https://natcommag.substack.com/p/scanni ... n-business
Chuck Gysi | N2DUP
Feb 11, 2025
We reported late last year that the Whistler Group discontinued business operations over a period of months, leaving Whistler scanner owners without support and no place to purchase new radios.
Are Whistler scanners available once again? Read our article below to learn more about this line of radio receivers. | Photo courtesy of Whistler Group
As we dug deeper into the Arkansas firm’s operations over the past two months, we discovered a trail of legal events that certainly didn’t keep the business afloat. But now we have news about Whistler scanners to share with our readers. Is Whistler back? Can you buy a new Whistler scanner? We have some answers now as you can read below.
We have word today that it is possible to purchase a new Whistler scanner, albeit a select number of models, from a new vendor. In fact, the new vendor reports on their website that they have acquired the assets of the Whistler Group.
As you recall, Whistler Group is based in the Bentonville, Arkansas, area and over a period of months late last year gradually shut down operations. Data updates for new scanners became far and few in between, owners were not hearing back on support issues and eventually there were no Whistler scanners for sale either from the company or its retail vendors. Some Whistler scanner owners were caught unexpectedly when they shipped their radios to the company and later found out operations had discontinued, leaving their radios in limbo.
Today we have learned that a new company has acquired the assets of the Whistler Group and has begun selling Whistler scanners on the former Whistler Group’s website. Since January, the website has shown only a login page for Shopify ecommerce. This morning, a new site tied to Shopify appeared on the WhistlerGroup.com domain and the sale of select Whistler scanners has recommenced. The new site does not offer any downloads for library data or firmware changes, but the new owners apparently have plans to include that.
On a Whistler history page on the new website, the owner says that the “Whistler Group’s legacy lives on through Goliad Products LLC. Goliad Products acquired the assets of the Whistler Group in January 2025. Welcome to the next chapter in the Whistler Group’s history.”
So who is Goliad Products? We reached out to the owner and others at the business, which apparently acquired the WhistlerGroup.com domain name, and has email accounts set up under the domain. As we send out this article, we have not heard back yet from the business. We will report back if we hear from them because we have a lot of questions our readers want to know.
From our own research so far, we can tell you that Goliad Products was created on Dec. 16, 2024, when documents were filed with the state of Ohio for formation of the limited liability company. The documents were filed by a Cincinnati, Ohio, attorney’s office and the name of the owner of the LLC is revealed in the filing to be Ben Krieger. The timing of the LLC’s formation is just days after we reported Whistler Group’s demise in Arkansas. The new business apparently was created to acquire the Whistler Group’s assets.
As we researched further, the new website’s privacy policy page reveals that their offices are located at 4000 McMann Road in Cincinnati, a large warehouse building that includes multiple businesses including a commercial printer and a school bus transportation operation.
This is the apparent location of Whistler products’ new warehouse and offices at 4000 McMann Road in Cincinnati, Ohio.
We also learned that one of the tenants of this warehouse is an operation known as BestNest.com, an ecommerce vendor of backyard wildlife and outdoor decor products to retail and wholesale customers. An about-us page on BestNest’s website shows that the owner of the business also is Ben Krieger, who is listed as the owner of Goliad Products.
There are a couple of other bird-related businesses that also share this address in Cincinnati, however, they seem to have other owners and perhaps BestNest is fulfilling their orders from their warehouse.
Ben Krieger, the owner of Whistler’s Goliad Products, right, appears on the Cincinnati area’s FOX19 Now Morning Xtra program in 2022 to discuss his BestNest birding supply business. | Photo courtesy of WXIX
Because we have not heard from the new owners at Goliad Products, we can’t tell you what assets they acquired from Whistler, including intellectual property, data and more. While the former Whistler Group also manufactured and sold radar detectors and other mobile electronics, we have seen mainly only scanners on the new website. Radar detectors seemingly are coming back with the new owners because you can see one radar detector listed on a hidden products page.
As we go to press, in addition to the Whistler Titan radar detector, the following scanners are being displayed on the new website: WS1010, WS1040, TRX-1, TRX-2, WS1025 and WS1065.
Although we have reached out to the former owners of the Whistler Group, we never were contacted. If we hear more about the new owners, as well as their plans to update scanners, continue legacy upgrades and provide support, we will let you know. If you have heard from anyone at Goliad Products or via their new Whistler Group contacts, feel free to let us know so we can continue to provide the latest information to all of our readers.
This shows the interior of the BestNest products outlet store at the warehouse where the new Whistler owners are located in Ohio. Is a Whistler outlet coming? | Photo courtesy of Google
Hopefully as more information comes out, this will prove to be good news for the owners of Whistler scanners wanting to keep their scanners up to date and receive support.
Bonus round: Did you notice anything different about the WS1065 scanner at the top of this article? Yes, the numeric keypad on the right side of the scanner has red buttons, whereas the radio previously had black buttons. The photo from the new website indicates that this is a Whistler WS1065B, with the B added onto the model name. We hope to learn more about Whistler scanner changes soon.
