Uniden BC346XT Handheld TrunkTracker III Analog Police Scanner

We don't need a 400 page manual that takes hours to read. We just want to know how to use it. The manual is very unorganized as if a bunch of random information was plopped on it for no apparent reason. it doesn't tell you HOW to do anything, even how to scan anything. Now we're going to have to spend money getting extra software and a real, working cable instead of the worthless one that came with it.

This product is not user friendly in any way and my husband is an experienced programmer. This is not "rocket science'. The instructions should give no a no-brainer way to program. Clearly Uniden is sending jobs to India and China instead of having it made in the US by Americans. If they kept the jobs here, there would be some common sense. There is none.

I expect better from Uniden. I'm almost tempted to return it for a refund.

I spent 6 hours trying to program the thing......called the help line and was told it's too complicated to try and do over the phone.....

No printed instructions. Let's face it, most people just want to punch in the local frequencies, but you can't do it without going through a sequence of hundreds, yes hundreds, of multiple function/button sequence depressions.

Speaking of depressions.....save your money, don't buy this piece of junk and don't get depressed.

A very elaborate and capable analog scanner at a great price. If you are a novice (like me) the complexity is a little overwhelming but with persistence you can overcome the complexity. The User Manual is on a CD and Website based so you need to be on your computer while learning how to program and operate the scanner. If you have experience with another scanner, I think you will find this one easy to use and full of features and a vast amount of memory...

This is a great scanner, with very good specs, has a nice, small form-factor, and works reliably.

I concur with the positives in the other, previous reviews.

But I've got a couple of gripes, for which I knocked one star off the rating: (these are not deal-breakers, but just things to be aware of)

1. The included rechargeable batteries are just a bit too large in diameter for the battery cover to fit properly (the cover sort of "bulges" out). More of an annoyance at this point, but I'm concerned that it could possibly break eventually, requiring me to find a replacement cover. (Using AA batteries does not cause this problem, the cover fits just fine with them).

2. The arrangement and organization of the owner's manual is very poor in my view. It's not printed, which may surprise some buyers, personally I'd prefer it printed, but I understand the economics of releasing it only online/on included CD. But sorry, the manual is VERY POORLY arranged. I'm an experienced radio guy, just not with Uniden brand products. But I still am getting frustrated trying to find stuff. I would much prefer a PDF style manual, where typefaces, spacing, white space, etc. can be combined to communicate point much more effectively. Is this a big deal? Well probably not a deal-breaker, once you/I figure out how the various features work, we won't need the manual much, but it's a royal pain until then. You may have friends who can help you out on this, which may make this irritation not too big a deal for you.

3. This scanner does have a LOT OF CAPABILITY, including some really cool features, as a result, most keys have multiple functions, some (again, my personal opinion) are not as well thought out as I would prefer, ie not intuitive.

But overall, it's a good unit. My gripes are probably not deal-breakers, and keeping in mind the price, it's a worthwhile purchase. If you're experienced with Uniden products, you might not have any trouble at all figuring out how to use it, perhaps even not needing the manual, but if you're like me, just be prepared for a learning curve longer than you might otherwise expect.

First Of All The Picture Is A Little Misleading,,Amazon Has The Picture Of The BCD 396XT Pictured,,As The BC346XT..The 346XT Is All Black..and is Analog,,,the 396XT is the digital version..Back to the review,,,Ive had The 346XT Now 3 Weeks, Works Great..Has Lots Of Features That I Will Probably Never Use,But Good To Have For The Pro User..Ive Had Good Luck With Uniden Scanners In The Past,,Is Why I Got This One,,I Would Recommend Downloading (Freescan) By The Way it is Free Programming software. And Some Research from,[...].,,makes programming a breeze,,I Set Up,,County,City,State,& Utility's,,and uploaded them in less than 10 minutes,that is if you have a PC...Happy Scanning :)