Uniden HomePatrol-2 Color Touchscreen Simple Program Digital Scanner, TrunkTracker V and S,A,M,E, Emergency/Weather Alert, APCO P25 Phase 1 and 2! Covers USA and Canada, Quick Record and Playback

I own both the Home Patrol 1 and 2. This is a super easy way to listen to your local police, fire, EMS activity. No more keying in frequencies as all data is periodically updated from a free download site. Connect your HomePatrol-2 to your PC using the included cable and you can update frequencies as well as any firmware fixes from Uniden. The interface is a little bit tricky to get used to but once you do, you are able to navigate listening to exactly what you need to hear (town by town) is easy. I use the sleep timer which will turn the scanner off after up to 3 hours of listening. Handy for listening at night before bed. Device uses batteries (seem to last 6-8 hours though I have not tested thoroughly) as well as an included AC Adapter. I typically keep it plugged in. This is a great choice for anyone who wants to listen to the emergency services without having to guess at what the most recent set of frequencies is.

This is a great little radio. I was thrilled to finally have a scanner but disappointed to find out many local communications agencies are going to be encrypted so I had to return the radio. The radio is easy to program using your zip code. It gets a little more complicated using your computer to create a favorites list, but there several youtube videos explaining the process. I was really bummed out that I couldnt keep the radio because it is such great product

Easy to program but when you put yr zip code in itll give you everything full data base. So I have a lot of agencies on avoid like DPW Education Freqs bus services corrections high school security utilities company cable and miscellaneous things that come in on the data base. But overall its a gem I love it.

works great

Great product, simple to use, easy to set up. The downside is not a product issue, it is a technology issue. The hobby of scanning is dying due to APCO phase II technology. Here in the failed state of Illinois, law enforcement is transitioning to Starcomm21 Phase II. The scanner states it can receive these transmissions, however, it is distorted, garbled and incomplete. I was really hoping that this would be the solution, however, it just does not play well with the technology shift. The unit still functions flawlessly when scanning analog or Phase I signals. The other issue that scanning is facing is encrypted transmissions. Once again in the failed state of Illinois, our law enforcement is hiding behind encryption by using the excuse of officer safety. Even though scanning has been around for 50 plus years. At least I can still monitor fire frequencies.

I am very happy with this scanner. I debated purchasing it for a few months due to the cost. Seriously, this thing is expensive! We moved to Galveston recently and I thought it would be great to know what is going on and it is. This is the type of scanner that I had to have to hear the broadcast here. I was a little disappointed in the beginning because I was only getting a few channels but I discovered it was user error. I needed to make some adjustments like making sure EMS-Talk and the other Talk options were highlighted. It is now giving me what I expected. We were full-time RVers and I wish we would have had it when we were traveling because it is so easy to change the location. It is easy to use. My only complaint is the price.

I really like how all the white noise is filtered out. You only hear the transmitters voice, nothing else. The 3 level display of system, department and channel with customizable font size gives you instant data on who you are hearing. So, when it is live and running, its not nearly as disruptive and intrusive as they were 20 yrs ago. This tech has definitely improved with age. Very neat and compact, with the stand you can place it anywhere convenient. Very easy to pick a channel or dept and lock on to it. The cons (personally speaking): - Batteries take forever to charge and do not last as long as advertised. This could be inferior batteries it came with. Am getting more and a charger. Will see if they last longer. Good idea to have extra batteries so you always have 4 charged up and ready to replace discharged batteries with. - Setting up. This was excruciating for me. Was a tough learning curve. We wanted local county police, sheriff, HP, Ems and fire. I made favorite list over and over till I realized I had to include state VIPER system to get all local departments. All in all, I spent 4 days off and on before I finally derived a fav list with everything we wanted on it. - Does not come with a standard power supply jack. At best you have to plug in usb cable and listen to it while you charge the batteries. Would be nice if it had a 6v power supply jack that you could bypass the batteries with. (I may be missing something here regarding use of usb charge port). - The onboard menu and functions available to manually program it are not intuitive at all to me. I am an engineering professional in CAD and network software for 30 yrs now. When I say it is not intuitive, it really is not intuitive. (but that is also my personal opinion). In summary. Its a very nice piece of tech. We are happy to have it. The pros outweigh the cons for sure. The price, well, like everything tech; if you want the best dont complain about the price. You make the decisions for your life, so dont blame others for your choices.

When something is supposed to be programmed ready to use them I shouldnt have to spend hours and hours trying to figure out how to set it up. I will just be upgrading my old crystal units to ones that I have to program. This unit picks up plenty of air traffic miles and miles from my jurisdictions but nothing at all local. The few bits that were picked up from the local fire department were terribly garbled. Lesson learned for trying to take the easy road. Luckily the local departments are open about frequencies and even offered to help program a newer unit properly.

This scanner is perfect for anyone who is new to the hobby. Only things I do not like about it is that is does not monitor NXDN or DMR.

The scanner is well made, easy to set up and includes every thing you need. The digital audio is terrible. I know digital scanners are susceptible to audio problems, but I know it could be made for better. Seems though the users and dispatchers must have better audio or they wouldnt be able to understand each other. Needs a software upgrade to improve speech quality.