Whistler XTR-695 Radar Detector Review
Whistler XTR-695 Radar Detector Review Updated: December 15, 2012
Top Reasons to Consider the Whistler XTR-695 Radar Detector
- All band 360 degree coverage
- POP mode radar detection
- Built in 72 point compass
- Good sensitivity and range
- Real voice alerts
- Three city modes and 1 highway mode
- Good false alert filtering
My Bottom Line Recommendation for the Whistler XTR-695
If you are in the market for an inexpensive alternative to the high priced Escort and Beltronics units the Whistler XTR-695 is certainly worth checking out.
Based upon my 20 years in law enforcement as a certified police radar instructor and 15 years being involved in the speed counter measurement industry, I would classify the Whistler XTR-695 a GOOD BUY!
In my opinion the Whistler XTR-695 is an outstanding unit with good range and sensitivity, leaving the Cobra units and other imports in this category in the dust!
This is also backed up by literally thousands of other reviews and feedback made by other automotive publications and happy Whistler XTR-695 users that you will find online, a few of which are published at the end of this article.
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2 Responses to “Whistler XTR-695 Radar Detector Review”
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I bought this detector recently and just completed a 600 mile round trip to Florida. The detector performed very well, and I’m really satisfied with both the performance and value. K-Band Performance. Very Good – On one stretch of flat road the XTR-695 alarm went off approx. 1.3 miles in advance (with traffic in front of me). Even on rolling terrain with a patrol car located at the bottom of the dip in the road, it alerted approx. a 1/2 mile away, plenty of time to slow down. Very solid performance on K-Band. KA-Band Performance. Very Good to Excellent – It picked up an oncoming patrol car approx. a mile away with the patrolman toggling the radar on and off as he encountered traffic. Another time a patrol car was parked at the end of very long sweeping curve on an interstate, shooting across the road at about a 45 degree angle. A very difficult test, but the 695 gave about a 15 second advance warning, which was more than enough time to slow down. Navigating The Menu – Yes, even radar detectors now have menu options, but this one is very simple to navigate. Just press the Menu button, then keep pressing it until the option you’re seeking appears on the screen. You can turn off, or on, just about every feature the detector has. X-Band – I turned this off in the menu. It’s used very little in 48 states (New Jersey & Ohio being the exceptions) and turning it off cut the number of false alarms way down (all those X-band automatic door openers in strip malls are now ignored).POP Detection – Detecting radar guns in POP mode (the few radar guns that have a POP mode that is) requires a detector to spend a lot of time searching for the very weak POP signals, usually lessening response time and increasing false alerts. I turned POP mode off. POP readings can’t be used in court, they just let the police get a peek at vehicle’s speed without sending out a stronger signal. I figure you’ll get hit a couple of seconds later with the real radar blast if you’re speeding, probably too quickly to slow down anyway, so POP detection didn’t seem worth it. I had gotten a few false KA band alerts, apparently bleed over coming from other detectors, and turning off POP seems to have prevented those types of false alerts almost entirely. Voice Alert – Great feature. This is one of those things that turns out to be much more useful than you would think. You hear a quick beep/buzz to get your attention, and then a very loud clear voice announces the particular threat (i.e. “K Band”!). You know exactly what you’re dealing with without ever having to look at the detector.Periscope LED Alert – Another feature that turns out to be of more use than anticipated (the “periscope” terminology is Whistler’s btw). Two bright blue LEDs, that are raised above the top surface of the detector, flash whenever radar is detected. Even with the music cranked, the LEDs should attract your attention. Audio Alert – The different radar bands (and laser) have their own distinct alert (buzz/beep, whatever you want to call them). According to various detector experts, the speaker in the XTR695 is one of the largest in the business. All I know is that it’s capable of being very loud, depending on how you set the volume control. Display – This is the one area I’d say Whistler has room for improvement. The main display is dim, but it’s not unreadable, at least not in my vehicle. Whether or not this is going to be a major issue probably depends on the individual and the particular vehicle (or the ambient lighting in that vehicle). For me, with the voice alerts telling me which band the radar is on (or announcing a laser hit), the loud audio alerts and the flashing blue ‘periscope’ LEDs, the display just isn’t that important. A note on detection distances mentioned above. I run the XTR695 in Highway Mode. I do not use any additional filter modes (Filter1 or Filter2). The 695 uses a basic filter mode from the factory, and that is the only filtering that was being done. The encounters were all with traffic in front of me, which makes a big difference in the real world. If you have the bucks, some of the more expensive detectors will pick up radar farther away than the 695, but some will not. Do your research before investing a lot of money in a detector. While this detector doesn’t qualify as the very best out there, it has done very well in most of the tests I’ve come across. In summary, a very good detector, and well worth the money.
I bought this unit, as well as an Escort Passport about a year ago. They are both great detectors. The main advantage to this unit is the LED light that comes up when radar or laser is detected. There were multiple times with the Escort that I did not hear the unit going off because of music in the car and the inability to increase the alerts to a volume that you could hear. I do not play my music very loud, and still couldn’t hear the Escort. The Whistler is significantly louder, and combined with the LED alerts it is almost impossible to miss an alert. I don’t doubt that there are better detectors on the market, but they are much pricier than this Whistler unit. The range is great, easy to use, extremely competitive pricing, and overall a product that I am very pleased with. If you’re looking to stay in the low to mid $100 this would be by recommendation.