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

This is an excellent starter scanner. Very easy to use. However, while the specs say it can read a 64GB microSD card, this would be difficult without some computer knowledge and additional software. This device can only read microSD cards formatted in FAT32. Windows 11 restricts FAT32 format to 32GB memory or smaller. Anything larger than 32GB Windows 11 will format in exFAT, which cannot be read by HomePatrol. AND this needs a telescopic antenna, if you want to receive the lower frequencies with clarity. The battery management or charging system is very rudimentary/basic. It is not capable of charging based upon the state of charge of the batteries. Also lithium rechargeable batteries cannot be used.

The audio is extremely clear when you pick up a transmission. I can receive 1,2 ,3 towns over and FDNY which is 35 miles away, BUT I cant pick up the town I live in (2.6 square miles) or the town to the west. Not worth the money.

I havent had the Home Patrol 2 only for a few days and was surprised as the size and weight of it - a little bigger than I thought (thickness) and has a little heft. But, after installing the supplied rechargeable batteries, it didnt take very long even without reading the manual to set it up. As soon as it powers up, there are a series of questions that are quick and easy - the easiest is to input your zip code and it will load all of the surrounding channels automatically. I have an external antenna on my vehicle since Im always running to shoot video of fire scenes and it seems to work well with that (they include the adapter to connect to a typical BNC plug). Essentially, its giving me everything I was looking for. One problem that Ive already encountered was a ROM memory issue which a Google search turned up others with the same problem. Youll get an error message on a white screen and it locks up. I removed the batteries, then removed the micro sd card for a few minutes. After re-installing everything, the scanner came right back up and has been working fine. Not something youd expect from a scanner in this price range but something that Ill keep an eye on.

I have owned many scanners and this one is my favorite so far. It is very easy to use, compact, and has a nice backlit color display. It did not take long to get it up and running, programming was fast and simple, and the receiver seems very good as I am picking up transmissions from surrounding counties using the supplied antenna. The unit can monitor APCO 25 trunked and conventional systems, Motorola analog and mixed digital systems, narrow and wide EDACS, LTR, Conventional and phase 2 TDMA systems so there is not much it wont do. Note that it cannot decrypt encrypted communications or receive blocked frequencies such as cellular systems. When the scanner finds something it displays a lot of useful information. I have it plugged into a power strip that has USB charging ports and it charges fine while in use. The only reason that I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is that the Sentinel software is a bit lacking in capability - they could do better. Overall I am very pleased with the unit and would recommend it to others, especially those that dont want to spend a lot of time programming frequencies manually.

Upgraded the rating to four stars after investing in a super antenna and learning how to use this scanner. The lack of supplied antenna quality and an operators manual drops the rating one star. The real key for me was the use of the sentential software and the use of custom user database or favorites. This allows me to load only the frequency/ agencies that I need without the extra frequency alacations the standard database loaded. The use of the Target frequencies makes this scanner much faster, almost as fast as the analog scanners that I have. The addition of a good antenna will made a world of difference in the quality sound, went from garbled sound to reviving crystal clear sound. I have owned scanners since the late seventies and this by far is the worst scanner I have ever owned. This scanner has terrible reception and sound, entering zip code does nothing, reducing the range does nothing. Don’t waste your money on this scanner. The scan speed is so slow that my 17 year old Radio Shack scanner picks up the channel 3 seconds before this scanner locks on. I have no idea how this scanner got all of the 4 and five star ratings with such terrible performance.

Touch controls are excellent. Really like zip code programming off of my computer using downloaded s/w from Uniden. Having a computer is important. Charging and Non-Charging mode is harder than it needs to be… Mobile use needs a special mount.

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.

The listing on Amazon says just put in your zip code and its ready to go. That is so misleading, and when I tried to comment on Amazon where it asks to let them know if the description is wrong, the send link wont send. Also the description does not say for PCs, you will need additional support for MACs. You dont have a clue until you are told it will take nearly $300 to program it! Since we are a MAC household, we have no ability to do so, and the Sentinel software that will supposedly help says they have no intention of making a MAC-compatible software. I planned on taking this with me when I go camping but right now, it would just be useless dead weight to carry. STOP saying how easy it is to use and NOT informing people right up front that it is a PC product and how expensive it will be to get it programmed. My ancient Radio Shack scanner works better than this.

This scanner works perfectly with our police stations new digital format. The touchscreen is very easy to use and navigate. The sound and radio display is excellent! I had some difficulty in entering the zip code and receiving any transmittion. The set up wasnt as easy as I thought it would be. I took it to a local ham radio operator and he had it working in 5 minutes. Not sure what I was doing wrong, but that was my only area I had issues with. I thought it was open box, put in zip code and your good to go. Not quite that easy. I researched lots of scanners and so glad I went with this model now that I had someone program it for me. The one negative is it does not come with a charger and need to order that separately.

I received this and set it up and it worked perfectly for about 2 weeks. Then it stopped working completely. I contacted them and set up a return and replacement. I am waiting on the replacement to show up. If it works and does not go dead on me, I would give this a 5 star rating. Till I can see the results of the replacement, I cant. For the time it did work, it worked really well. Tracked all my local agencies as well as civil and military air in the area. It also tracked all the train traffic in my area. Easy to set up and get running. Dissapointed with the replacement as it was missing the stand and was an apparent return, not a new unit. Was programed for wisconsin, not from a virgin state. Lowered my rating on this seller.