My Whistler Pro78 radar detector review

[MEM-TEK]

Hi everyone,

Well, its finally time for me to go public with my review of the Whistler Pro78. I have been evaluating a Pro78 Rev C for the past few weeks, and I must say that I am very impressed with its features and in particular with its performance against Ka band radar. The unit which I have been evaluating was sent to me by Michael B of Whistler after he finally caved in due to my repeated PMs to him to let me test a Pro78. I think that he is trying to convert me away from Belscort since he and everyone here knows that I am a Belscort fanatic! Regardless of my Belscort preferences, I must admit that the Pro78 is loaded with features that I like and that it really does turn out to be one of the best "bang for the buck" radar detectors. Read my full review:

MEM-TEK's Whistler Pro78 Review

This is my first full review which I have ever written. I plan to write similar fully detailed reviews for my Bel STi, my Escort 9500i, and eventually for other RD models as well. Why? Because it is a lot of fun!

[Jag42]

Nice review !

[guit123]

wow is the word for a great review. great presentation style, nice job man.

K band warning i feel is quite deceptive on 78 cos i hardly get very noisy blips like in v1 for door openers but when it comes to actual police K i detected both I/O and C/O more than a mile away which is more than enough.

[happya$$]

Great job man I think we are seen a shift in this industry from "professionals" doing reviews to hard core enthusiasts! The following statement shows me your integrity and honesty "The unit which I have been evaluating was sent to me by Michael B of Whistler". You could have kept that a secret but that is not your character. GREAT job Mem-Tek

[jdong]

Very professionally done review, MEM-TEK! It was a pleasure to read.


I'll play the role of Michael B's parrot in answering some of the untied ends in your review based on things Mike B has said before.

The Pro78 is sneaky at filtering out X band door openers which also happen to be located nearby any newer K band door openers. How Whistler is doing this — I don't have a clue! It may have something to do with the fact that the Pro78 scans both X and K bands using just one signal sweep of its local oscillator rather than using independent signal sweeps to scan each of these bands.

You are correct in suspecting the X/K single sweep band ID being the cause for this. Once the Pro-78 makes its initial judgement (X or K), it is programmed not to change its mind until that signal disappears. This is to prevent rapid oscillation between X and K alerts in shopping centers, which we know contains both X and K band signals.

However, a Ka band signal coming through while the detector is alerting to X/K will preempt this logic.



Additionally, I think in your "Filtering" section you can go into more details on the difference between "filter" modes and "City" modes because many other detector makers use those terms interchangeably. The "Filter" modes add additional screening time in 100ms increments (of either waiting for the signal to persist in a CW-like, or by looking for indicative lower harmonics within this window) on top of the factory default period, mostly for filtering out certain older Cobras. Whistler is unique in the ability for the user to adjust this filtering interval, just in case there is some threat that is made up of pulses of radar that emerges (or for better catching of blips of weak radar from far away). The "City Mode" is also fairly unique in that it reduces the detector's alert into just a "beep-beep" initially, and a verbal announcement if strength increases past a certain threshold. The City 1/2 modes are the regular X-band sensitivity reduction features standard on virtually all detectors.

[MEM-TEK]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your nice comments regarding my first-ever radar detector review. I intend to polish it up a bit after I look at again in another day or two. Yet I was anxious to publish and share my review because it was so much fun to do.

...K band warning i feel is quite deceptive on 78 cos i hardly get very noisy blips like in v1 for door openers but when it comes to actual police K i detected both I/O and C/O more than a mile away which is more than enough.

I agree. Actually, I love using the Pro78 around town since it is not alerting to really distant K band door openers all the time. As an "around town" radar detector, the Pro78 is relatively quiet and is a nice alternative for those who can't afford Escort's Passport 9500i.

Great job man I think we are seen a shift in this industry from "professionals" doing reviews to hard core enthusiasts! The following statement shows me your integrity and honesty "The unit which I have been evaluating was sent to me by Michael B of Whistler". You could have kept that a secret but that is not your character. GREAT job Mem-Tek

Integrity is everything to me. I felt compelled to mention this.

...I'll play the role of Michael B's parrot in answering some of the untied ends in your review based on things Mike B has said before...

Jdong brings up a lot of good stuff in his post above. I will get around to editing my review and including additional info about how the Pro78's filtering works.

I really hope that other non-professional RD fanatics will take the time to write their own reviews too.

[bigalinwv]

Nice job! I find the one-at-a-time reviews much more information-filled than the huge tests of 10 or more at a time. I always read those and then realize that you truly don't know alot about the "personality" of each detector, just raw distance data.

[jdong]

Comparative tests are always nice for the big picture but a detector is much more than a set of detection distances. Each detector has its own "personality" and MEM-TEK did a great job of documenting the Pro-78. I like reading extended reviews by experienced owners of their units for their personal opinion. "I just got this" reviews that you see on shopping sites are informative but often very positive-biased thanks to new owner's syndrome.

[passlabs]

Fantastic cant recall a review like that about a radar detector so in depth in context, it took me fifteen minutes to read the review and look over the photos. Cudos 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[Ck15]

it felt like i was reading another product overview, didnt really understand the homemade x and k tests rather hear about real encounters. im not saying its a bad review just tasted kind of bland