List Price: $499.99
Sale Price: $439.26
Today's Bonus: 12% Off
The Uniden Home Patrol-1 is an amazing piece of technology. A touch screen scanner that requires very little user input, and has the entire US frequency database in its memory. For the most part, the HP-1 make scanning as simple as can be. You hook up the scanner to your PC, and run the Uniden Sentinel Software. The software downloads the latest frequency database from RadioReference. You upload the the database to the scanner, and you're good to go. Just enter your Zip Code, City, or GPS coordinates, and the HP-1 will scan all the agencies in your area. You can even hook up an optional GPS unit to automatically follow your location. You set the range of the scanner from 0-30 miles to limit how far away the agencies are that the scanner will attempt to scan. You can also select the type of agencies you wish to listen to. I find the "location" setting to be hit or miss. It seems to think that towns that are 40 miles from me, are actually less than 1 mile from me. It also thinks agencies in my own town are more than 10 miles away. This is due to the database, not the scanner. The database has been getting updated on a daily basis, to get it more accurate and up to date. I find that setting up your own "Favorites Lists" works well in listening to what you want to.
As for the hardware itself, the HP-1 is a very solid performer. The receiver has great sensitivity and selectivity. I've listened to APCO-25 digital systems, EDACS, and Motorola analog trunking systems. All of them were configured correctly without any user input. Audio quality is good, but not great. It is about what I expected from a very small speaker. The small SMA duck antenna performs surprisingly well, especially on UHF. The touch screen is bright and easy to use. Battery life with the included 2300mAh batteries is good. I get over 8 hours on a single charge. The scanner is capable of replaying and recording transmissions. A very cool feature. The scanner also comes with a home charger/adapter, car charger/adapter, and home stand. The stand is a nice touch. The HomePatrol-1 is a nice addition to my collection of scanners. People that don't like to program their scanners, or would like to use it in different areas, will probably enjoy it also.
Update: A few months ago, Uniden introduced a new "Extreme Upgrade" firmware update for the Home Patrol-1. They are charging $100 for this upgrade, and it adds some new features to the scanner. So basically in order for you get all the features of the Home Patrol-1, you now have to spend $600, or you'll have a crippled $500 radio. In my opinion, this is a dangerous practice. Many in the Amatuer Radio Community are outraged about this, but everyone has to decide for themselves whether or not they have an issue with this. As a matter of principle, I will not be paying another $100 for a firmware upgrade, and I lowered my rating from 5 stars to 4 stars. I will also think twice about purchasing another Uniden radio since I'll never know whether or not Uniden will be charging for future upgrades.
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