[Official] What's the Best Radar Detector?

jginnane

My experience is that most police officers don't mind seeing radar detectors, since these help keep you focused on road conditions.

Our stable of detectors is of the low-rent variety -- a Beltronics 995 in the Z, a Beltronics 995 in the Acura TL, and a Beltronics 965 in the new Honda Element (so it wouldn't feel left out.

My stepson has a Valentine, and swears by it. He needs it. But equipping all three cars with some RD protection is cheaper than his one device. (Ebay: $145, $145, and $85.)

These are good enough for the high-density Jersey driving we do... the biggest rule we follow, besides knowing these roads, is to never be first in line.

Some buying tips: (1) Escort and Beltronics are the same company. The Passport 8500 is probably all the same internals as the Bel 995. I've looked, and they never compare their own models in road tests... we know the 965 is just _slightly_ better than an old Bel RX-55 circa 2002, but not enough to justify a new purchase on K and Ka bands.

(2) Blue LEDs for an extra $40-50 over red LEDs are not as much fun as smoking crack, I'm told. There is no difference btw the internals of the two models. The blue will probably give you more night blindness (but we always run ours in "dark mode" at night anyways.)

(3) Buying in the non-driving season, like around February, is WAY cheaper than when the roads are dry and you want to move. In fact, saving all your electronics buys until the month after Xmas is a great way to say big money. We're still waiting for the Garmin "fusion" device that'll be both an RD and a GPS.

(4) MOUNTING POINTS. Some people like the sun visor. Some like the window. Some like a dash mount. Since we take the RDs down every time we park outside, the glass mount is good enough. As to effectiveness -- at only 60, you're moving 88 feet per second. A few inches up or down in the dash area isn't going to give you more than a few milliseconds. The main thing is to keep it from distracting your road focus.