Well, I got a nice rewarding set of experiences on my way to Detroit Metro Airport this morning, off to school till November (oh beloved XTR-690, how I'll miss you in the meantime...)
I had my XTR-690 and 1793SE with me for good luck, had my XTR-690 mounted. I know entering the 180-degree turn into the terminal, there was a K-band speed sign mounted right as you come out of the turn. I've driven this route many many times before, and most of the time my 1793SE alerts to this threat like halfway through the turn, as I'm coming out of it. It's enough reaction time before the merge lane goes out far enough to place me within the beam of the radar antenna and my speed to show up, and the rapid ramp-up is a good clue to watch that accelerator pedal...
Going into it, I expected my XTR-690 to do worse because GOL showed that the XTR-690 is like 10% lower range on K-band than the 1793SE. Would I have enough detection distance?
Well. Guess what? The XTR-690 started alerting half a mile before reaching the hairpin turn, and as I entered the curving portion of the turn, got a rapid ramp up that smoothly went up as I completed the turn. Fantastic!
So... what's up? Is the XTR-690 really less sensitive on K-band than the 1793SE platform? Or did Whistler do something to drastically improve off-axis detection?
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