Uniden Bearcat BC125AT Handheld Scanner, 500-Alpha-Tagged Channels, Close Call Technology, PC Programable, Aviation, Marine, Railroad, NASCAR, Racing, and Non-Digital Police/Fire/Public Safety.

Like all cheap electronics this scanner has convoluted cryptic programming. It has those annoying multiple function keys that force you to do all manner of key pressing. You know the routine, press 1 then 4, then 5 which turns the 8 key into enter, but if you press 1 then 5, then 4, the 8 key becomes a delete key. In this case, you have to press and hold the HOLD key, enter a channel number, then press E (for enter). There is no acknowledgement of your entry. If you make a mistake entering any data, your only option is to clear the entire entry and start over, so you had better get it right the first time. If you are lucky enough to program your channel, you cannot simply go on to the next, you have to exit, then start all over from scratch. By the way, the instruction manual does not tell you that the volume key is used to scroll through the menu, as well as scroll through the alphabet when you enter labels for the channels. Speaking of the volume knob, it serves three separate functions depending on how many times you press it, and as usual there is no indication of what mode it is in, you just have to rotate it and see what happens. I programmed a few channels to scan interesting frequencies at Fort Lauderdale Airport. When I was finished, I pushed the scan button, and nothing happened except for a message that said all channels were locked out. I returned to the set-up menu and scrolled down to the unlock all channels and selected it. Still nothing. In other words, I now have a $115 chunk of useless plastic cluttering my house. This is definitely not a user-friendly device, so you had better keep the user manual within easy reach if you expect to use this scanner in the future. The only problem with that plan is that the user manual really sucks. It explains how to do the basic set up (sort of) But it offers no help if you want to change any settings once programmed, for that you are on our own using trial and error. As for me, it is winging its way back to Amazon as I write this review. I am not looking to learn a whole new programming language just to use what should be a simple scanner.

Works well but user interface is not logical. Old type of NiMH batteries. LCD backlight uses old fashioned power consuming LEDs.

I have tried to install software But it didn’t work on two different computers. It gets as far as choosing the USB port and the drop down bar is empty.

it took 4 of us (one is a phd teacher, one an Army mechanic, one with a degree) and a nerd to figure out we dont understand this at all, and returned it. I wanted a turn this on, watch it scan for emergency transmissions and go. NOPE, not this. Does not do that. Need to program it somehow.

It is suppose to be good, and You Tube video on it shows it in action. I obtained my refurbished in Canada and it came less a wrist strap but that is easy to fix at any camera store. Also any camera power plug you have with a USB port on it will charge this up off the wall socket and it has protection circuitry in it any way if you get the one that is to high up on the volts. Bad news so far there is no Macintosh software updater on it and it is best you use a PC to get the Uniden driver sorted out properly. I have not started it at all and there is some indication it will not work until you set it up on your PC first .. or wait till you get access to a PC to set it up with the driver download on the USB port. Once UNIDEN gets this worked out for Macintosh computers then it get 5 stars. I use it for the neighborhood watch as we do not have many cops in my county and the neighbors look out for each other for the most part. Lots of theft going on here apparently as there are lots of addicts in full drug mode.

This is my 3rd bearcat scanner. This is a very portable scanner and works well. Ive had a scanner since I was 14 and Im 63 now. You cannot pick up all the police and fire frequencies with this scanner.

Is a decent analog radio

This is my first venture into scanning, so I didnt want to spend to much out of the chute. After reading many reviews here this seemed a safe bet. This is a durable unit with a clear readable screen and wait for it...........fairly darn easy to use. Well, my experience with it was fairly easy. Dont think for a minute if you have never used a scanner you are going to popped the batteries in and turn it on an be amazed, there is some leg work up front. Other reviews here warned me the manual would be useless, cant confirm this as I never bothered to open the manual. Went right to the Uniden website for the programming software and the usb driver. Here is where things got a little rough, the programming software was a breeze to install, when I plugged my scanner into the usb port I never got a driver prompt screen. Soooooo, some google searches and youtube searches and I managed to directly drop the driver ini file in the right spot. Still could not connect the programming software to the unit, another search and I found under the tools menu in the software a button for device manager and made the connection. A little convoluted, but not overly bad if you are a tad computer savvy. Found all my local frequencies on the radioreference site, started filling int he columns on the software and sent them to the scanner. Hit the scan button and I was off to the races. Volume is ample, locking out is quick and easy if needed. If you want to manually program this unit without the software, plenty of helpful people on youtube have posted some great tutorials. This has been a very positive first experience with a very nice unit, I would recommend to anyone interested in dabbling.

PROS: Its a lot of scanner for the money. Battery life is about 7-8 hours before it needs recharged. Audio quality is good considering the size of the speaker. Signal sensitivity with the supplied antenna is good. The alpha tagging is awesome. The fit and finish are excellent. The display is excellent. CONS: The owners manual does not do an adequate job of getting the new owner over the initial learning hump needed to setup the scanner. Im a ham radio operator with plenty of experience setting up new radios, yet it took me well over an hour before I became proficient at programming channels and tagging them. Once learned though its dead easy. Programming hints: Any channel that has not been assigned a frequency becomes, by default, locked out. New out of the box the scanner will display a all channels locked out message because you havent yet assigned a frequency to a channel. There is nothing wrong with your scanner. The hold button acts somewhat the same as a manual button on other scanner in that it stops the scanner on a single channel when it is scanning. Once stopped on that channel, use the volume knob to scroll through the channels. In that manner. press the hold button to access the channel you want to add the frequency to. Press Func followed immediately by the PrgE key. Use the volume knob to scroll to enter frequency. Press the PrgE key again. Enter the freq using the keypad numbers. Press PrgE again. Now the radio receiver has a frequency to scan. There is no Menu button. The menu of available actions is spread out among those keys that have secondary red lettering. To access that portion of the menu found on the red lettering keys you must push the Func immediately prior to pushing the red lettering keys. Then use the volume knob to scroll through the available actions, followed by the PrgE key to access that portion of the menu you wish to access. As clunky as my programming hints are they are more clear than the manual.

Before purchasing this scanner I read all the reviews online. I also went to the Uniden site, downloaded a pdf of the manual and read it before the scanner arrived. To save yourself time you may want to read the 9/29/13 Amazon review by Jack Sanders. I found it most helpful. To simplify setup I used alkaline batteries as well as the Service Search Mode (see Manual page 48) which allows you to search through 10 pre-programmed banks to receive all the frequencies allocated to police, ham, marine, railroad civil air, military air, CB radio, racing and other services. I live about 30 miles from a major metropolitan airport and a military base. When first using the scanner I was able to hear hams on the local repeaters, ships in the bay, military and civilian aircraft, CB radios about 15 miles away and other local radio services. The audio is very clear and the signals were quite strong using just the small antenna that comes with the scanner. I have not yet attempted to program the scanner with my PC because I am quite satisfied using the pre-programmed service banks. This is an excellent scanner for the price and a good choice for anyone interested in getting into the radio scanning hobby. While it is true that you can use a tablet or smartphone APP to access radio services across the globe, there is still a thrill for me to capture a radio transmission from a passing train, aircraft or ship. As a final tip, there are some excellent YouTube reviews of this product if you type the search words Bearcat Uniden BC125AT.