Whistler Update

[UPMan]

Never seen it, so couldn't say.

 

[Eng74]

UPMan, Have you ever seen a movie called "That thing you do"? It's about a '60's era rock band, called the "Wonders" that have one hit record. Would this movie help me to understand about what happened to GRE?

Dave..

I believe that they were the Oneders.

 

[dkf435]

And I thought the android vs apple thing was stupid!!!
I have both of the new uniden radios and they work well.
Issues have NOT been ignored. They are new radios and will continue to improve.

There is an old saying.
A Bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
You guys are betting on the two birds in the bush.

You have NO IDEA what kind of QC or manufacturing quality whistler is going to come up with.

Unfortunately GRE couldn't make enough on Scanners to stay afloat. Their patients are not enough to survive on.
Basically the (very small) market spoke and GRE lost.
Whistler will face the same challenges as GRE and UNIDEN faces. The biggest issue is the FACT that the market is SMALL. AND most people are now carrying smart phones.... Those same phones have the ability to hear 1000's of radio systems that in the past required a scanner, via an app.
This has had a HUGE impact on the marketplace. No real innovation will come from Whistler. Innovation requires research and development. R and D costs $$$. There is NO MONEY in the business of designing building and selling scanners. You think UNIDEN makes money on scanners? How does a scanner company make any money selling say UNDER 5K units of anything? Uniden sold well under 5K 536 radios in the first month of sales. UNIDEN is a MICH larger company which can afford some R and D and can also afford to hold on for long term sales to catch up with short term development costs.
Even still look at the new unidens and you will learn that they are based on previously successful designs , The RF front end design (heart of the radio) on the 536 is almost exactly the same as the 996. what has changed is the radio handling of digital signals and frequency databases.

Anyway guy go ahead and wait for the GRE/Whistler radios for the next few months hoping the whole time that the VAPOR clears. In the mean time many of us will enjoy the uniden radios we have RIGHT NOW despite the fact that they are not perfect.... So far I have not found a perfect radio. In many ways for me the perfect radio was/is the AOR-8000. Great pure analog wide banded wide open radio.

I sure miss my old Pro-43 though.

Have at ya!!

Yaesumofo

Good insight James, now to make me be happy and add to my fleet Uniden needs to address the bug problem otherwise I will fill the 536 slot with the PSR900 and backfill the 436 slot with retasked PSR800. Uniden is not taking the customer service side very seriously with this refurb exchange from new radio..

These companies need to make people feel secure with their purchase to keep brand loyalty these are not computer technology parts with a 6-12 month lifespan, these radios have 5-10 year spans. On the top of my stack I still have a 20 year old AR3000 and R8500 and AR5000 both with ARD25 P25 decoders and yes still have the AR8000 with Scout and reaction tune cable

.........is Scotty around TRW using Shangri LA

David Kb7uns

 

[dgmaley]

The Wonders

Never seen it, so couldn't say.

A movie done by Tom Hanks, in the late '90's.
A small town garage band has a song that makes it to number 1. They perform on Ed Sullivan.
Then self destruct.
If you had interest of music of that era, it's worth watching. I was in a similar garage band. We never had a hit record.
Oh, almost forgot, the band wanted to spell it Oneders but everyone called them the oh-needers.

Dave...

 

[SCPD]

And when you do write about what really happened to GRE Paul, some aren't going to believe the truth about what did happen.

 

[AZScanner]

And when you do write about what really happened to GRE Paul, some aren't going to believe the truth about what did happen.

I think that's because the only thing many scannerheads like more than a good scanner is a good conspiracy theory. They're out to get us!

-AZ

 

[pepsima1]

This is the truth on what happened with GRE. Wayne got in a sword fight with a chinese monk and the monk swiftly chopped each finger and toe off and then sliced his neck cleanly off.

NO BS either.

 

[SCPD]

Good one AZ, still laughing !

 

[garys]

And when you do write about what really happened to GRE Paul, some aren't going to believe the truth about what did happen.

Nah, they'll be too busy whining about how Uniden should have had Paul hand deliver brand new scanners to replace the ones that had the earphone problem. You just can't satisfy some people.

 

[bberns22]

OK, now you've got ME curious. What the hell happened? What can you share? In rereading this note from Wayne Wilson it sounds like GRE's executive leadership just one day woke up and decided "screw scanners" and fired everyone who was part of making them. Why would they do that?? This whole thing is just weird and doesn't seem to add up at all.

-AZ

And I suspect Whistler may end in the same fate within a year or so. Scanning is a niche hobby that is seeing a decline due the increasing inability to listen to various public service systems . Uniden's long term prospects don't look great either - Look at their product line, it is dominated by corded and cordless phones - products that are fast going extinct. What else do they have? Scanners, cb's, marine radios and some baby monitors - not exactly a winning lineup for growth.

 

[shortwaver]

A movie done by Tom Hanks, in the late '90's.
A small town garage band has a song that makes it to number 1. They perform on Ed Sullivan.
Then self destruct.
If you had interest of music of that era, it's worth watching. I was in a similar garage band. We never had a hit record.
Oh, almost forgot, the band wanted to spell it Oneders but everyone called them the oh-needers.

Dave...

Liv Tyler is absolutely lovely in that movie!

 

[sjgostovich]

I don't get it.

Who gives a crap what happened to GRE?! They folded up and you will not be able to buy another GRE product ever again. It's tough to be loyal to a brand that doesn't exist anymore. I really liked my Saturn SL1 but i'm not mad that they don't make them anymore?!

Anyone know when and for how much I can buy a WS1040?!

 

[davewhall29]

Found this snooping around the net today:

Whistler Products

Prices for the new Whistlers? Don't know how accurate they are, but alittle high don't ya think?

 

[SquierStrat]

If they fix the couple flaws that gre scanners are notorious for, those prices would be ok..

 

[desert-cheetah]

If they fix the couple flaws that gre scanners are notorious for, those prices would be ok..

Not when they're up against the Uniden 436 for TH Sam price that's p25 phase 2 capable it's not an okay price.

 

[sjgostovich]

Is that the only retailer that has listed prices for these units?

 

[davewhall29]

That's the only one I've found. And I agree with desert-cheetah, those prices are too high unless they are P2 capable. These that I found are the 500/106 & 600/197 clones. Neither of those are P2 capable. And I presume these Whistlers are clones & won't do P2.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

 

[sjgostovich]

I agree thats a little high. Hopefully the big retailers (Walmart, Target, BigK) pick these up so the price drops. They won't sell alot of these at that price since the tech is like 6+ years old. It's still good tech and more than what I need for my area though. They get down to 4-450'sh i'll pick one up (i've already got the $ earmarked) .

 

[cherubim]

If the WS1095 is priced higher than the BCD536HP then they've got no chance unless it offers some unique features.

 

[SCPD]

I agree thats a little high. Hopefully the big retailers (Walmart, Target, BigK) pick these up so the price drops. They won't sell alot of these at that price since the tech is like 6+ years old. It's still good tech and more than what I need for my area though. They get down to 4-450'sh i'll pick one up (i've already got the $ earmarked) .

Walmart selling a $500.00 Scanner? Really...............................

Uniden would be over that in a second and not considering Radio Shack in an instead.