Good price, for a good radar.
Written: Dec 27 '01
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Pros: Good price, good sensitivity on all three bands, bright display.
Cons: Windshield mount a little flimsy, retarded voice, low volume, confusing programming, false alarms
The Bottom Line: If you are considering a radar but don't want to shell out 300 for a top of the line but still want that works well... look into the Bel 880.
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| xishi's Full Review: Beltronics BEL 880 Radar Detector |
I'm an 18 year old high school student and wanted a radar at first because it looked so cool in other people's cars with the blinky lights and the beeping sounds. I reasearched for a while a bought a Uniden brand mainly because it was cheap. Boy, did I go wrong there. The first test drive I took, it couldn't even pick up a cop that was less than 100 feet away. Only when I could actually see the cop's first in the driver's window, did it go off and "warn" me of the danger. HAHA, needless to say, I returned that piece of junk the very next day. I then decided that if I was going to buy something of use, function should come before price. I read a lot of reviews and Bel radars seemed to get great reviews so I decided on the Bel 880 because of its reasonable price of about $120. I immediately put it in my car for a test drive and it was a dramatic improvement over the Uniden. Alerts were given well in advance. The display was also easier to read because of its bright red LED and there was also a cool voice alert.
After a few months and countless driving hours with this radar, I've noticed many good and a few bad things about it. The sensitivity is obviously there but at a price. Too many false alarms especially in city areas. Even with the city mode on which is suppose to lower the amount of false alarms, they still occur frequently. And I think that is one thing I should point out to those who expect a radar to detect every single cop 1 mile ahead so they can slow down and drive sanely at least for the moment the cop has you in his sight. Keep in mind, this is a radar detector and not a cop detector. First, in order for the radar to detect the cop, his radar must be on which means he is checking your speed. If his radar is not on, then the radar detector can't detect it. Second, cops aren't the only ones that have radars. Because of its sensitivity, this radar picks up radar from grocery stores, gas stations, and even other radar detectors. This accounts for all of the false alarms because that is just what happens with a sensitive detector. So I just wanted to get that clear to those who aren't that knowledged about radars yet. Now, the function of the radar is great as I said before which is the exact reason I bought it and am very pleased with it in this aspect. The programming is a little confusing however but nothing a little manual reading won't cure. About the supposed "voice alerts" the voice sounds like a retarded robot after smoking weed. That may be a bit cruel, but Bel should examine this issue even though it may not bother many people. The voice in my friends Whistler 1655 are far far superior although sensitivity is far far crappier.
With that much said, I hope I've shed some light on the Bel 880 and on radar detectors in general. Please if you are considering buying a radar, do some research on it. www.radartest.com is probably the best most un-biased internet site I've found that will answer many of your questions not mentioned in this review.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
xishi
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Reviews written: 1
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