(NEW) Uniden BCD536HP HomePatrol Series Digital Phase 2 Base/Mobile Scanner (Open Box)

I love how easy it is to program this scanner by simply entering your zip code, but that may also overwhelm you with channels you don't care that much about which causes it to take much longer to scan through all the channels and you can easily miss parts of a conversation or updates about an event. So, you'll still have to learn how to go through your channel list and block out the ones you don't want so you don't miss the important things you do want to hear (such as police band or fire and rescue traffic only). Otherwise you may hear the dispatch say something, then it takes so long to get back around to that channel again and you missed the response. My other major dislike about this scanner is it has no auto volume control feature. You set the volume to a normal level and then you have these very loud female dispatchers come on and blow you out of the room. You turn it down so it doesn't disturb everyone in the house and you can't hear anyone else. The extreme difference in volume levels during the same conversations on the same channels is more than annoying and a very good reason not to buy this scanner, it gets old very fast, especially at night when other people in your house may be trying to sleep. Almost everything out there in the market these days, tv's, stereos, etc has a very simple feature known as auto volume control or auto leveling for the audio output stage so your volume level will stay fairly consistent as you switch channels or input sources, and it's usually enabled by default. I thought maybe I turned it off accidently somehow but after looking through a lot of the forums this seems to be a very common complaint with most of these scanners, the feature simply isn't there, and the company doesn't seem to care much about fixing the problem. It's hard for me to believe a scanner so technically advanced would not have this very basic and much needed feature, but do consider this before making a purchase. The only fix I've found so far is to route the output audio of this scanner thru another (extra cost over the $500 you are spending) device that does control the audio output level and make it consistent. Overall, if you can live with the extreme volume level differences, then this isn't a bad scanner, but there are other brands out there that work just as well and don't have that type of ongoing unresolved issue. One last thing I'll say... you'll be paying a whole lot for this scanner versus the price of an analog scanner or even digital scanners from some other companies. It's nice that they have released a product that is usable now, and has a builtin feature to upgrade the firmware as they continue to work on it, but in reality the software is an unfinished product and you'll have to pay dearly to get the other features added to your scanner as they complete them. I thought I was paying a lot for a well supported product but right after I spent my money on this I learned there are a few updates available for it but I'll have to pay even more to get those. Thought I did all my research on scanners before making this purchase, but knowing what I do now, I think the choice would have been the other one I was looking at instead. For reference previous scanners owned were a Radio Shack Pro Base Station (still have), 2 Bearcat Mobile (still have 1), 3 Bearcat Handhelds (still have 1).