Digital Trunking

Love this scanner! Background: Have been into scanners for about 40 years or so. Worked in Fire/Rescue and Law Enforcement for the better part of 25 years. Some of my favorite scanners in the past have been the 246T, the 346XT, the 396XT and the Radio Shack Pro 668 which I did the Legacy upgrade to with Whistler.. My current scanners prior to the 325P2 that I used regularly were the 396XT and the Pro-668. When I got the 325P2 I programmed it real quick using Freescan. This unit picks up signals clearer than my older 2 scanners. Speaker on the 325P2 is way better than any scanner I've ever had in the past and I've had a lot. I like the form factor. As others have noted it only takes two AA batteries but I found that with fully charged batteries I get several hours worth of use out of it. Just have an extra spare set of batteries and rotate them out and that problem is solved. I would not recharge batteries inside scanner. Of course this style of scanner is very difficult for most people to program. I think that's why people get frustrated and return these units so frequently. There are a lot of videos out there on how to program this scanner with Freescan.On a side note, when the scanner was on sale for Black Friday week it was going for $322. Amazon ended up selling out of new scanners at that price. I took a huge chance and bought a used one under the Amazon Resale Program. I chose one in Like New condition, which according to their policy means that the unit should be pristine and everything that it originally comes with is included and that means the original box as well although the Box may be slightly damaged. The return policy is the normal 30 days as it is for any other type of purchase on Amazon so I gave it a chance. The original price for my purchase was $315 but then they knocked off 20% because it was a used unit which brought it down to about $250. When I got the delivery it was missing the original box which I kind of wanted in case I ever sell it in the future when a new scanner comes out that I want. I got a hold of Amazon and they took another $30 off so I got this scanner for $220 and everything was brand new. The scanner had never been programmed and every single accessory was still in the original Uniden packaging as well as the scanner. Not a mark on it. I was very very happy with this particular role of the dice. I briefly thought of getting the SDS100 which I'm sure is a fine scanner but there was just something that wouldn't let me spend $650 plus tax on that scanner. For the deal I got on the 325P2 I am super happy!

There are not a lot of choices out there for P25 Phase II handheld scanners, but when I decided to get back into the hobby and discovered my old Radio Shack Pro-94 could no longer pickup most of the transmissions in my area, most of what I wanted to monitor had moved to P25, it was time to invest in a new scanner.One of the major groups I wanted to monitor used P25 Phase II, which greatly limited my choices for scanners, there are not a lot of scanners in this space that were not terribly expensive. After a bit of research I chose the BCD325P2, as a good mid-range P25 Phase II capable scanner.Many reviews state this scanner is nearly impossible to program, I have to disagree. If you are more familiar with the older bank-style programming, then yes, it is different and you do have to think differently when programming this scanner, but once you wrap your head around the System/Site/Group/Channel hierarchy this scanner uses, it is actually not bad at all to program it. It took me less than half an hour to enter the two major trunking systems in my area, that consisted of 4 sites with about 200 channels that I split into about 8 groups, and this was programming it by hand, not using a computer. So if you take the time to understand its method of storing systems, then you will not have any issue programming this. Yes, it has more steps to program than the Pro-94 I had before, but the flow of it is pretty easy once you understand it. So my advice is to understand the methodology of this scanner before trying to program it, you will have an easier time.The screen is crisp and easy to read in good lighting, or in darker lighting by using its backlight. the buttons all have nice solid tactile feedback as well as key beeps, you absolutely know when you have hit a button. For such a small unit, its built-in speaker was plenty loud enough for me, it does have a earphone jack for either private listening or listening in a noisier environment.The only real downside of this scanner is it chews through batteries. It uses two AA batteries, and with good alkaline batteries will last 6 to 8 hours. I would highly recommend using rechargeable batteries in this unit. It does come with two NIMH rechargeable batteries, but they are mediocre quality, I would buy a couple sets of good ones and then charge them overnight and you should get a good days listening with 2 to 3 sets that you charged overnight.The manual is pretty cryptic if you are not really familiar with scanning and the technology this scanner uses, it does pretty much cover everything, but not in the most logical way, I would say it is not written for the beginner. There are some good resources you can find online that will help you get going with this scanner.If you are looking for a good P25 Phase II handheld scanner, this unit would be very hard to beat at its price point. If you are willing to put in the effort to understand this scanner, then you will get a lot out of it.