I received and set up my Uniden HP-2 scanner yesterday.

Let me tell you, after trying out a couple of scanners 15 -20 years ago, this one is so easy by comparison.

You just put in the zip code, or the name of your town, or your coordinates, and any stations within 10 or 20 miles will be scanned. Then you can easily weed out the less useful ones.

I got this model to use as an "appliance", not a as a hobby. I will use it as an info gathering tool so I can know what is going on around me in the event of a local or regional disaster, be it an ice storm or forest fire (the most likely "disasters" in this area") or something worse.

I won't be spending weeks and months "honing my skills" on it. I got it so I can make it useful in the least amount of time.

It's perfect for that.

Expensive ... maybe ... but you do get your monies worth. I have had this radio for about 2 years now and have showed it to many people in my area who tell me they wish they could listen to police channels again. They tell me that the police now encrypt everything and you can't listen to them anymore. Well imagine their surprise when I say "Oh really?" and turn on my HP2! Yes LEO folks do encrypt some channels and this unit will not of course decrypt them. What it will do is digital trunking and do it well with very easy programming. I enjoyed adding the "Extreme Upgrade" software upgrade that because I am a ham radio operator I found easy to use and worth it.

I would suggest that before anyone buys the Extreme Upgrade they review some Youtube videos showing you what it does because not everyone would need it or perhaps even understand what it does.

One thing that EVERYONE should have is the Sentinel program software that is free and requires no additional cable or hardware.
That software makes creating favorite lists easy and will even let you modify the Alpha names of the frequencies you have in your favorites list.

If you have any doubts about performance you can find plenty of HP2 owners who have put videos on Youtube.

The battery icon is useless; it either has power or it's battery low. I'm not sure if the battery icon was ever intended to show "status" like on your phone. Also, it takes 14 hours or more to charge and the useful battery time you get out of it is way less then that before you have to charge again. Unlike a phone you charge for an hour and can use for a day or two. The radio itself is very useful and is fantastic. Just keep it near a live power source at all times.

Bought this for my husband and he really LOVES it. Scanner technology has really come a long way over the years. This unit could not be easier!

Biggest complaint is if you want full access to its features you have to pay 50$ more once you own it. Decent scanner. But I can't stress enough that your area determines a scanners functionality. I rate this the best out of the other 4 I've purchased and returned due to low performance. 4 because hidden and pricey software upgrades. (Not required) but will peak your interests