How to Select the Best Radar Detector

Will the detector you select detect the newer digital radar guns that the police are using today?

Back in the 90’s the Kustom Falcon K band radar gun was the radar gun of choice with many police agencies throughout the world.

Like those old cell phones you may of carried around it is an analog system, which are fairly easy for any radar detector to detect.

However like your cell phone, police radar manufactures have updated their technology to digital.

These new digital radar guns like Genesis use less power but are more deadly as they are much harder for detectors to detect.

Because of this I test and rate detectors based upon their ability to detect these newer digital radar guns and not some antiquated radar gun used back in the 60’s like my competitors do.

I then rank the detectors based upon their performance in my 5-star rating chart based upon the detection capture distance they provide.

As an example detectors in the 5-star category have over 8 times the capture distance of a police K and Ka radar gun, while detectors I rank in the one star category would alert at the same time that the officer would capture your speed.

In a recent test I compared the detection range of a number of radar detector on a flat desert highway against the Genesis radar gun.

1 -Star Category test results

The RMR C-495 performed the worse, detecting the Genesis at ¾’s of a mile away, which is about the same distance that this Genesis was able to lock on to our speed.

And then second to last, the Cobra Vendetta was able to detect a few hundred feet further away but it was still easy prey for the Genesis.

2-Star Category test results

Next we tested the Whistler CR85 and CR90.

Both detected the Genesis at 1.5 miles away which is twice the capture distance of the Genesis.

3-Star Category test results

Then we tested detectors in the 3 star category which includes the Passport which was able to detect the Genesis 3 miles away, which is 4 times the capture distance of the Genesis

4-Star Category test results

Next we tested the Redline and the STi Magnum, which is categorized as 4 star detector and it detected the Genesis right around 6 miles away which is 8 times the capture distance.

5-Star Category test results

And then the Max2, which is rated as a five star detector and able to detect the Genesis 6.3 miles away, which is over eight times the capture distance of this gun.

Digital Signal Processing

So why was the Max2, the Redline and the Passport able to detect the Genesis so far away?

Well the engineers over at Escort tapped into technology developed by NASA so they could communicate with satellites in deep space called digital signal processing, or DSP for short.

What this DSP technology does is that it targets the DNA of police radar and filters out the background noise.

The result is that your detector can detect police radar guns like this further away, while also filtering out most of those pesky false alerts.

So if you’re shopping for a radar detector you maybe thinking which radar detector should I consider which uses this new DSP technology?

The Detectors Radar Roy Recommends

If you are budget conscious and drive mostly in a city environment I would recommend the Passport.

If you’re a road warrior or a commercial driver and spend most of your driving time on the open road the Redline.

But if you demand and deserve the best protection and drive an equal share on both highway and city I recommend the Max2.