I also hesitated to spend an extra $100 for the upgrade as I am not a techie and felt it would be a waste of my time. But then I got to thinking, I just spent about $500 for one of the most sophisticated scanners on the market and every time I went to the "advanced" screen I saw all those "greyed out" areas and realized this wonderful radio was not "whole."
I went ahead and purchased the extreme upgrade never knowing whether I will "master" the technology it has to offer, but I figure reading the manual and trying to understand what the upgrade has to offer is my next step in my scanning hobby. I may never master it, but at least it gives me something to strive for in the future.
While I am not a programmer, I work with many and I understand the hours of time it takes to offer a product such as the HP-1. As far as the price, maybe once Uniden has competition on this radio the price will drop, but until then, from a business perspective, why should it? The other scenario would be that Uniden drops its price on the radio and starts charging for the upgrades. I hate to be nickel and dimed on anything. I'd rather pay for it upfront and know that it is "all-inclusive." You really can't have it both ways.