UNOFFICIAL xtr-560 review

[AliG]

Well iv'e only had this thing for a week now and can only compare this to my old bel 925. As far as confirmed contact with l.e. i've only had 2. The 1st was a marked unit sitting 4 cars behind me at a stop light - rd picks up a 4/9 ka. 2nd contact was a marked unit unattended in a residential area, taking advantage of this i went up front bumper to front bumper and was suprised to only get a 8/9 k-band (yes my rd is located low on my dash). Now for known falsing x locations... out of about 10 times passing by these i picked up x-band 3 times, k-band 2times , ka 2 times, and vg2 alert 3 times. Now I don't know if that is normal for whistler but in the 2.5 years i owned my 925 i got a vg2 alert twice(both of which were on open interstate with visible L.e. in the area). I can't say whether or not i'd reccomend this yet but hopefully i've passed on some useful info for prospective buyers. Note: this is by no means a scientific controlled testing.

[boomerman]

Well I got my XTR 560 today and I have not had a chance to use it so I will only add information to this thread about the detector itself.
Will add performance information as it comes available and I get time to test it.

The first thing I noticed about the XTR 560 it is bigger than the PRO series.
The PRO series measures 4.65”x 2.95”x 1.45” The XTR 560 measures 5.3”x 3.12”x1.375

The Whistler XTR does not come with the extra accessories like the PRO series does.
The PRO gives you both a hard wired cord and a coiled cord and the non skid dash pad.
The XTR gives you the radar detector, 3 different color trim rings (black, pink and blue) and a straight power cord and that is it.
If you want the extra goodies that come with the pro you have to buy them separately!
Seems like Whistler is getting cheap!! I guess they figure since they had to spend some of the money for KU detection they had to leave some things out to keep the cost down.

The XTR comes in a plastic clam shell package and it is that hard type of plastic that you have to cut with scissors or a knife and hopefully you do not cut your self with the knife or the hard plastic.
The Pro Series comes in a box which I think looks more appealing, when you buy a high end radar detector it comes in a box NOT a plastic clamshell package.
Remember image is everything, so why cheapen your image by putting something in a plastic display?
I know the reason they do it is because of cost and it is easier for the reseller to display it take up less room on their shelves. The joys of marketing.

Changing the trim rings are very easy to do, but I would not recommend you change them all the time because the tabs will break.

Changing the text to what you want it to say on start up or alerts was pretty simple if you follow the directions.
To change the text all you have to do is hold down the quiet button once the unit is powered on this will get you to the options menu where you will do all of your changes for anything for the unit.

Changing the alerts to custom recorded ones is a little tricky but still pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
TIP: You must turn off the voice option to have the unit respond only with the custom recorded alerts.
One very interesting thing about the voice alerts is when it identifies the KU band is says caution instead of saying KU band. The rest of the bands are identified correctly.
I guess Whistler did not want to spend the money to have the voice identification recordings done over.

Do NOT expect any real quality with the recordings, you are working with something that has a very tiny speaker, I used my voice on x band and laser and used some music on the other alerts.
I can see a big problem here; the recordings are low so you are going to have to crank up the volume to hear them when the windows are down or you have the stereo up which will blow the speaker eventually.
This has been a problem with any Whistler that has voice alerts. They can not handle the higher volumes when using the voice alert.
TIP: Make sure your sound clips that you want to use are at least 15 seconds long to prevent the recording of the stop button press (click)allow the recording process to continue for 15 seconds and automatically time out.

The back light settings can be programmed to illuminate at certain times such as all the time, or only when alarming.
The owner’s manual does a good job of explaining this.

I left the best feature for last!!
You can disable any band you want on the XTR 560
You can disable k, ka x KU and Laser.
A very nice feature!!!
The rest of the feature of this unit is the same as the PRO series.
Well that gives you and idea about the unit and its features, as for performance we will have to wait and see.

[whistler]

Boomer is the detecton as good as the Pro 73 or is it the same. What detector do you think is better if you dont live where Ku is.

[boomerman]

I have only had one alert with it and it did well it was K band and I had about a 1/4 mile response time and the LEO was coming toward me from the opposite direction.

I have not had a chance to test it and hope to get that done this week.
I will say this it is much quiter than the pro series, Whistler has done a good job on the filtering with this model!!!!

Lots of places where my pro has given falses the XTR remained quiet!!
Running around in town with city mode 1 on has been impressive!!
If the detection is a good as the pro unit then this will be another unit I will keep.
Until I get some testing done I can not say for sure if it is better than the pro but based on filtering alone I like it better than my PRO series!

[asianfire]

you know, why would anyone want a plate other then the color black. any other color is going to reflect against the windsheld

[boomerman]

you know, why would anyone want a plate other then the color black. any other color is going to reflect against the windsheld

Even with black trim ring the silver coloring on the top and the chrome buttons still cause a reflection.
Some people do not care about the reflections they just want looks and I can see where the pink would make it attractive to women.
I know Speedqueen said if she had it she would use the pink trim ring.