing else new to come out and hit the market. Uniden and Whistler are not smart enough to figure out what is next. The only thing these two companies have in common is to re box radios and add keypads and rename the model #'s

 

[Voyager]

Phase II TDMA scanners have been out on the market for almost two years now or so and that's the top of the market.

Nothing else new to come out and hit the market.

December, 2015 (somewhat less than two years ago - in fact, about two months):

http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-tech-support/324639-provoice-scanning-here-11.html

 

[darunimal]

yea but the BCD996p2 is a revised named, Voyager missed that one, I'm glad I could help him with his pedantic style. Realistically though, Fireboat03, your comments are frighteningly truthful.