I picked up the Bearcat 880 wanting something that wouldn't fight me on programming, and that's exactly what I got. The 7-color LCD is genuinely nice to look at — big numbers, backlit controls, easy to find channel and squelch settings without squinting at tiny labels.
The color display is the headline feature, and indoors or at night it looks great. Where it struggles is direct sunlight — there are times mid-day, depending on the angle, where the screen washes out and gets genuinely hard to read. Not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing if you're running this in a truck cab that gets a lot of sun through the windshield.
This is where the 880 actually shines. Channel numbers are easy to see, and stepping through channels or setting up PA/CB switching didn't require digging through a manual. If you've fought with a cluttered, tiny display on a cheaper radio before, this is a real upgrade.
Audio is clear on both ends — transmissions come through clean and receive audio is easy to understand, even in a noisy cab. It's not the richest, loudest audio I've heard out of a CB, but it's clear and reliable, which is what actually matters on the road.
I haven't had to lean on this heavily, but when I did reach out, Uniden's support was responsive and actually helpful — not just a canned response. Worth something when you're trusting a radio on long hauls.
For the price, the Bearcat 880 is a solid pick. The color screen and easy programming make day-to-day use genuinely pleasant, and the audio and support back it up. Sunlight glare on the display is the one real knock against it — everything else holds up.
Still a solid choice for any CB enthusiast. The sunlight glare is the one real gripe, everything else about it — the programming, the audio, the support behind it — holds up.