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Whistler Pro 78 Radar Detector Review

Driver Experience Test
Today I resumed my “under $200.00” radar detector review with the Whistler Pro 78 (Version C).
The Pro 78 retails for $179.00 and is a corded all band radar detector.
The Pro 78 does have the blue dual periscope LED lights and has a blue LED display with a Geiger counter read out.
The K band trailer that I have been referencing in my review was moved to a new location near my office, so I visually marked the alert of several other detectors to use in this test. The new location is in a business area that has a slight approaching curve. High end detectors such as the Bel RX65, Escort 9500i and the Bel STi were alerting to the trailer approximately a half mile away. The lower end units such as the Cobra models would alert approximately 1500 feet away.
As I approached the trailer today with the Whistler Pro 78, we received a short chirp and a reading of “pulse alert” at 2100 feet away. The detector then fell silent until it went into full K alert at approximately 1700 feet away.
I then headed south to Interstate 10 travelling through a sparsely populated area that is void of any devices that would normally activate a false alert on a radar detector. When compared to other detectors in the “under $200.00” price range, the Pro 78 did a superb job, only alerting twice to “pulse alert on K band.”
Upon reaching I-10 I headed east to the Phoenix metro area.
Just east of the SR85 turn off in Buckeye the Pro 78 flashed its first Ka alert. Three quarters of a mile ahead, I observed an Arizona Highway Patrol unit pulled behind a stopped vehicle in the west bound shoulder.
I turned off I-10 at the 101 loop and headed north. Just past the Cardinals football stadium I received my second Ka alert and rounding a curve observed another Arizona DPS unit parked at an exit ramp just a quarter mile ahead.
At US 60 we turned off and headed back to Wickenburg.
In the city of Surprise the Pro 78 alerted K band and in a few moments I observed an approaching patrol car in the opposite lane of traffic approximately 1300 feet ahead.
Being a veteran “Fireballer” where a quality radar detector is of utmost importance to avoid hefty speeding fines, I would classify the Whistler Pro 78 as being one of the only radar detectors costing less than $200.00 that I would ever consider using in my own car.
Even though the overall range and sensitivity is less than the higher end Bel and Escort units, it range is superior then most of the other models we have tested in the $200.00 price range.
I found that they blue LED was very easy to read even in bright sunlight and the flashing LED periscope is an attention grabber when it alerts.
The Pro 78 is a great value for the price and I feel that it will be one of my top picks when I complete the entire review in the coming weeks.
Radar Roy Badge Rating – Three Badges

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Mojo Network – Need For Speed

Back in July I headed up to Seattle to Take part in a new television series airing on the Mojo HD network, “Test Drive – The Need For Speed” The episode that I’m involved with is now airing, where I outfit a Saab with an Escort 9500i and a Blinder M-27 laser jammer and go head to head with the Washington State Patrol. This episode also explains the differences between radar and laser enforcement and demonstrate various speed counter measure devices.

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Beltronics STI Remote Review III

Bel STi R Driver Experience Review
Last week we had our first opportunity putting the Bel STI-r through its paces during a 1200 mile road trip through Arizona, Nevada and California in our 2005 Columbia Freightliner.
During this trip we also had the dash mounted STi installed in the cab, affixed to the sun visor approximately four feet higher than the remote mounted antenna mounted in the front grill.
Both units were programmed to the Highway sensitivity setting with X band on.
As we were leaving Wickenburg, we passed by the K band speed trailer that we have been using for our “Under $200.00 Radar Detector Review”. Both STi units alerted simultaneously approximately 3500 feet away which triple the range that we experienced with most of the detectors costing less than $200.00 in our review.
On Interstate 17 heading toward Flagstaff, the remote STi alerted Ka band with a few short chrips, while the visor mounted STi detector remained silent. Most experienced radar detector owners will recognize such an alert as an indication that instant on radar maybe in use, so we slowed down and kept an eye out for Smoky.
After traveling another quarter mile both STi units alerted Ka with a few short chirps as we cleared an embankment in the median.
The next half mile both detectors remained silent and I was starting to feel that the prior alerts may have been false alerts. However just as I was starting to accelerate both STi units went full alert Ka as I eyeballed a southbound Arizona Highway Patrol unit heading my direction.
Entering Flagstaff, we experienced a few X band alerts from what we expect were automatic door openers. However I feel that these X band false alerts were far less then we would experience with a lower end detector that didn’t have the filtering capabilities of the STi.
Just west of Flagstaff, the STi-r display alerted us to a connection problem with our remote mounted antenna. I pulled into a truck stop in Belmont, raised the hood and found that the connector plug on the cable extension became disconnected. We reconnected the antenna, fueled up and headed west toward Kingman.
Just east of Williams the remote STi unit alerted to constant on Ka band a few moments prior to the visor mounted unit. A mile further west after both detectors displays were at full alert we observed another Arizona DPS unit parked in the median facing our direction.
We continued west on I-40 and just outside of Kingman the display again alerted us to a wiring problem with our remote antenna.
Once in Kingman we found that the connection plug had again loosened. This time however we wrapped the connector plug with electrical tape to prevent this mishap from occurring again. From Kingman we headed north on SR 93 to Hoover Dam.
Just south of the Dam both the STi units alerted simultaneously to a constant on K band signal. A mile further down the road, we observed a Federal Bureau of Reclamation patrol car parked in fifteen mile an hour speed zone.
We called it a night after arriving in Las Vegas; however we continued our road trip later in the week traveling an additional 900 miles through Nevada, California and Arizona.
During the entire trip the STI-r’s long range performance was stellar; giving us advanced warning of impending threats while remaining stealth to all radar detector detectors and to the eye!
I found the STi Remote was very easy to program for advanced functions such as band select and expert mode. One of the new programmable features found in the STi-Remote is the segmentation of the Ka band into 10 portions allowing the user to select the Ka band frequencies for scanning.
I also found that the remote powered external speaker was more than ample in providing audible alerts that could be heard over the roar of the turbocharged diesel engine, the chatter on the CB radio, and over the full volume of the trucks stereo.
With my experience as a certified commercial vehicle enforcement officer and as a certified police radar instructor for over twenty years, coupled with my ten years of experience in the speed counter measure industry I can say without doubt that the STI-r is the ONLY CHOICE that professional owner operator has if they want their radar detector to be stealth to the eye and to all law enforcement detection equipment.
Radar Roy’s Rating – Five Badges

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Beltronics STI-r Review II

Installing the Ultimate “Bird Dog” for Truckers
Title 49 Section 329.71 of the Federal Motor Carrier regulations prohibits radar detectors in all commercial vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds. Even with this ban the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that over 40 percent of tractors regularly use radar detectors.
Till recently truckers using radar detectors in their big rigs have been taking a big chance of having their “bird dogs” detected by the police and getting a large fine.
In 2004 Stealth Micro Systems introduced the Spectre RDD (Radar Detector Detector) that was able to sniff out all radar detectors that were sold. Numerous state commercial vehicle enforcement units though out the USA purchased these Spectre units through federal and private grants. As example the Texas Department of Public Safety purchased over 245 Spectre units though a federal grant for boarder security.
In 2006 Beltronics introduced the STI, first “stealth” radar detector that was able to defeat the Spectre. However as the STI was designed as a dash mounted radar detector, truckers had to come up with ingenious ways to hide the detector from the sharp eyes of law enforcement.
Beltronics is now in the process of releasing their newest radar detector the STIr. The STIr is the first remote mounted radar detector that is not only invisible to the eye, but also invisible to all the RDD’s in use today.
Having the honor as being one of the first in the speed counter measure industry to review this detector prior to its release, I seized the opportunity and installed it in my 2005 Columbia Freightliner.
I first installed the antenna in grill area of the truck. The STIr’s antenna doubles as both a radar antenna and a laser sensor. As laser is a narrow light beam, it is important to mount the antenna facing forward and level without any obstructions.
I cut out a small section of screen in the bottom grill area of the Freightliner and mounted the STIr’s antenna.
I then ran the antenna wire into the cab area through the driver’s door floorboard area, up the side floorboard, up to the overhead storage compartments.
Here I installed the main interface and plugged in the external speaker, the LED display and the main controller.
I then mounted the external speaker and the LED display in the driver’s upper storage area and mounted the controller switch right above my CB radio in the upper center consol.
After all of the detector’s modules were installed, I then connected the interface and the external powered speaker to my trucks power supply.
As I have installed countless radar detectors in the past, I had found earlier install manuals from Beltronics sometimes cryptic and sometimes hard to understand. However the manual provided with the STIr was easy to read and understand and made the install a breeze. The total time for the install was approximately 60 minutes.
With the LED display and the external powered speaker being in the upper driver’s storage area, the main display was totally stealth to prying eyes. However I could easily see the display from my driver’s position behind the wheel when it activated and with the external mounted speaker’s deafening alert beeps I could easily hear it over the roar of the engine even with the XM radio cranked up to full volume.
Next week we will be taking the STIr through its paces during an extended road trip though the southwest and I will follow up with both a performance and driver experience report.

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Bel STI-r Remote – Review Part One

Beltronics STIr Install SUV
Several weeks I was honored as being one of the first to review the new Beltronics STI-r radar detector.
The STI-r is the first remote mounted detector that is not only capable to be invisible to the eye but also invisible to all the radar detector detector units such as the Spectre III and IV. This ability is an important feature where radar detectors are illegal such as in Virginia, Washington DC, in all commercial vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds and in various provinces in Canada.
We first installed the STI-r into a 2007 Toyota Sequoia.
As the STI-r antenna serves as both the radar detector and laser antenna it is important to mount the antenna in a fashion that the front laser sensors are not blocked and to be positioned in the front grill area where officers commonly target their laser guns.
We choose to use heavy duty double sided 3M automotive double sided tape that is available through NAPA and not the supplied antenna mount, so we wouldn’t need to drill into the front bumper area. We mounted the antenna below the front bumper in the bottom grill.
We then ran the antenna cable through the engine compartment, through the firewall to the rear dash. We removed the Toyota’s car radio utilizing a special screwdriver that allowed the radio to slide out, and installed the main interface under dash.
We then plugged the front antenna, display module, controller module and external speaker into the interface.
We mounted the external powered speaker under the dash and ran mounted the small LED display above the steering column just below the Toyota’s instrument panel and mounted the control module below the steering column on the right lower dash.
I really appreciated the two part LED and controller and their small size, as I was allowed to mount the LED display closer to the main instrument panel. The LED display also has a photo sensor installed to the front that allows it to automatically adjust for brightness.
Both the control module and the LED display has double sided tape applied to them, so it is basically peal and stick, making for an easy install of these two parts.
The STI-r also includes an in dash bezel and a single in dash LED light display for those who really want to go to the next step in making their unit stealth to the eye.
The final step in our install was to run the power cables from the speaker and the interface to the controller and power up.
I’ve installed countless remote mounted radar detectors but I have to admit, I found the STI-r one of the easiest as their documentation was easy to read and understand. The total install time took 90 minutes with the biggest challenge finding a location where I could run the antenna cable through the firewall utilizing an existing cable run.
We will be running the STI-r through its paces this weekend in the Toyota and then we will be re-installing it in a Freightliner tractor for an extended road trip through Nevada next week and we will provide an update on our road test when we return.

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Whistler XTR-500 Radar Detector Review

Driver Experience Test
This morning the XTR-500 was next up for my low priced radar detector review. We plugged in the detector, stuck it on the windshield and headed out on our seventy five mile testing route.
The XTR-500 retails for $139.95 and is a corded all band voice radar detector.
The XTR-500 does have the blue dual periscope led lights that I have found to be a plus with several of their other models in when they alerted, they were much easier to see visually. The XTR-500 also has a red led text display with a Geiger like counter that didn’t have a tendency to wash out in sun light as several of their other models did.
The K band trailer was still around the corner from my home, so we first headed north. In previous tests, I had visually marked out locations to where various radar detectors alerted to this trailer. This morning the Whistler began chirping around 1600 feet, 200 feet earlier then the two Cobra units and a little earlier then the cordless XTR-190 from Whistler.
We then headed south on Vulture Mine Road, through the sparsely populated desert area between Interstate 10 and Wickenburg. During this leg, there are no microwave towers or other devices that would commonly activate a radar detector. During this leg the XTR-500 alerted to nineteen false alerts with the majority being X band.
As we approached I-10, we switched the unit to city II mode to reduce the X band alerts for our return home.
East on I-10 the detector alerted Ka as we approached SR85 and we observed a marked DPS unit parked in the median area facing our location approximately 1400 feet ahead.
Shortly after this encounter we pulled off the highway into a truck stop to grab a cool drink. As I got off the freeway onto the surface road, I noticed what appeared to be an approaching black and white. The detector then alerted K band while the patrol car was still over 1200 feet to my south as I watched it turn west.
Our next encounter wasn’t until we returned to Wickenburg when we received our first K alert just east of town from an approaching Wickenburg Patrol unit.
During all the encounters experienced today, I feel that the Whistler XTR-500 gave adequate warning given our speed. After reducing the setting to City Mode II the detector still registered several false K band alerts, however it was silent on the noisy X band.
The pluses is the blue periscope LED lights that makes it easier to see visually when the detector is alerting and the Geiger counter display was nice, although it appeared slow to respond in several encounters.
Radar Roy’s Badge Rating – Two Badges

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Cobra XRS-9430 Radar Detector Review

Driver Experience Test
This evening my chapter of Arizona Choirboy’s Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club had a meeting in Phoenix and since I have been fighting off a nasty cough, I decided to plug in the Cobra XRS 9430 into my truck and head off to the meeting using the route I established for my “low priced radar detector review.”
The Cobra XTS-9430 retail price is $119.95 and is a corded all band radar detector.
Again as noted in previous reviews of Cobra products, the XRS 9430 uses what I feel is somewhat deceptive advertising as they list the detector as being a 12 band radar detector as they split and call features found on other manufacturing brands as bands.
First up on my route, was the K band trailer that the Wickenburg Police Department placed on SR93 around the corner from my home.
The trailer is located approximately 1500 feet after a banking right turn at the bottom of a hill. During previous testing an Escort 9500i alerted approximately 3000 feet north of the trailer and a Cobra XRS 9830 alerted 1500 feet away.
Today the XRS 9430 alerted at the same location as the XRS 9830 alerted a day earlier at the 1500 foot mark.
As noted in earlier tests at this distance and depending upon traffic flow and speed, it is debatable if either of the Cobra units would have given me enough time to avoid the kill zone.
I headed south to Interstate 10 through a sparsely populated area on Vulture Mine Road that is void of devices that would activate a false alert on a radar detector.  During this 25 mile leg the XRS 9430 logged in over 19 false alerts.
During this next leg, I headed to the downtown Phoenix area on I-10 without having any law enforcement I encounters.
After my meeting, I headed north on I-17 to the Carefree Highway west.
Just west of the entrance of Lake Pleasant, the detector alerted Ka. In the shadows of an access road I observed a White SUV that I suspect was a MCSO Lake Patrol Deputy running constant on radar. The detector alerted at a distance of 1600 feet away and although I may have been outside the officers kill zone, if I was speeding ten miles over, I wouldn’t have had enough time to slow down.
Once inside the town limits of Wickenburg on a Saturday night, the detector alerted to several K and Ka constant on alerts.
The first was from an unmarked SUV that was approaching my direction. I was in the downtown area where the speed is reduced to only 25. The detector alerted as the SUV completed a turn and was facing directly at me at a distance of 800 feet.
The second alert was several blocks west of this first encounter where I received a K band alert and observed a marked patrol unit parked in a lot across from a convenience store at distance less than one block.
The third was another K alert west of town where a patrol car was facing away from my direction, parked in a supermarket parking lot.
In the first encounter I strongly feel that I would have been tagged by the officer if I would have been speeding. In the second encounter it was a tossup and in the last encounter it would have been a win as the officer was pointed away from my direction of travel.
I feel that the overall performance and filtering of the Cobra XRS 9430 was fair with no chief complaints.  However as noted with other detectors in this same price point because the range is so limited there are occasions where you may find yourself in a situation where a low priced radar detector will not provide the adequate range and sensitivity to warn of an approaching threat.
Radar Roy’s Badge Rating – Two Badges

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Whistler XTR-190 Radar Detector Review

Driver Experience Test
Over the past two weeks I have logged in over 1200 miles testing various low priced radar detectors for my “Low Priced Radar Detector Review”. This morning we are installing the Whistler XTR-190 for its road test.
The Whistler XTR-190’s retail price is $129.95 and is a cordless all band radar detector.
I’ve never been a big fan of cordless radar detectors because my experience has shown that performance wise, cordless have much less sensitivity then corded models when compared to other detectors in their same price range.
First up on my route, was the K band trailer that the Wickenburg Police Department placed on SR93, around the corner from my home.
The trailer is located approximately 1500 feet after a banking right turn at the bottom of a hill. The Escort 9500i alerted approximately 3000 feet north of the trailer and the Cobra gave its first chirp 1500 feet away.
This morning the Whistler XTR-190 gave its first alert just shy of the 1500 foot mark that the Cobra alerted to the day earlier.
Again at this distance and depending upon traffic flow and my speed, it is debatable if either the Cobra or the Whistler being tested today would have given me enough time to avoid the kill zone.
We headed south to Interstate 10 on Vulture Mine Road travelling through a sparsely populated area, void of any devices that would normally activate a false alert on a radar detector.  During this 25 mile leg the Whistler logged in over 21 false alerts.
As noted with the XTR-140 and the XTR-185, the display is absolutely washed out in bright sun making it difficult if not impossible to read.
Heading into the Phoenix area on I-10, I encountered two Arizona DPS vehicles running Ka band radar, both parked facing toward my direction.
In each encounter the Whistler alerted K/Ka within a 2000 foot range. As flow of traffic was heavy to moderate, I was well outside the officer’s kill zone during both encounters.
We then headed north to Surprise to start our trek back home on US 60.
Outside Wittmann I began getting a K/Ka alert from an approaching Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office patrol car that was approximately 2100 feet ahead.
I feel that the overall performance and filtering of the Whistler was fair with my chief complaint being the LED display. I each encounter I received adequate warning as long as I wasn’t grossly going over the posted speed limit.
Radar Roy’s Badge Rating – Two Badges

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Cobra XRS9830 Radar Detector Review

Driver Experience Test
Yesterday afternoon I installed the Cobra XRS9830 into my pickup for its road test for my “Low Priced Radar Detector Review”
The Cobra XRS9830 retail price is $209.95 and is a corded all band radar detector.
Again, Cobra uses what I would consider misleading advertising on their packaging indicating that the XRS9830 is a 12 band “ultra” radar detector. The detector has X, K and Ka bands which are the standard bands used in the USA along with laser. However the detector also has Ku which is a European radar band and sliced up the laser band into four segments and add the capability to detect POP as one band, the ability to detect Spectre as a band, the ability to detect VG2 as a band, strobe alert as a band and then safety alert as a band. Their 12 band advertising could lead a unsuspecting buyer that the Cobra units deliver more than other models on the market which is completely untrue.
Yesterday morning prior to my testing of the XRS9830, the Wickenburg Police Department moved their K band radar trailer around the corner from my offices on SR93. When I first found it at its new location I was using the Escort 9500i and I visually marked the location to where the detector first alerted and the location where the detector went full alert.
So I slightly deviated  from my route this afternoon to add the radar trailer to my testing. The trailer was located approximately 1500 feet after a banking right turn at the bottom of a hill. The Escort 9500i alerted while I was inside this turn, approximately 3000 feet north of the trailer. As I approached this same location with the Cobra detector, it was completely silent.
After making the turn, I visually observed the trailer approximately 1800 feet away, at this point yesterday the Escort was at full tilt, however the Cobra was just giving out its first “chirp”. It wasn’t until the trailer was within 1500 feet that the Cobra began its full alert of the K band trailer.
At this reporting range and depending upon other traffic on the highway, it’s debatable if the Cobra provided adequate warning to avoid a ticket if this was a real encounter.
After this encounter, we headed south to Interstate 10 on Vulture Mine Road.
This area is a sparsely populated area, void of any devices that would normally activate a false alert on a radar detector such as microwave towers and door openers. During this 25 mile leg the Cobra logged over 15 X band and 3 K band false alerts.
Heading east on I-10 the detector made its first Ka alert just prior to me noticing a west bound DPS trooper. Traffic was light in this area and I could not determine from the nature of the alert, if the officer was using constant on or instant on radar. However, I would consider the alert notice adequate in that it provided ample time to slow down.
Turning northeast on the Sun Valley Parkway, I began my lookout for the Buckeye Police Officer that frequented this area with his Ka radar gun. Although I did not spot him, I did get a contestant on Ka band hit from a Surprise Patrol car further north. The officer was parked on the opposite side of the roadway facing my direction and the detector alerted within 2200 feet, well outside the kill zone.
However as I still had some time and it didn’t appear that the officer was heading anyplace soon, I turned around and installed the 9500i that I had in my truck as I was interested in seeing how that unit would do under the same situation.
After travelling two miles back west and turning around I was at least five times further away then the Cobra alerted and the Escort alerted at this location much further away the moment I applied power.
I reinstalled the Cobra and returned to my normal route and headed home on US 60.
The overall performance and filtering of the Cobra XRS 9830 was good when compared to the other detectors tested in this price range. A few added value features that I did like was the LED plasma like display that made the detector easy to see in bright light and the LED voltage meter. Does it have the performance and range to save you encounters when you’re traveling 20 or more miles above the speed limit, probably not, but I have not found any detector yet in the price area that would.
Radar Roy’s Badge Rating – Two Badges
 

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Whistler XTR-140 Radar Detector Review

Driver Experience Test
Early this morning afternoon we took the Whistler XTR-140 out for its road test on my 85 mile test route for my “Low Priced Radar Detector Review.”
The XTR-140 retails for $79.95 and is a corded all band radar detector.
As I had a flight class scheduled at Buckeye airport at 8:00 and as the airport adds only a few miles to my normal test route, I took this time as a perfect opportunity to test out the XTR-140.
Installing the Whistler on my windshield I noticed that it had the dual blue LED periscope making the detector easier to notice during alerts. However I also observed that the main display of the detector had the same LED readout as XTR-185, one that I found very hard to read in bright sunlight.
Heading south from Wickenburg, I had an opportunity to see if the detector registered any false alerts in a sparsely populated area that is free of microwave towers and other devices that could set off a detector.
During this 25 mile leg, the XTR-140 shouted out over 11 X and K/Ka alerts that I would all suspect as being falses. As false alerts continue to be the chief complaint of radar detector owners, I enabled the detectors city mode III as we approached the Interstate. This mode disables X band, however as I passed a large truck stop in the area, I did receive a few chirps on K/Ka band that may had been false alerts.
The wind was picking up and being a student pilot, I was grounded at the airport; however I did get to practice a few pre-flight checklists with my instructor.
After a couple hours of ground school, I headed out to the downtown area of Buckeye for breakfast. Prior to passing a convenience store the XTR-140 started alerting K/Ka. A few moments later I observed a Buckeye Patrol car parked nose in.
I felt that this alert was a little better than expected, considering that the nose of the patrol car was facing away from my direction of travel.
However during this alert, the sun was very bright washing out the main display and if it wasn’t for the Blue LED lights on top of the detector I may had missed the visual display alert.
Heading back home, I did have two more encounters.
One the 101 loop the Whistler gave a K/Ka alert a few moments before I spotted an approaching Maricopa County Sheriff’s Patrol car heading the opposite side.
Then on US 60 the Whistler alerted K/Ka and within seconds, I observed an Arizona Trooper parked in the left turning lane in the median toward my direction.
In both these encounters I had seconds to react and slow down. So I feel that it is an important to mention that if you’re considering purchasing a lower priced detector to save money, you maybe spending that money you saved and more on a speeding ticket if you don’t react fast enough.
Higher ended detectors while costing more do provide much greater range and sensitivity while also providing better filtering.
Given the overall price of this detector I feel that it performed admirably, however it would not be a detector that I would count on if I was one to drive over the 10 M.P.H. posted speed limit.
Radar Roy’s Badge Rating – Two Badges

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