Bearcat BC60XLT-1 Handheld Scanner with 30 Channels and 10 Bands

I've owned this scanner for a couple years now and it's been reliable and trouble-free. In the San Francisco Bay Area I get a variety of signals: several police dispatch, security companies, ambulance, taxi, ham, even a neighbor's baby monitor. It has proven to be very sturdy (it's been dropped on a few occasions), and the ability to recharge batteries inside the unit (using the AC adaptor) is a nice feature.

This is a basic, entry-level scanner. It has a lot of nice features and the price is low. This is by far the most popular scanner used at NASCAR race tracks. Fans can listen in to the conversations between the pit crews and drivers. If that's all you want, then this radio fits the bill perfectly. It's VERY light weight, and runs a long time on a few AA batteries. If you buy recharable Ni-Cads, the radio can charge them without having to take them out and place them in a seperate changer. I've owned many Uniden products over the years. Never had any problems. That said......

If you want a scanner to listen to your local police, fire, ambulance, etc... This scanner >MIGHT< not be the one for you. This scanner only goes up to 512 Mhz. Many, many emergency services have gone up to 800 Mhz, with sophisticated "trunking" services. Bottom line, this radio can't receive them. To be sure, you should do a search through Google. Try "police frequencies" + (your town or county.) Google should return numerous sites that will show you if your local frequencies are in range of this radio.

Besides the above, you can listen in to aircraft, some Coast Guard operations, trains, taxis, who knows what else.

This is a very nice scanner for the price.