Customer Reviews

Uniden BC80XLT Fully Programmable 11-Band Handheld Scanner

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this machine at a discount store new about 4 years ago, and its served me well in rural Wyoming. However, if you'll need more than 50 channels (or rather 30-40, if you keep a bank open for searching and a bank open for listening to unidentified frequencies like I do), its probably not for you.

It's rugged, doesn't drain batteries too quickly, and the features are easy enough to use. You'll want to replace the rubber duck antenna with something else for increased range.

That being said, it's an older machine (these were produced in 1995, I believe), so they don't have a lot of features that are necessary if you're in a larger metropolitan area where things have gone digital and trunked. It only has the afore mentioned 50 channels, and 5 priority channels. These simply won't be enough if you're somewhere where there are multiple agencies you want to listen to (this isn't a problem in rural Wyoming. I've got 7 programmed in my first bank and 6 programmed in my second bank, leaving me three banks to search/log/listen with).

Overall, if you can get this cheap, it'd be an okay starter machine to get into scanning with, assuming there's something worth listening to on a conventional system. Otherwise, save up the bucks and buy a more current machine (something I plan to do soon).

If 50 memories is enough and you don't need digital this is a good basic scanner.
It has a bit of a learning curve if you've never programmed a Uniden scanner before otherwise it's straight forward.

Features I would appreciate is a way to keep the light on especially when on external power and alphanumeric ability so you could describe what you're listening too rather than just seeing the frequency.

Otherwise it seems like a solid scanner.