compu44
10-09-2005, 04:20 PM
Recently my Bel RX65 had to be shipped off for service, and I picked up a Whistler 1730 to use while it was gone. I've been using it for about two weeks now, and thought i'd post my results for anyone that's interested.
The 1730 is a small unit, it's got a black casing with grey buttons, so windshield glare is minimal. It no longer ships with the silver windshield mount, it's now painted flat black. This makes it much less noticable from outside the car.
The detector comes with a 5ft straight cord, windshield mount (only one set of suction cups) and a very brief manual.
The build quality seems pretty good, it actually feels fairly solid. The cord sticks firmly in the detector and lighter socket.
The detector uses LED lights across the front for the indications. They are FAR too dim to see in sunlight. The only way I could see them during bright sun was to mount the detector behind the tint strip and right above my head. The sounds were also horribly weak, especially the K-Band tone. They were easily overpowered by 65 mph with the windows down. The tones are distinct for each band except for Ka and X. If they were different, it was close enough that I couldn't tell. If you've got anything but an extremely quiet vehicle, you need ot look elsewhere. I've had the same problem with tones being WAY too quiet on another non-voice whistler that I used. The voice models are a lot louder, but still not close to the Bel's tones.
The 1730 has only three buttons plus the power/volume wheel. It has a City mode, Quiet button, and a VG2 cloak button. The city mode is a half-hearted attempt - it beeps twice when a signal is first detected, then goes silent until the signal reaches full strength (line-of-sight with the radar source). It does this for ALL THREE bands as well. If you miss the initial alert, you're screwed with city mode on. The quiet mode works like it did on the older Bel Vector models, it alerts for several seconds at normal volume, then switches to a clicking sound for the duration of the alert. It is a neat feature, but not really nescessary due to the low alert volume of the unit. I didn't use the VG2 cloaking mode since I have no need for it in Illlinois. These features all re-set every time you turn the detector off, but I found that the default settings (highway mode, quiet mode off, VG2 cloak off) were the best for me anyway.
Detection was surprising for such a cheap ($40) detector. It certainly wasn't even in the same league as some more expensive detectors, but it seemed to be about the same as a $100 Cobra ESD9210 that i'd owned previously. Normally about 5 seconds pre-warning to K and Ka, sometimes a little more. No more than 10 seconds. In comparison to the Cobra, it seemed like I got a little better warning to K with the Whistler, and a little better to Ka with the Cobra. I didn't have any encounters with Laser.
So, to wrap it all up-
Pros - Detection for the money
Ease of use
Build quality
Cons- Audio Volume
LED brightness
Who it's good for-
Someone that occasionally drifts a little (5-10) over the speed limit and has a quiet vehicle.
If any of you guys and gals have any specific questions, i'll answer them as best I can.
http://www.whistlergroup.com/images/detectors/1730.jpg
The 1730 is a small unit, it's got a black casing with grey buttons, so windshield glare is minimal. It no longer ships with the silver windshield mount, it's now painted flat black. This makes it much less noticable from outside the car.
The detector comes with a 5ft straight cord, windshield mount (only one set of suction cups) and a very brief manual.
The build quality seems pretty good, it actually feels fairly solid. The cord sticks firmly in the detector and lighter socket.
The detector uses LED lights across the front for the indications. They are FAR too dim to see in sunlight. The only way I could see them during bright sun was to mount the detector behind the tint strip and right above my head. The sounds were also horribly weak, especially the K-Band tone. They were easily overpowered by 65 mph with the windows down. The tones are distinct for each band except for Ka and X. If they were different, it was close enough that I couldn't tell. If you've got anything but an extremely quiet vehicle, you need ot look elsewhere. I've had the same problem with tones being WAY too quiet on another non-voice whistler that I used. The voice models are a lot louder, but still not close to the Bel's tones.
The 1730 has only three buttons plus the power/volume wheel. It has a City mode, Quiet button, and a VG2 cloak button. The city mode is a half-hearted attempt - it beeps twice when a signal is first detected, then goes silent until the signal reaches full strength (line-of-sight with the radar source). It does this for ALL THREE bands as well. If you miss the initial alert, you're screwed with city mode on. The quiet mode works like it did on the older Bel Vector models, it alerts for several seconds at normal volume, then switches to a clicking sound for the duration of the alert. It is a neat feature, but not really nescessary due to the low alert volume of the unit. I didn't use the VG2 cloaking mode since I have no need for it in Illlinois. These features all re-set every time you turn the detector off, but I found that the default settings (highway mode, quiet mode off, VG2 cloak off) were the best for me anyway.
Detection was surprising for such a cheap ($40) detector. It certainly wasn't even in the same league as some more expensive detectors, but it seemed to be about the same as a $100 Cobra ESD9210 that i'd owned previously. Normally about 5 seconds pre-warning to K and Ka, sometimes a little more. No more than 10 seconds. In comparison to the Cobra, it seemed like I got a little better warning to K with the Whistler, and a little better to Ka with the Cobra. I didn't have any encounters with Laser.
So, to wrap it all up-
Pros - Detection for the money
Ease of use
Build quality
Cons- Audio Volume
LED brightness
Who it's good for-
Someone that occasionally drifts a little (5-10) over the speed limit and has a quiet vehicle.
If any of you guys and gals have any specific questions, i'll answer them as best I can.
http://www.whistlergroup.com/images/detectors/1730.jpg