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Written: Nov 27 '02
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Pros: - Can disable separate bands.
- Great detection
- Good price compared to others
Cons: - Even though Bel boasts its software upgradibility, there have been no upgrades issued/available!
The Bottom Line: Escort 8500: Not as good detection, but better at reducing falsing
Valentine 1: Better detection, but more falsing.
Bel 980: A balance between the two.
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| countercw's Full Review: Beltronics BEL 980 Radar Detector |
I have had my Bel 980 since the start of the summer... just in time for all the traps to come out and start collecting money from the public.
Where I live, the majority of speed traps are photo radar vans, using K-band (24.125 GHz) to catch speeders. It saved me on one of the very first times I used it. I was heading towards the city centre, and it had started beeping "k-band". At first I thought it was a false alarm, but I decided to slow down just in case. Then, I spotted the van with plenty of time to slow down.
I went through this trap many times to test out the detector.
From my experience, I can tell you that the Bel 980 is a very good detector. It will warn you of k-band photo radar vans with enough time to slow down as_long_as_you_are_not_going_too_fast! This is critical! If you are going 110 Km/h, you probably won't have enough time to slow down.
There are photo radar vans that operate on Ka-band, they don't operate in my city. If I can test it out, I'll just add another review.
Luckily, photo radar vans don't operate on the highways where I live. Only freeways (80 km/h limit)or regular streets (50 or 60 km/h).
The detection of the radar depends on traffic as well. The best is when you have some traffic ahead of you so that the radar beam can reflect off the back of those cars towards you and your detector. Remember to mount your detector relatively high atleast the middle of your windshield or higher.
The detector has also caught radar from police vehicles and those signs that tell you how fast you are going. Once again, in my city, they are all K-band. Since the radar is pointed AT you, you will have a lot more time to slow down, and just about any reasonable speed should be ample time to adjust your speed.
I think the best features of the detector is that you can disable bands. Anyone who owns a Bel 980 or 985 should not be complaining about X-bands going off all the time because they can disable it! For me, I also disable Ka-band since I don't know of any instances of use in my city.
As for laser (LIDAR) detection, the Bel 980 works, but don't count on it to save you. LIDAR obtains your speed in 0.3 seconds, so essentially, you have 0.3 seconds to adjust your speed, which is impossible. Buy a laser jammer if you want to protect yourself from laser traps. No radar detector (eg. Bel 980, Valentine 1, or Escort 8500) will save you from laser traps. If a radar detector manufacturer boasts it has the best laser detection, it's better to laugh it off, because unless you jam it, the police will already have your speed and will be issuing you a ticket.
By the way, for those new to radar detection, don't bother buying a cheap detector if you have photo radar in your city. Photo radar is the most difficult radar system to detect and cheap detectors won't give you enough time to slow down. They will be a waste of money and you can't trust them.
With the Bel 980, you develop a trust with your detector, so you don't have to drive looking for photo radar vans on the side of the road (which is potentially dangerous).
Now, let's talk about the Bel 980's falsing. Yes, the Bel 980 does false occasionally. I have driven with all bands on, and sometimes with some bands off. In general, if you are beside a megamall, hospital, or bank, you can expect your detector to alert you. Usually, it only goes to only a 1 or 2 strength alert (out of 9), but it can go to a 9 if you drive in the parking lot! Of course, there won't be any speed traps in a parking lot, so don't let this bother you.
If you are a normal driver, you usuaully drive certain roads here and there. Trust me, you WILL know if its a false or really police radar with time. I drive a lot of the same places throughout the city, and I know where it will false, so I ignore any alerts I get there. If I am driving somewhere new and I get an alert, I monitor how the strength goes up. If it goes up constantly, I will start to slow down.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
countercw
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