Although it does receive a very wide range of the radio spectrum and does in fact scan if desired, it’s not a scanner in the traditional sense of the word. As many have already stated here, this is NOT a scanner so please don’t buy it thinking you can use it as such. I don’t have any electronic gadgets to show numbers and figures of what it can do but I can say it’s the finest receiver I've ever owned. However, one must bear in mind this is an older receiver design and as dated as it is there are still new units being sold at the end of 2012, which say’s a lot about any receiver with a production run that long. There are many things to say about the R8500 but I’ll start by saying it does everything the specs say it does. It’s been a real winner with me and I plan on keeping my Icom IC-R8500 indefinitely. I have wanted to try one of these receiver for many years now and a few months ago I finally decided to just go for it and buy a used model for a price I knew I would be a able to recover my costs if I just didn't like it. I've been missing this kind of receiver performance for years, now I have it it's staying. The radio has every feature I could want & then some. I can only assume my 8500, which is a late model either came from the factory this way or maybe it's had the LED display mod done. There is no evidence of bulbs being used on my example & the factory default setting, which is called bright is fine, even in a darkened room. It is not the simplest receiver to get to grips with, especially the memory system but I'll figure it out in time! I have seen complaints from users on here about the bulbs that illuminate the display being almost visible if you look down or up at the display & either being too bright or too dim. Having used it for a while now, mainly on MW & SW I realise what a sensitive receiver it is. A short while ago I bought a used example at a sensible price which apparently had little use & looked like it had just come out of the factory, not a mark on it anywhere. I had always wanted one of these receivers but the cost was out of my radio budget.

Icom r8500 receiver