I think that this almost 10 year old review from the "Strong Signals" web site would still be helpful:
Strong Signals - Yaesu/Standard VR-500 Review
I have had my VR-500 for about 5 or 6 years now, and while it is not a scanner, it is a good handheld receiver. My only problem so far is that I dropped it and bent/broke the BNC connector. The radio is very difficult to take apart for this type of repair.
For a contrast, I once owned a Yaesu VR-5000 receiver. Avoid the VR-5000 at all costs. It is (or was) FCC Class A rated (business use only which means that it generates a lot of noise) The VR-5000 is useless if used with a "back of set" type antenna. It used to like to lock up and you would lose whatever you had programmed into it (by hand, no software was available at the time).
Mark