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

Awesome scanner. I have a portable scanner that I used for my house, but had to take it apart to take it with me since I keep it plugged in to keep the batteries charged. I decided to buy one for the house and one for mobile. My first impression was that I had the best scanner already and this would offer me nothing new. Boy, was I wrong. I get channels I never received before from all over the state. Its also mobile too, which means I can take it with me on trips if I want. Yes, its a learning curve to master all of the features that it offers, but the upgrade was well worth whatever effort I have to put forth to learn how to use all of the available features. Id definitely recommend this scanner to anyone looking for a permanent scanner for their home.

I don’t know if it’s the nationwide database update that’s not getting loaded or this scanner is too weak to pull in the signal for the regional phase 2 agencies, but So far I am only able to get the same old frequencies that I can get on my 15 year old scanner. Thinking about sending it back! So far NOT worth the price.

Number one, you dont just enter your zip code and away you go unless you just want to listen to every possible transmission source. I received a lot of transmissions i didnt want to hear so i had to make favorite lists and only have those scanned. Included instructions werent that detailed so i played with it until i figured it out myself. (Yes i know i can go online and find a manual). Number two the included antenna is almost useless. Im in a large suburban area but i usually have 0 bars lit up. Now i have to buy a larger antenna. I read a number of other people have the same problem and are buying the same antenna as me. They should include a good antenna for the $400+ dollars this unit costs. I also had a Uniden BCD996XT I programmed operating nearby and it received many more transmission signals with its larger antenna than did this HomePatrol. Hopefully when my antenna gets here Ill find i no longer own a $400+ paperweight.

Fantastic. First impression was when I opened the smaller than expected box. There were two complex cardboard shapes with everything slipped into carefully designed spaces inside the folds. (I am impressed when someone takes the time to design a simple thing like packaging. I believe this indicates an overall high level of quality that permeates down to the internals of the product.) I installed the four rechargeable AA batteries and found it to be pre-charged to a useable level. I fiddled for a while then plugged it into a USB charger overnight. (The red CHARGE light never did turn green, but the onscreen battery indicator was a solid green.) I got out the quick start guide and dove in. I plugged the included USB cable in my PC and selected NO on the Start Charging screen. This is clever: if you choose YES it accepts a charge current off the USB cable, as one might expect. If you select NO, the PC sees a flash drive with a SETUP folder! I went through the setup process and watched it load the scanners interactive software onto my PC, which downloaded the latest firmware and national+state frequency database. I read up on the use of this software and then loaded the profile from the scanner. I reset my location (zip code) and the services I wanted it to scan. I tweaked the volume, squelch, etc. and saved the profile back to the scanner. (All this can be done on-screen, but its much easier with the PC software.) I held down the power switch for a second or two and it came to life. Im too new at this product to judge yet, but I spent some time fiddling with the attenuation and range controls to get it to find what I wanted to listen to. Ive been learning the HOLD and AVOID functions by trial and error. Im going to read the owners manual (also loaded onto my PC) soon, but Im having too much fun for now. Overall, this is a really sophisticated scanner that comes with local PC software support, which uses an Internet connection to keep the frequency database up to date for me. Ive had scanners before. The early ones required me to use a book to keep my frequencies up to date. Later many of the radio systems went to trunk and digital modes that my little scanner couldnt handle. When the police and news helicopters were nearby over some incident, it was nearly impossible to find out what was happening. That scanner, as nice as it was, sat in a drawer for many years. This one, however, looks like it will prove to be a lot more interesting and informative. And when we go to the local small airport restaurant for lunch, we will be able to monitor aircraft and tower conversations while we watch the takeoffs and landings. The old scanner didnt support that mode.

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.

Fantastic. First impression was when I opened the smaller than expected box. There were two complex cardboard shapes with everything slipped into carefully designed spaces inside the folds. (I am impressed when someone takes the time to design a simple thing like packaging. I believe this indicates an overall high level of quality that permeates down to the internals of the product.) I installed the four rechargeable AA batteries and found it to be pre-charged to a useable level. I fiddled for a while then plugged it into a USB charger overnight. (The red CHARGE light never did turn green, but the onscreen battery indicator was a solid green.) I got out the quick start guide and dove in. I plugged the included USB cable in my PC and selected NO on the Start Charging screen. This is clever: if you choose YES it accepts a charge current off the USB cable, as one might expect. If you select NO, the PC sees a flash drive with a SETUP folder! I went through the setup process and watched it load the scanners interactive software onto my PC, which downloaded the latest firmware and national+state frequency database. I read up on the use of this software and then loaded the profile from the scanner. I reset my location (zip code) and the services I wanted it to scan. I tweaked the volume, squelch, etc. and saved the profile back to the scanner. (All this can be done on-screen, but its much easier with the PC software.) I held down the power switch for a second or two and it came to life. Im too new at this product to judge yet, but I spent some time fiddling with the attenuation and range controls to get it to find what I wanted to listen to. Ive been learning the HOLD and AVOID functions by trial and error. Im going to read the owners manual (also loaded onto my PC) soon, but Im having too much fun for now. Overall, this is a really sophisticated scanner that comes with local PC software support, which uses an Internet connection to keep the frequency database up to date for me. Ive had scanners before. The early ones required me to use a book to keep my frequencies up to date. Later many of the radio systems went to trunk and digital modes that my little scanner couldnt handle. When the police and news helicopters were nearby over some incident, it was nearly impossible to find out what was happening. That scanner, as nice as it was, sat in a drawer for many years. This one, however, looks like it will prove to be a lot more interesting and informative. And when we go to the local small airport restaurant for lunch, we will be able to monitor aircraft and tower conversations while we watch the takeoffs and landings. The old scanner didnt support that mode.

well i got this after reading all the super reviews ,it took me a while to pull trigger because of high price tag yes its touch screen and all works real easy ,first of all the batteries took about 18 hours to charge dont ask me why ,i was beginning to think something was wrong ,but finally got it going ,i watched all the u tube videos about it ,its easy to use nice clear sound .and thank god i got one station of my local police dept. so i do have what i was looking for ,this scanner is a lot of scanner with a million channels but again you really can only listen to one channel at a time any way ,so to have it scanning and not locked in is nerve racking because you only are getting bits and pieces of scans, 1. the bad thing is batteries level icon in the upper right conner never shows the true level it shows fully charge all the time ,until you start getting a beeping noise that warns you your batteries are about to die ,so back to 14 hours of charging . 2. i had to buy ac charger to charge the batteries /rather than i believe is to leave plugged into computer as it suppose to be i quess. 3. ever time you turn it on you have to go look for your local station that you enjoy listen to ,it reloads all the entire base of stations in the zip code you loaded . 4. dont understand why there isnt a way to lock it into a fav station that it will go to when you power it up . so if i had to buy again i would never spend this kind money my old hand held scanner so much easier .

This is my first scanner. Needed digital and analog for local police and fire. 22 miles from Boston and I can pick up Cambridge, Boston, MSP and local. Results may vary, its radio, and depends on line of sight and propagation. I really like the touch screen, if I want to lock on a channel when it is broadcasting, all I have to do is tap. Used Sentinel software to make favorites lists to cut down on scanning time. I was able to add my own custom FRS/GMRS channels including CTCSS tones. The home patrol unit has a quick frequency monitor feature that you can punch in manually via the touchscreen, or use Sentinel to edit your favorites lists. You can run it on power via microusb, or rechargeable battery. Battery lasts about 8 hours of continuous use, 14 hour recharge time, based on mAH entered into the options menu.

Did not come with a USB cable. Scanner did pick up county and state traffic, but I wanted it for my city. My city is in the list and it would pick them up sometimes, but after comparing it with the free online phone app scanners, I was not getting 90% of the city traffic. I know it worked because it was picking up some traffic, but in order for me to keep it I would want it to pick up almost all.of it...for the price. Anyhow, the missing USB cable, antenna was odd as it didnt swivel to point in the direction I wanted, and inability to pick up the traffic is why I decided to return this unit. I would have kept it if it was cheaper, but for the price it needs to be better.

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.