Bel Vector 960 - Excellent Bang for the Buck
Written: Mar 08 '04
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Pros: Great sensitivity, plenty of useful features, great performance for a great price.
Cons: Windshield mount is a little shaky in the bumps, but no biggie.
The Bottom Line: If you want a REAL radar detector that works without blowing all of your hard-earned cash or spending less and getting pure junk, this is what to get.
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| eroc79's Full Review: Beltronics Vector 960 Radar Detector |
I have not owned radar detectors for long. My first purchase was a Cobra ESD-6060. It chirped constantly and for no reason worth worrying about. Anyway, so I get this Bel and it is near silent...until a REAL threat is around.
In Town: I got far fewer falses than with my cobra especially in Autoscan. I believe with that with it on it won't freak out on X or K bands unless the frequency is strong enough, 4 or 5 (or possibly if the frequency matches the known frequencies of those radar bands. I am not sure how it works completely, but it won't go off all the time). One example: I used to get an X band false as I pulled into the side entrance of this grocery store parking. Now it won't go off unless I am DIRECTLY in front of it...real cool.
On Highway: I always switch to Highway mode here to guarantee sensitivity. I don't totally trust the Autoscan's ability to adjust sensitivity. So far it has worked flawlessly. I was driving one night and on a one hour trip caught three troopers running Ka. Two were running constant and had plenty of advance warning (one was even coming around a corner). The third trooper was running instant-on. I was about 3/4 mile behind one or two other cars when I got a short, weak Ka pulse that quickly disappeared. As I approached a column of cars, about halfway through them was a Trooper who blasted his Ka at me close range. Though he thought he was being sneaky, I had already knew of his presence ;)
My only beef with it is it's mount. It is great that it can be used as a visor mount but it seems odd on the windshield as it sometimes shakes around as if the unit is too heavy for it (though it has a nice rubber stopper on the back so it won't bang up your windshield) and can be difficult to get off of the bracket. That is it and even that is not that bad as it does the job fine.
I like it for its features, especially the voice announcements as I can know what the threat is with ease and the signal strength meter/audio clicks. You can use tech mode if you are an expert (I am not) but I like the quick start mode as it does not go through the self test every time it is turned on and it displays the signal strength bar during alerts. It is as sensitive or better than the 985 (as per Bel's website http://www.beltronics.com/graphnamerican.html), is not far behind other more expensive units, and sells for under $200 online...wow! Best bang for the buck IMO!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
eroc79
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Reviews written: 1
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