Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a newbie, so this is written from that point of view to help anyone who may have also never owned a scanner. Forgive the length but I've tried to include things I wasn't sure about when I was shopping. First, I suggest going back to read some of the early reviews. Those are what I read during the summer of 2012 when I was shopping. After playing with the iPhone scanner radio apps, I thought it'd be fun to have a "real" one that gives you control and that allows you to hear ALL the local law enforcement and EMS channels. From what I've read in these reviews and on scanner forums, those who have no experience (like me) as well as those who have decades of experience with many scanners, all can get frustrated with these advanced, programmable radios. The most valuable thing I can say here is this: Be patient. As mentioned in an earlier review, this model is not plug-and-play. No, the manual isn't the most user-friendly read. No, there are few computers today with serial ports. But there are solutions. There is much help online for navigating this thing that will help you get started regardless of the manual. I believe others have mentioned this website: radioreference.com. It's a world of help. You've got info on local frequencies, an overview of different makes and models, forums with experienced people who are willing to answer questions and even help with going into Windows to troubleshoot cases of your computer and scanner not communicating. Before I ordered the radio, I took a few days and read through quite a bit of that website. Doing that prepared me more than anything else for when I eventually took it out of the box. I'm sure there are other sites out there...this just seems to be the one that comes up most often. There's a free and a paid membership option. It's not a huge outlay of money ($15/6 months, $30/year). If you're going to spend hundreds of dollars for this radio, I'd recommend going with the paid membership for at least a few months to help get started. It'll give you access to download the database of frequencies for your area. That's a huge shortcut. To download that database into your radio, you'll need software. There are several out there, including a free one that I've been using, Freescan. It'll let you control and program this from your PC. That's another shortcut and much easier (as opposed to programming it directly from the radio's keypad). Back to the serial port issue: Your modern PC probably doesn't have them. If you're going to spend several hundred dollars on this radio, the $15-$30 for a Serial/USB adapter isn't a huge deal. In all of the complaints I've read concerning this radio, this is the easiest problem to solve. To me, it's the same thing as having to buy an HDMI cable to hook up a video component to your TV. I'd like to say it's going to go smoothly from the get-go but you might run into issues. When those come up, you're going to have to be patient. This receiver is not simple but that doesn't make it a bad receiver. When setting mine up, I had to step away for a few minutes when I became frustrated and then come back with fresh eyes. But once you've set up the frequencies you want, you're done. I've owned it for about six months and have enjoyed hours listening to local calls, from responses to people barricading themselves inside their homes to weather-related accidents. The iPhone app I mentioned earlier...I only thought I was hearing a lot of stuff. Now I'm not limited to what frequencies those apps provide. I live in a small metro with two cities in two different counties. I now hear two sheriff's depts., two police depts. and two fire/EMS depts. That's not to mention the airport, municipal and industrial radio traffic that's out there. Generally, when I see one of the local TV stations make a Facebook post about a situation, I can turn this thing on, hear it in real time and learn much more than from news reports. I've also taken it on the road and plugged it into the cigarette lighter. It's a great alternative when you get tired of listening to music while driving. One last thing. I live in an apartment but I went ahead and bought a small, outdoor antenna with my radio order. I made a quick trip to a local supply house and bought a short mast and tripod stand to set it up on the balcony. The included antenna is adequate but the small, external antenna made a world of difference. You'll want to pay attention to detail and make sure you buy any coax-to-radio adapter you might need (if one is not included with the antenna). Radio, antenna, adapters, website membership...it's not cheap but if you like this kind of thing, I think you'll find it worth the money. Since this is my first scanner, I don't have anything to compare it to. But I'll tell you that with my little setup, the reception and audio are both great and I feel like it's giving me everything that's available to the public in my area.