The BC125AT is actually a very good scanner for the price. Most of the negative reviews were written by idiots who have no business with a scanner. One person complained it wasn't digital so it couldn't receive police and fire channels. That person should have read the specs. This is a conventional scanner for analog voice reception. If you don't understand what that means, you shouldn't buy any scanner! This scanner is for receiving conventional systems only, which means it won't receive trunked systems. This scanner is for receiving analog voice only, which means it cannot receive digital voice. If you need trunking or digital voice capability then buy the appropriate scanner type. There are still some police and fire departments using conventional systems and broadcasting in analog voice, and this scanner does an excellent job of receiving those, and it does an excellent job receiving railroad channels, commercial aircraft frequencies, and any other conventional systems using analog voice. Don't blame the scanner for your ignorance of radio communications! And BTW, aircraft frequencies use the AM mode, not the FM mode, so that is why one idiot couldn't hear aircraft. Is it difficult to program for the average layperson? Yes! Radios require a fair amount of knowledge to program. If you cannot figure out how to do it then you are the problem, not the scanner. The BC125AT is not a CB nor an AM/FM preprogrammed radio. It was designed for radio enthusists who know how to program and use it. If that describes you, then I recommend this conventional system with analog voice scanner.

I had a BC75XLT, which is also a good scanner from Uniden. But I upgraded my handheld ham radio and fell in love with the ability to assign an alphanumeric tag to each channel/frequency pair. The cheaper 75XLT allows you to assign channels to channel memory banks, but doesn't allow alpha tagging. You just have to know what the frequency means. That's hard with 100+ civilian public service frequencies. So I wanted alpha tagging for my scanner too. The 125AT displays your tag as well as the frequency and the channel memory bank. for example, I have all of Chicago PD's District frequencies and their "City Wide" frequencies labeled, so I know where the reported action is by area. As a Ham, also nice to assign the actual callsign to repeaters. Same goes for using Amtrak route labels (AAR frequency codes) out of Chicago's Union Station, since I take trains to downstate Illinois. One thing it does NOT do though is allow you to assign an alpha tag to memory bank numbers. My Yaesu ham radio HT does support that. So I just keep a reference note on my cell phone listing what category of frequencies I chose to store in each bank. This and the 75XLT are both great radios for travelers. They can search for nearby signals and you can easily add those to memory, without traveling with a list of local frequencies or looking them up online. There is also a great feature called "Service Search," which is preprogrammed to search the frequency ranges of government assigned frequencies for Ham Radio, Weather, Police, Fire, Racing, FRS, Aviation, Railroad etc. Then when you find a frequency you want, you can add it to memory. I use PC software to program it with the included USB A to USB Mini cable. You can buy software from various online sources. That makes data entry a breeze and most will support auto import of known frequencies when you put in a zip code. Also, Since this radio also supports rechargeable NiMH batteries (2 AA), I recommend you buy a AA rechargeable battery starter kit with 4 batteries and a charger included. That way you have a fresh pair to swap back in when the batteries die. It also takes disposables, but you must select alkaline versus NiMH using the tiny switch under the batteries.

Now the negatives. It's expensive and has good competition from China. The 125AT isn't waterproof or made of metal, like most Japanese handheld ham radios, so that isn't a benefit over Chinese radios and scanners, which are pretty much all plastic and not water or shock proof, like the name brand ham radios are over their Chinese competitors. So never pay full MSRP for this scanner. Also consider a cheap $30-$50 Chinese multi-band ham radio, like a Baoefeng, Remember though, unless you have the right level of ham license, you CANNOT transmit on ham radio frequencies or you will face steep fines if discovered. But they make good generic police scanners too and can be programmed from a PC, usually requiring you buy a custom cable. But they are not durable at all.

This is a pretty good scanner, insofar as the actual radio functioning is concerned. Very sensitive, and quite good signal-to-noise ratio. My only complaints so far is with the operating system / firmware functions. The radio has a very quirky operating-system, and is NOT user-friendly.

My biggest complaint on the radio is with the very short battery life on the rechargeables. It's says 2300mah, but it sure doesn't act like it. Only a few hours of use per charge.

And, as with many items these days, the owner's-manual is TERRIBLE!! Probably the worst I've ever seen. I'm only about 5% into the manual, and already have found multiple mistakes. These manufacturers should be ashamed in this regard. Be willing to venture out on your own to try to figure out how to operate this thing!! But the radio itself is (mostly) a winner.

It's a great scanner and the alpha tags are really great as it shows you what you are listening to without memorizing frequencies. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was the need to manually turn the top knob to put in the alpha tags. Going through the entire capitalized alphabet, the small letter alphabet, the various symbols and numbers 1-0 every time you want to enter a letter or number takes a great amount of patience and time. Other than that, the scanner works great and the reception is clear. The instructions were easy to understand and follow during set up. For a capacity of 500 channels and the features that this scanner has, I don't think it can be beat.

Great little scanner, nice features, very clear audio. Reception good with included antenna but can get inexpensive 20 " extendable antenna for probably even better reception. Set up easy. Programming each channel somewhat time consuming but once done you are all set. Need to get frequencies for local broadcasts which are available at radioreference.com. Many questions on scanning and programming are answered in videos available on you tube.