STI audio ramp-up and falsing rate?

**Cruiser66** · 09-17-2007, 07:59 AM

It looks like the STI, with the 33.8 bugfix,
is quite a contender in terms of all-around detection, especially given its voice alerts, threat display, solid construction, smart cord, easy access push buttons.

1) I thought I read somewhere on this forum that its audio ramp-up is not exactly great?
Can anyone confirm or deny this?
(This is THE reason I will be returning my 9500i and waiting till they fix it before buying another one).

2) Speezones.com latest tests show that it falses a lot; I think only the V1 falsed more in their test runs.
Can anyone here comment on its falsing?

3) Bel touts its "Next generation of laser protection".
I couldn't find any laser tests pitting it against the competition (V1, 9500i, X50, RX65 Pro).
Has anyone here, perhaps a laser gun owner, checked the STI on its own or compared it to others in terms of laser detection?

To be honest, I am probably going to stick with my rev. 5 X50 for now and buy a new 9500i, if and / or when they fix the audio ramp up issues; however, I would at least like to know more about the STI - it never hurts to be know all about the key players' pros and cons...

Even though a laser jammer is the best
protection against laser, in conjunction with Veil, Laser Shield etc., and a detector can't be relied upon other than being a ticket notifier as far as laser is concerned, I have found my X50 to detect it well, at least against the guns in use here in NJ on the GSP.
I have come across it on 3 occasions and the warning, especially at night when the LEO is almost invisible until the last second, has allowed me to adjust accordingly, while other vehicles flew by the officer, triggering him to potentially clock them.
I still plan to look into jammers (only wireless-compatible ones), once some of the new Blinders have been tested, but would like a good radar detector (decent detection, good audio ramp-up, low falsing) that also has good laser detection in the meantime.

**mrcllusb** · 09-17-2007, 08:08 AM

Alot of people have stated that Bel doesn't have the best ramp up.The X50 has a better ramp up.I'm perfectly satisfied with the way my RX65 works.Also don't believe a thing speedlabs says.The true and unbiased testing is done here with Roy and the many others on this site that work with real life scenarios.The Sti is one of the quietest detectors on the market right now.I love the fact that my RX65 stays quiet.One thing i personally don't like is a real chatty detector.

**Cruiser66** · 09-17-2007, 08:57 AM

Thanks a lot!

It seems we think the same way:
1) Yes, I definitely prefer the Veil Guy and Radar Roy; their real world experiences are always valuable and provide for interesting reading.
I couldn't find any falsing tests, but believe the Veil Guy wrote about falsing.

2) I also have no interest in a chatty detector, which is why that was one of my questions.
As others have also said, an overly chatty detector defeats the purpose of having one, since one is far more likely to ignore an alert with such a detector, assumed to be false, that turns out to be a LEO running radar.

**mrcllusb** · 09-17-2007, 08:59 AM

You're very welcome.

**TQUILL** · 09-17-2007, 10:22 AM

Yeah the STi works well. The audio ramp up, at least in my case... didn't suck... but it did leave something to be desired. It is something that could be improved upon IMO, but I don't think it's reason to not get the detector.

Honestly though, the X50 is great too. Personally I would just stick with it b/c the difference won't be ALL that much between it and the STi (at least with my experience).

Also after having a couple of detectors, I now actually prefer tone alerts over voice alerts.

About chatiness... I always drove with my STi on highway so, to me, the chatiness seems about the same as my V1.

**Cruiser66** · 09-17-2007, 10:43 AM

Yes, I think I will stick with the X50 for now.
If the 9500i ramp-up isn't fixed, I'll be more than happy enough with my X50.
It honestly hasn't let me down yet (3 years old now), knock on wood.

I am looking forward to getting a 9500i again though, once the ramp-up is fixed:
I like the very low falsing, the very clear and more distinct audio alerts, the voice ("multiple signals detected" - you don't even have to look at the Expert Meter to see that another threat is around), vehicle speed-dependent auto sensitivity and auto volume etc.

Often the gadget lover in me wants to try the latest and (sometimes not) greatest...

**MEM-TEK** · 09-17-2007, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by Cruiser66

2) Speezones.com latest tests show that it falses a lot; I think only the V1 falsed more in their test runs.
Can anyone here comment on its falsing?

Hi Cruiser66,

The SML tests were a joke. The STi, when in Highway mode, will alert to all detected radar except for radar emissions from other radar detectors or burst radar emissions from cell phones or other obviously non-police radar sources.

The factory default for all Bel radar detectors is Autoscan mode. Autoscan automatically filters out pairs of X band door openers unless the received radar signals are fairly strong. Each door opener consists of a pair of transmitters, each pointed in opposite directions. I've done more testing and it appears that Autoscan is able to filter out up to three pairs of X band door openers.

Had SML tested the STi in its factory default Autoscan mode, they would have found the STi to be a far quieter radar detector when used in cities or in suburbs. SML should have tested each radar for falsing, first in whatever mode is the factory default, then in highway mode, and then in any city mode(s).

In Autoscan mode, the STi shouldn't have alerted to any false X band sources unless they drove really close to those false sources -- which they didn't. Uniquely for Bel, the STi when in Autoscan mode also features very weak filtering of K band door openers as well. Bel could have made the K band filtering stronger when in Autoscan mode, but I think that Bel was conservative and is "testing the waters" with the Autoscan K band filtering to see how customers like it or if customers wish it was an even stronger filter.

Even though I am a Belscort fan, I actually have some issues with the way the V1 was tested by SML -- issues which put the V1 in a somewhat unfavorable light.

Best Regards,

--Michael

**specialchicken** · 09-23-2007, 04:27 AM

The audio ramp up SUCKS!!! its the worst ive ever had !!! even a 10 buck cobra has better ramp up!!! the X50 has the best.

I wish Beltronics would listen to us and fix it!

**Toronto-radar-chopper** · 09-23-2007, 05:18 PM

The Bel STi ramp up is very poor compared to the V1. This is not a problem if you use visual LCD screen but bad if you use the sounds because your RD is hidden.

**Virion** · 09-23-2007, 06:50 PM

Yea, the audio ramp up is absolutely horrible, especially for those of us that live in VA and have to run in dark mode. Why didn't bel just allow a remote screen? The same screen as they use in the remote STi. That would be perfect.