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

Easy to program and easy to learn, considering it was my first time using a scanner. Good amount of banks and channels you can program. Uniden provides a program you can download that makes it extremely easy to program frequencies. Great scanner for first-time users and people who just want to listen in or have an interest. There are a few problems: 1) Eats batteries like crazy 2) The viewing angle on the screen is extremely limited, so if you have it laying on a table or something similar you most likely are going to have to pick it up and look at the screen to see what channel is transmitting 3) No battery life indicator, other than beeping and a visual cue when the batteries are almost dead 4) Using the LED light that lightens the screen orange only lasts about 10 seconds before it automatically turns off. So far I havent found a way to keep it on permanently. 5) No channel names, so if you have many banks and channels you are going to have to write up an Excel spreadsheet or something similar to keep track of what channel is what. 6) The stock antenna is somewhat lacking in range. I purchased an aftermarket antenna, linked below. (

Programming the device is a bit challenging. Programming thru a connected computer may be easier, but requires purchased software. Uniden should provide the software gratis. And the scanner SHOULD be usable while charging, battery life is short. Works well, good reception here in mountain valley until recharge requires shutdown.

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!

This is my first scanner. The menu options took some getting used to and you have to read and re-read the manual a couple of times, but once you learn how to scan, search and store frequencies you are all set. Size and weight wise, it is actually smaller and lighter than what I was expecting and that is of course a good thing. I dont have any information on the range it is catching, but I can hear all the incoming airline pilots who are landing at the airport close to where i live.

I saw some reviews that described this scanner as not being able to get good reception on distant transmissions or good battery life. Well,, I get aircraft traffic from an airport 10 miles away not to mention my local airport 5 miles to the south. I have had the radio on for 3 days for 2-3 hours at a time until the low battery alert came on. This is a nice little scanner and the volume is loud at full blast. I also live in an aluminum sided mobile home and it works great inside the house too. I have not done much scanning with it as I know each frequency that I want to listen to so cannot comment on this function other than it picks up our local police just fine.

I purchased this for my Sisters Birthday. Unfortunately I ordered it in April. When she opened it yesterday on her Birthday May 30th, this will not work in our citys upgraded digital system. We are on the 700mhz digital system now and this only goes to 500mhz. My sister was a police officer and wanted a scanner to listen too calls. I am sure this is a nice scanner, but it will not work here in this Louisiana town. Please help not sure what to do now...

Basic scanner. Still love it

Love my scanner I would have given it 5 stars but I can not get it to stop making screeching noises on certain channels like someone holding the mic down other wise all calls come in clear easy set up took about 15 minutes in all and it was up and running if I can get the excess screeching to stop I will edit this and give it a 5 star rating but for those who are electronic pros you will have no trouble I would recommend this to those wanting too have one in a vehicle or like I do in my living room where there is not much room for a standard scanner it is small and does not take up much room at all. All in All this is a great scanner it even picks up care flight 30 miles away which is a plus for me.

So Far so Good! Listening to my local Tower almost right out of the box (with some reading of the directions)

Easy to program and easy to learn, considering it was my first time using a scanner. Good amount of banks and channels you can program. Uniden provides a program you can download that makes it extremely easy to program frequencies. Great scanner for first-time users and people who just want to listen in or have an interest. There are a few problems: 1) Eats batteries like crazy 2) The viewing angle on the screen is extremely limited, so if you have it laying on a table or something similar you most likely are going to have to pick it up and look at the screen to see what channel is transmitting 3) No battery life indicator, other than beeping and a visual cue when the batteries are almost dead 4) Using the LED light that lightens the screen orange only lasts about 10 seconds before it automatically turns off. So far I havent found a way to keep it on permanently. 5) No channel names, so if you have many banks and channels you are going to have to write up an Excel spreadsheet or something similar to keep track of what channel is what. 6) The stock antenna is somewhat lacking in range. I purchased an aftermarket antenna, linked below. (