Uniden Bearcat BC75XLT Handheld Scanner, 300 Channels, 10 banks, Close Call Technology, PC Programable, NOAA Weather, Aviation, Marine, Railroad, NASCAR, and Non-Digital Police/Fire/Public Safety

Well built and feature rich. Interface is a bit clumsy and unfriendly but they fit a lot of features into this little guy so thats to be expected. Do check and police/fire frequencies in your area of interest to make sure they are included in the ranges this scanner is designed for.

This product came with no instructions on how to locate channels or how to set up scanner. We found our local channel by trial and error. If you know someone who knows how to set one of these up you will be fine. We did not know anyone so ours just sits there and we turn it on once in a while. My husband hit a button recently and now we have no channels locked in.

This is my seventh hand held scanner and tenth total, and I must admit, even for a seasoned user, programming frequencies in this scanner is not as straight forward as others I have owned. The good news, great news actually, is that Uniden provides a free download for both the drivers to connect the scanner to a PC and a FREE software package that is super easy and fast to use. I use this type of scanner mainly for listening at auto races, and after ham thumbing the first three of about sixty frequencies I needed to load I figured it would be easy and quicker to download the driver and software and go from there. The programming software is super intuitive, will run on anything from Windows XP to 8.1, and you can save the frequency package as a file, which means you can have multiple files of frequencies at the ready. It uses a standard USB cord, included. The only reason I did not give this unit five stars is the somewhat cumbersome method of manually loading frequencies, and I have not yet been able to determine how (or if) you can page through your frequencies one by one, versus having to use the hold, channel number, hold method. A little awkward, but no big deal. Amazons shipping was stellar as usual, and the unit was mint fresh new! EDIT: I have changed my score from four stars to useless. I am very careful with my equipment. I used this radio a dozen times at most, and the display became erratic, showing only half the characters. I did further review, and discovered this is a constant complaint regarding this specific model. I disassembled it, and it is not in any way a user repairable item because of the way they connected the ribbon cable to the chassis. So this is now a piece of junk. Do not buy!

I was expecting this to be easier to program. but its not and finding a book like they used to have without paying an arm and leg is rediculious. They do have a website now that has codes for your area, but it appears that most places have gone digital and cannot be picked up. I hear some stuff but not what I was looking for. I live in an area with a lot of sirens and was hoping to be able to discern if I should be concerned about any of them

Fortunately, I have had a lot of experience with police scanners. This one worked right out of the box once I programmed it and put batteries in it. Was easy to program using the keypad on the unit itself. I have heard that it can be programmed using a computer, but I havent tried that yet. But it works fine and was easy to set up. For those reviewers that did not seem to be able to figure it out, all I have to say to that is you actually have to be smarter than the box the unit came out of. It is so simple. I didnt even read the owners manual when I set it up, and I was able to do it. There is nothing wrong with this unit and it is easy to set up, and yes, it works great. UPDATE: I just installed the software from the Uniden website to program this scanner using my computer, and I have to say programming the scanner using my computer is so much easier, especially when adding a new bank of frequencies. Anyone that has trouble programming this, Uniden does have a good YouTube video that will walk you through it, which you can also get from the Uniden website. I found it by using Google. Way to easy.

Nice unit! Though, I am disappointed that it seems that everything these days is made of plastic. I feel if this were to drop onto the floor, it would crack very easily. We bought this because recently crime in our area has been on the rise, which is so sad being this neighborhood was very quiet. This actually alerted us when a break in was occurring in our neighborhood, and we were on the look out when we heard it come over the scanner. What I like about this unit, is that it is very easy to set up, and instructions are included. You will also receive a charging cord and this does take batteries so you can take it with you. The buttons and screen light up when you press and hold the lower left button. No two way communication with this one. This arrived on time, and well protected. If you feel that my review has helped you in any way, please hit the yes box below this review. I never know if I am actually helping others. I have posted a picture of the unit and hoping Amazon will keep it here.

I do like my scanner..I have been a Scanner enthusiast for 40 years, back when they took crystals you had to buy for an additional 5 bucks..I am from Chicago and its great if you live in a big city, Now I am in a different state, in a rural area and travel in a 150 mile radius as a 24/7 service technician so I like to catch the action...Its a little different out here as the bigger municipalities use a trunking system on a higher frequency then this particular scanner..However the stuff I can pick up is clear and I LOVE how you can hook up to you PC and program it...!

This syncs to your pc and allows you to easily and quickly fill all the banks with custom freq sets you can create and store on your pc. Battery will last a whole day of nascar which is what I bought it for, but no more than that so stock up on batteries. Wish the controls were quicker to use. Assigning priorities and switching banks is a pain.

I was under the impression that this was a two-way device, but thats okay. I can delve into that technology later. I purchased this particular model with some apprehension after reading third party reviews saying that it would be difficult to program...then charging $100s to program. Thankfully I didnt solicit any of that help, but instead performed my own internet research and read the owners manual. The software that can be installed onto a computer to communicate with this scanner via USB is easy to understand and intuitive enough for the basic/advanced computer user. I still have a lot to learn about the different uses and technologies in general, but thats part of the fun.

This was a last-minute purchase for a Nascar race. The scanner arrived in just two days, with no expedited shipping. I have used several other scanners in the past, and their programming and use were not intuitive at all. This is not the case with the Uniden radio. With just a few minutes in the manual, I was able to quickly program over 75 channels and, more importantly, able to easily transition from one to the other. Once you get the hang of the tri-function knob on the top, its a piece of cake to change channels, adjust squelch, and adjust volume. Great value for the money.