Beltronics 995 Radar Detector Review
Are you in the market for an International radar detector that included Ku band? If so check out Roy’s video review of the Bel V995 now
Beltronics – Escort: The Standard in the Radar Detector Industry
Over the past several years Escort and Beltronics has set the standard in the speed counter measurement industry as the folks to beat and I can honestly say that no other company or individual comes close!
I first took notice of their commitment to excellence over four years ago when Beltronics became committed in developing the first radar detector that was completely immune to all radar detector detector devices.
Not only were they committed in being the first (and still only) company that could defeat the unbeatable Spectre RDD, but they also set the standard in having the best performing radar detector in the industry.
This venture ended up being the most costly development project ever in the speed counter measurement industry where they recruited and highered the best microwave engineers in the industry and developed and perfected the Bel STi and the STi-R stealth radar detectors when many others in the industry said could never be done.
This commitment to excellence has followed through with their development and patent of the first intelligent GPS radar detectors ever made, the Escort 9500ix, the Escort 9500ci and the Bel GX-65.
During this year’s CES show I meet up with Everett Morrs of Beltronics to discuss their product line and their commitment to the consumer in providing the best radar detectors available today;
http://youtu.be/38EJ1PdX8BE
Part One – Beltronics Interview:
Part Two – Beltronics Interview
Review Beltronics STi R Remote – Part Three
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
Review Beltronics STi R Remote – Part Two
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.
Review Beltronics STi R Remote – 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.
Escort – Beltronics Factory Tour
Being involved in the countermeasure industry for over ten years since my retirement from law enforcement, I pretty much have been involved in most facets of the industry from product development, sales and marketing, product reviews to testing. But I felt that there was one important thing missing from my resume, I had never been to an actual factory to see first hand how radar detectors were made.
The Radar detector manufactures have historically kept their production and development methods very secretive because of the competitiveness in the industry. So when Bel/Escort took me up on my request for a tour of their Mississauga plant I was pleasantly surprised to hear, “We would be glad to offer you a tour.”
On Monday, June 9th, the managers of Radarbusters.com, Marina and Steve and I all flew into the Buffalo Airport. From there we were driven 90 minutes to the CN Tower in Toronto, where we met the executive staff of Escort/Bel for dinner.
Their CEO, Greg Blair, welcomed us and introduced his executive team. The newest member, President and Chief Operating Officer John Larson, had been a senior executive at General Motors with extensive background in sales, marketing and fiscal management. Greg related that he was impressed with the staff in that they take so much pride in what they do and that he was excited to take on his new responsibilities with a company that is so focused on excellence.
Greg related that earlier that day, they had broken ground on their new manufacturing plant in Mississauga and expected its grand opening in the early part of 2008. Greg explained that this new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility will enable them to meet the growing demands of the expanding radar detector industry in the years ahead.
The next morning, we all met at the Escort/Beltronics plant. Hanging above the plant’s main entrance I took notice their registration to ISO 9001 certification. ISO 9001 is a family of standards maintained by the International Organization for Standardization. Several of the principles of the ISO 9001 registration include: Checking outgoing products for defects, with appropriate corrective action where necessary; regularly reviewing processes and quality assurance systems and facilitating continued improvement.
Once gathered inside in their conference room, I was given an opportunity to field questions from radar detector enthusiasts of the Radardetector.net forum. Greg graciously answered questions and commented that a lot of their ideas come directly from the customer/user and that they value their customers’ input.
In preparation for the tour, Greg explained that they are the only radar detector company that still manufactures their units from the ground up in North America. Although one other radar detector company still claims that their product are made in the USA, the vast majority of the parts are assembled by a remote contract manufacture. Greg explained that Escort/Bel was dedicated to keeping all their manufacturing/engineering within North America to maintain a high level of performance and to be able to recruit top level staff. As an example, one recent addition to the plant included an employee who had experience with the laser missile guidance systems.
Hani AbdelGalil, the Vice President of plant operations, then outfitted us with protective ware to shield the electronics from static electricity. Hani explained that several of the electronic parts used inside a radar detector could be damaged if they came in contact with static discharges. He related that this damage may not be apparent immediately but could take several days or months to manifest, so it was extremely important for us to follow his guidance prior to handling of any products.
There are seperate teams that manufacture Bel and Escort products, however throughout the tour, each staff member we spoke with stressed their commitment to product reliability and quality assurance for the entire product line.
Hanging on the wall in the Inspection Team’s office were parts used in their detectors, packaged in individual sealed plastic bags and labeled. The Quality Manager Ahmed explained before any electronic component or part is entered into their inventory, his staff examines and tests them to ensure it meets their high standards. Also at any stage during the manufacturing process, members of the quality assurance team will pull random samples from the production line. Hani explained that it is very important to catch a problem early as possible in the manufacturing process, to prevent it from becoming a larger problem.
From this office we proceeded to the main factory floor to the surface mount technology (SMT) line, which I would consider the birth of the production process. The radar detector circuit boards, four to each panel, are stacked up on a conveyor belt to enter its respective machine. As each panel is rolled into the SMT, solder paste is applied to the areas where components are inserted. Located to at the rear of the machine, are numerous reels each containing individual radar detector components. Once the panel of circuit boards (four individual boards) are set into the machine two rows of robotic vacuum fingers remove individual components from a corresponding reel, placing them into the correct position on the board(s). The boards are then flipped over and this entire process is repeated with different components.
I stood in awe and watched as the SMT programmed to build the 9500i, built four complete boards in less than two minutes.
There were a number of other SMT units, all operational and programmed for other radar detectors such as the STi, SR7 and the 8500 X50.
From here, the boards rolled on a conveyor belt into an oven, programmed for different heating levels at different stages. This process bonds the solder base to the individual components on both sides of the board.
As the boards exited the oven, they were evenly stacked into bin for the next production cycle.
Hani then walked us to the next stage where a group of individuals were seated, each having a high powered microscope and tools at their workstation to handle very small microprocessors. Hani related that first each board was examined to make sure that the parts were properly seated. Hani then showed me a gel pad that was no larger than a postage stamp that contained tiny microprocessors. He explained that these parts were so small, that the only way that they could be properly positioned on the board was to do them by hand under a microscope. After each board passed inspection, each team member would place several of these microprocessors onto the board.
From this station, the circuit boards moved onto their respective final assembly team. There are numerous teams, each dedicated to an individual product line. Hani explained that each member is cross-trained in each step of the final assembly respective to their product and that they rotate positions on a regular basis. He explained that this is done, so each member is proficient in each stage of the final assembly and gives each member a sense of “ownership” of the manufacturing process. This also allows team members to inspect the product for defects and gives them the knowledge of the process to suggest improvements. This also eliminates the potential for complaints that are often expressed in other manufacturing plants where an employee may have a gripe about one stage of the process without being cognizant of the process as a whole.
We entered into the Passport 8500 X50 assembly area to the first workstation, where the programming and tuning of the detector takes place. A circuit board was placed onto a holder while the operator pressed a few buttons on a computer keyboard that began the programming cycle.
Hani related that many of their competitors’ have as many as six small variable tuning capacitors that must each be tune by hand. This tuning method is susceptible to mistuning or can later cause it fall out of frequency.
All of the Bel/Escort products use microprocessors instead of these tuning capacitors. This allows for a stable and precise tuning across all the important police radar bands and removes any chance of programming/operator error.
After the detector is tuned and programmed, it is moved to another computer where a stage of calibration tests is performed. If the detector fails, it is tagged and removed from the line and given to an engineer who is tasked with finding the fault.
At the next station workers attach and solder the earphone jack, volume control/power switch, power jack and speaker.
From there the detector is placed into its case and a rubber band is placed around the unit (as the casing has not been screwed down yet) and the unit is powered up for testing.
Here the radar detector is placed into an isolation chamber and performance tested across all police radar and laser bands. Again, if the detector does not meet their high standards it is removed from the line and given to a QA Engineer to identify the fault.
After the final performance test, the radar detector case is screwed together, and the unit is packaged with its accessories.
We then moved to other assembly areas and watched the same process unfold for their other radar detector lines. […]
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