BEARTRACKER 885

I am both a scanner enthusiast and CB user. I do a lot of long-distance driving for pleasure. This unit is perfect for those drives! Turn it in and go. Simple. It works flawlessly. It’s very basic which is what I want for in car use. You can choose from any of the four services to monitor, police, fire, ambulance and DOT. One of transmissions heard one of those forwards will show on the screen. No talkgroup or frequency info. I’m fine with that. If I wanted more detail I could hook up my BCD436HP but with all the distracted driving laws the 885 makes more sense and does the job well. From what I understand it was only supposed to monitor dispatch frequencies/talkgroups but I have also been hearing TAC and TALK as well. It seems to handle encryption pretty well. If it stops unencrypted frequency most of the time it will release within two seconds. Occasionally it will stay on for the entire transmission but that is only happened a couple times. Most of the time it’s 2 seconds or less and it moves on. The audio is crisp and clear and on digital it’s exceptionally great. It’s loud enough that even with road noise you’ll be able to hear it. The GPS unit locks on pretty quickly. The CB side of this combo works great! Good RX and TX. I have no problem following the chatter on the interstate and no problem being heard. The BTW works pretty good too. It can be pretty active in an urban environment but it works. If you want a simple unit for your vehicle that picks up all the action without having to program or edit anything this will fit the bill. IF you want to be able to tweak what you hear (other than being able to select between one or all of police, fire, EMS and DOT) then this is NOT the unit for you. For me, I like the fact that I have been able to keep my 436 with me and not have to keep installing/uninstalling it in the car. Overall I’m very happy with my purchase and can’t wait to take it on a 3000 mike road trip Friday!

This device is not the perfect scanner, as other reviewers have noted compared to some of the other flagship Uniden scanners this device is limited. This device is the perfect answer to my problem: How to nicely mount and use a scanner, a CB, and a 2m/70cm radio in my Ram 2500. I could get any two mounted, but not three without opening up the dash and mounting equipment on top under the front window. I did not want to do that! In use, the scanner actually quite nice for use while driving; you don't really have time or need to know the precise agency and type of channel. It just works, and just work well. The CB is a full featured CB, lacking only a CB channel scan function to be just about perfect (oh, wait, I wish it had SSB too!) So: If you want the perfect scanner, buy a Uniden BCD536HP (that's the scanner I replaced in my truck) - full featured, full details about what you are listening to, and other features to discover and monitor new channels. If you want a perfect CB, buy a Uniden Bearcat 980 SSB CB (the CB I replaced), with weather, scan, and SSB for a little more range. But - if you want one darn box to mount and both a scanner and a CB in your vehicle, and you are willing to trade some scanner complexity/functionality and some CB functionality for a relatively bulletproof, easy to use bit of kit... get this!

I only really use the scanner in bad weather conditions. It lets me hear the plows as well as LEO, so I am often aware of issues long before I get to the area. Love my Beartracker!

You can load your scanner frequencies via SD card from your computer and upload them to the unit with the card. Uniden says the frequency list is updated every week. You can also use the GPS adapter to pick up frequencies on the move. It picks up digital and analog transmissions. It just does not show the frequency on the display. The CB works well. It is a bit pricey and improvements should have been made over years, but it is a compromise unit. I would recommend it to those who have limited space.

Does everything it is made to do

Great concept, unfortunately it has major problems- 2 months after warranty expires! I have been into Uniden products since they took over Bearcat in 1976. Highly dissapointed in this one. The on/off volume/squelch knob goes out on it causing either; the radio not to turn on, or just shut off if you do get it on- no easy fix for it either. Google the reviews before buying- wish I had.

Great radio. It's not gonna replace a ($700) SDS 100 or 200 but as a P2 scanner it does well. It does much better with P2 traffic than the BCD996P2. The CB works like all UB radios, sounds good, receives good and is as good as your antenna.

High quality CB radio. Scanner feature assumes that you are driving and should not be selecting fx. This is frustrating to me as I only want to listen to railroad channels or local airport channels. You can load pre defined channels from the manufacturer but you cannot currently edit those channels. Aside from this, 10/10.

Really enjoy the easy installation and operation of this unit. Uniden has really outdone themselves this time with this model. The SD card and updating feature is a must for anyone not wanting to constantly refer to frequency guides to determine what frequencies they want to program into a radio. This unit provides a self programming action that comes across flawlessly. Great work UNIDEN!

Works great love it , unfortunately most drivers don’t use CB’s anymore . Such a good tool but becoming a forgotten tool .

Easy to tune. Picks up some police fire medics dot.

Purchased an actual antenna and picked up signals where I didn’t think I could. You can’t hear certain radio as they’re encrypted and can’t access it by law (Canada anyways) other then that it’s a great cb, compared to my old one everything has increased drastically, which I love.

Très content de mon achat !!!