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

I do like my scanner..I have been a Scanner enthusiast for 40 years, back when they took crystals you had to buy for an additional 5 bucks..I am from Chicago and its great if you live in a big city, Now I am in a different state, in a rural area and travel in a 150 mile radius as a 24/7 service technician so I like to catch the action...Its a little different out here as the bigger municipalities use a trunking system on a higher frequency then this particular scanner..However the stuff I can pick up is clear and I LOVE how you can hook up to you PC and program it...!

I bought this scanner based on the good reviews and fairly low price. I wanted something decent but not astronomical in price, but not cheep either. I have hardy been able to use it. I have tried so many different rechargeable batteries it isnt funny and NONE of them work for more than 5 or 10 minutes before the unit starts beeping and flashing the low battery warning. I take the batteries out and test them and they ALL show fully charged. Im not using cheep batteries either. I am a photographer and use expensive batteries in my equipment and even those dont work in this thing. Regular batteries with the switch on Alkaline work fine, but Im not going to go through batteries every other week to keep the thing running. The worst part is Unidens customer service. I have submitted two warranty claims with them because apparently the didnt get the first one because I never even got so much as an automated response after filling out the form. After filing a second claim, I did get an automated response with return instructions. I questioned the return shipping policy on a warranty claim and never got a response. Then my claim was marked as closed. I have been dealing with their warranty department for months and had I known they would be so bad, I would have just returned it to Amazon... now its way too late to do that. Having been in and around the fire service all my life, I always thought Uniden to be a reputable company. Now Im not so sure.

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.

Very good device really easy to program there is a little static but good sound quality. It showed up quick everything looked great coming out of the box. One disclaimer I wish that it came with rechargeable battery in it i mean why come with a charger and not have rechargeable battery but besides that great device

I bought the Uniden BC75XLT after doing a lot of research on scanners. I bought it to use at NASCAR events. I have never used a scanner before purchading this one. It was very easy to use and set up. I felt like a pro in no time. I was listening to weather, police, fire within minutes due to the presets in this scanner. I got a list of frequencies for nascar and was able to easily program and store each frequency to correspond with the car number. I took it to a race a week ago and it worked flawlessly. I recommended it to a lot of people who are looking for scanners.

This scanner is an upgrade from my old hand-held. Since I have all the frequencies, it was extremely easy to manually key them in. The top nob lets you advance the channels so you can set up the banks as you wish. Tried to do it with the software, but it seems my computer does not recognize the scanner. So think about this - you have to type the frequencies into your computer; but you can just as quickly input them directly into the scanner. For a first time user, I would recommend to take it easy, let the scan and search find frequencies or best, input channels you seriously want and then study the instruction manual. It can also be downloaded for easier reading. Happy scanning.

I should have done my due diligence BEFORE buying this item. The equipment works well enough BUT the laws have changed dramatically since I was a kid. Most police agencies now use only encrypted vehicle-to-vehicle transmission. Seems like many emergency crews (fire and rescue, marine and air too) are going the same route. So not much traffic to pick up. No longer possible to listen in on the day-to-day chatter among police or fire crews in my area. (Southern California). Before YOU buy this unit, Google the frequencies in your area so you know how many are encrypted ... its likely that you wont be able to pick up much real-time emergency chatter anymore either.

Like the product.

Just opened the box and there is considerable corrosion in battery compartment. We will see if it works and have contacted the seller.

Did not come with an ac charger... eats batteries after only an hour or two....