The pro 520xl features subdued modern styling and does not look like a left over from the 1970s. The controls are conviently located and easy to use while driving. A draw back, however, was the short microphone cord that took some getting used to. If you buy this or any other CB radio, do not use a "cel-phone" style glass mounted antenna. The glue on antennas look good but are very poor performers without exception. If you must use a glass mounted antenna, do not key up the microphone. The high SWR and electrical inefficiency may very well damage your new radio.

The Uniden Pro520xl, hooked up to a properly installed three foot Firestick II antenna had a 1.5:1 SWR on channels 1, 20 and 40 right out of the box. If you want to find out just how useful a CB radio can be on vacation or during the morning commute, purchase the Pro520xl.

43 of 44 found the following review helpful:

Radio is unbelievable!!!!  May 23, 2005
By Hoosier in the South "jason"
I had bought this radio at a Radio Shack store in town when we went to visit my dad in Indiana last Christmas. I had only bought it because my old Radio Shack cb I have had for about 8 1/2 years had died on me on the way there. I Bought the 520Xl and hooked it up to my SWR meter with my 3 ft Firestik antenna with magnet mount I had on the back, and right off, i never had to make an adjustment at all, because I had a SWR reading between 1:0 and 1:5. I used this radio on the way back, and was able to reach people up to 5 miles away, which was great! unfortunatly on the way back, I had to take my antenna off because everytime a semi passed us on the road, it would blow my antenna off the truck. When I got home, I took my CB to a cb shop near by and had it peaked and tuned, so now it gets 14 watts out instead of 7, and I can talk over 15-20 miles on a clear day. I did however switch antennas to a K40 3 ft antenna with adjustable sleeve that I had for years, and it works about the same. Get the radio, get you a good quality antenna like Firestik, K40, Wilson, or another good name brand. If you know somebody who can do it, get it peaked and tune, or take it to a cb shop and have them do it, and you will get somebody surely everytime you talk. Well worth the money, sorry about rambling on, but I felt if I shared experiences, it would help.

One more thing is that I know 4 truck drivers that have this CB in their trucks over a big Cobra, and they love the size and availability of the radio.

Get the Uniden 520xl, get a quality antenna, get a peak and tune if availble, and get talking!! You won't regret it.

I hope to talk to some of you soon. If you are ever on I-24 between Exit 110-121, give me a call and see if my radio is on. My handle is Hoosier in the South.

30 of 32 found the following review helpful:

Small & Rugged  Aug 23, 2003
By Christine A. Haley
The Pro520XL has been mounted in my Jeep now for several years. It has been exposed the elements and has taken a beating off road and has never had a problem.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Great, Durable CB radio  Jan 29, 2010
By A. Byrd
I have looked at many different cb radios for my truck. I was wanting one at a good price, not all of those bells and whistles that come with the high priced cb radios. I reviewed many radios and found this one to stand out in the small cb radio group because of RF gain and PA switch. I'm very happy with it. I set it up with no problems. For an antenna, i got a Wilson little wil antenna, 36" but good quality brand name. I did a radio check and a guy on his cb said i sounded good. His 10-20 was a good 7 miles away. This radio is well built and knobs feel sturdy. No weird popping sounds like others have. Squelch and RF gain works really well. Speaker volume is loud enough, i didn't need to hook up an external one. Mic cord is not that long but since i have mine mounted near my cd player, it is the right length for me.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

Great things comes in small packages.. i.e. UNIDEN PRO520XL  Dec 29, 2010
By Peter J. Kim
I have nothing bad to say about this radio except for the mic which is really really tiny, which is very hard to hold and key up normally. This radio boast excellent receive, and great modulation, amazing for a such small radio. Please, don't even think about comparing this radio to a Cobra 19DX-IV radio, it is not a comparison - UNIDEN PRO520XL will completely destroy the Cobra and ask for seconds.

It is very sturdy, and the case is metal. Knobs and switches although may be small, feels very tight and crisp. When you turn the channel, you know you're changing it with solid clicks. Green LED display is nice and bright, and so does the LED meter.

You can easily modify the final for unbelievable modulation such as the 2SC1969 FET final that are commonly used on older radios such as the UNIDEN Grant XL or the Cobra 148 GTL. But make sure you don't get the counterfit but the genuine ones. Counterfits are mostly sold on eBay and noticeably different than the original ones made by NEC. I easily tune this radio to output from stock 4W to about 7W, and with the FET conversion, close to 18-20 W. I can easily talk to people 20 miles away or more with it, incredible.

Radio is tiny compared to the radios such as Galaxy "DX" series or older UNIDEN/Cobra chassis. You can fit this radio even the tightest crevices in the car or truck. Speaker is mounted on the bottom cover just like the older radios.

A big plus: ANL, yes this radio has Automatic Noise Limiter AND RF gain control for filtering out environmental noise and to make the receive ultra quiet.

This radio, has a good enough filter that you can use cigarette ligher adaptor plug for power, you'll still get nice audio output. If you can wire it directly to the battery, it would be even better.

Now for the mic, I didn't like it so I switched it out to a regular sized mic. I also added a talkback using 100 ohm resistor and added the swtich on the right side on the lower cover.

If only UNIDEN would please put SSB on these radios, it would be awesome. Somehow, I feel left out just having the AM/40 channels. Please please put SSB on UNIDEN radios again.

But if you just need 40 channel, small, good modulating radio that is built like tank, get the UNIDEN PRO520XL, you'll be glad that you did.

See all 28 customer reviews on Amazon.com