The little Top Name
Written: Feb 24 '01
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Pros: Small size, night display dim enough
Cons: Limited sensitivity; display little to dark at daytime.
The Bottom Line: I would only recommend this product for the poor man. Do not expect this to save you.
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| A-RDR-GUY's Full Review: BEL 820 Radar Detector |
The Beltronics 820 is the low end model that is being offered. This is a budget detector for the person that has that little bit of green in their pocket.
The 820 is a 550 Beltronics. The unit appears to be unchanged size and display wise. The 820 is 4.2 inch long, 0.95 inches tall, and 2.6 inches wide. Compared to the 970 LR from Bel, it's size is 4.55 inches long, 1.2 inches tall, and 2.95 inches wide.
The unit is constructed very nicely. The unit does not feel cheap like the Cobra 9200. It has weight to it. The plastic is durable. Has been dropped once.
Display
The display on the 820, P C L K,Ka,X 1 2 3 4. You have the Power light which dims manually with dim button. The day mode is not as bright than some. The night mode is nearly dim enough from outside eyes to see. City light when city model is used. Red Laser led, for when detected. Red led for K band. Ka band uses K Band and X band leds when detected. The X band Led is yellow. The 1 2 3 4 is your signal strength meter and 1 2 is your menu for 1-SWS and 2-VG-2, when it is selected.
Mounting
This system is poorly designed. The mounting system gives you visor and windshield mounts. You have a housing mount that holds the detector on both sides (left and right). The windshield or visor mount slides into the housing. When you pull the detector off the housing, it is a pain to clamp it back into the housing. You have to pull the mount off to reclamp the unit.
Falsing
Many people that I had talked to or had seen posting on other sites cry about falsing. Compared to the 970 LR, the 820 is quiter than the 970. But when you get close to the source of non police radar it alerts 3-4 on the meter as you pass the source, thinking its instant-on. As with the 970 it goes from 2-5-6 on its meter and goes down.
Range/Sensitivity
The unit has no problem picking up continous radar. It provide adequate straight line range and slight curves; A mile or more is expected. When in tighter corners and in instant-on conditions, this detector is sloppy. Instant-on I have gotten 0.1- .3 miles of pickup. This is on K and Ka band.
For a $75 unit, it give the same range as a 9200 Cobra and 767 Uniden.
More testing is being conducted.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
A-RDR-GUY
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Eric D
Location: Southeastern, Virginia
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 33 members
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