Is something wrong with my 955?

[junior8]

You guys know your stuff so i hope you can shed some light on this for me. I just bought a 955 after having a 940 for a year and a half. The 955 seems like a crapra compared to my 940. I work right next to my local police dept so my RD gets a good test everyday. (They run constant on Ka and K). My 940 seemed like it would alert sooner coming up to work. Also once it got a Ka alert it would hold the alert and ramp up the closer i got to the police station. The 955 gives me the Ka alert with one bar then goes away, then come back again with one bar even though im right on top of the radar source. Even tho it worked fine with the usual false X band spots aound my house I returned it to CC and got another figuring i got a bad one. Well no difference with the next one. I passed a trooper on the highway with this one. They sit in the medians with constant on Ka. The 955 alerted Ka with one bar AFTER i saw the trooper. His car was pointing right at me. It held the Ka alert at one bar until i got right up on him then it went back to Highway. never ramped up. He was sitting there on the phone so i know it wasnt instant on. Was frustrated after that so i went back home and got the 940 and drove by the same spot. 940 worked fine. alereted me almost a mile in advance and ramped up as i got closer to him. so i brought the 955 back to CC again and got another one. Try it one more time. Any ideas from anyone? I'm sure the 955 has newer firmware than the 940. The 955 has 6.3. i checked it. POP, SWS off. I run it in highway mode all the time. Is this normal with the new firmware? Did i get two bad RDs? Just got the third so i havent tested it out yet.

[focalcivic]

You guys know your stuff so i hope you can shed some light on this for me. I just bought a 955 after having a 940 for a year and a half. The 955 seems like a crapra compared to my 940. I work right next to my local police dept so my RD gets a good test everyday. (They run constant on Ka and K). My 940 seemed like it would alert sooner coming up to work. Also once it got a Ka alert it would hold the alert and ramp up the closer i got to the police station. The 955 gives me the Ka alert with one bar then goes away, then come back again with one bar even though im right on top of the radar source. Even tho it worked fine with the usual false X band spots aound my house I returned it to CC and got another figuring i got a bad one. Well no difference with the next one. I passed a trooper on the highway with this one. They sit in the medians with constant on Ka. The 955 alerted Ka with one bar AFTER i saw the trooper. His car was pointing right at me. It held the Ka alert at one bar until i got right up on him then it went back to Highway. never ramped up. He was sitting there on the phone so i know it wasnt instant on. Was frustrated after that so i went back home and got the 940 and drove by the same spot. 940 worked fine. alereted me almost a mile in advance and ramped up as i got closer to him. so i brought the 955 back to CC again and got another one. Try it one more time. Any ideas from anyone? I'm sure the 955 has newer firmware than the 940. The 955 has 6.3. i checked it. POP, SWS off. I run it in highway mode all the time. Is this normal with the new firmware? Did i get two bad RDs? Just got the third so i havent tested it out yet.

Here is the deal check the FCC # on both units. I wonder if the 940 is an S7? and the newer 955's are M4's. The S7's are typically better on Ka.

Also, why get the 955 anyway, if the 940 (the newer 940 right, what I mean by that is the case is the newer case like the 955) is working?

[junior8]

Just checked the FCC # and it is an M4. So are all the new vector RDs using M4 or just the 955. Cause its a big difference in Ka detection between the two. I cant believe a newer model would be that much worse than an older one on Ka. If another vector RD is using the S7 still i would prefer to get that instead. Otherwise i think i'll be getting the Whistler pro-78.
I put my old 940 in my wifes car. Thats why i got a new one. Thought i was getting the better end of the deal. Looks like i was wrong.

[Retaliation]

All new Bel and Escort models are using the M4 design. I can't imagine that there should be that much of a difference in performance between your two detectors. If you can still return/exchange that 955 I'd say go for it. Otherwise it sounds like you need to send it in to the factory and let them check it out.

[junior8]

Was looking through some other posts and saw one recently from dpatel01 who said his 8500 and 955s range was not as good with the M4 platform. My biggest complaint with it is Ka detection range is not nearly as good as the S7. And when you do get a Ka alert, instead of holding the alert it lets it go, goes back to highway mode, then alerts again even if you havent moved. Then seems to take longer to actually ramp up as you get closer to the radar source. Where i live they primarly use Ka. So i guess i do find a big difference between the two detectors. I just found out about the different platforms today thanks to focalcivic. I have already returned two 955s to CC thinking something was wrong

[MEM-TEK]

The S7 platform has been out of production for a while now. Your best bet for finding a brand new one is to call your local truck stop chains and ask the manager to check which Bel models they have on display with the FCC ID of QL4G1S7. Usually the display models have been sitting on the shelf for a year or so. The large truck stop chains such as Pilot which carry Bel products are authorized Bel dealers.

[junior8]

Thanks MEM-TEK. I will give that a try. But just out of curiousity, has anyone else noticed a big difference in Ka range with the different platforms?

[focalcivic]

Just checked the FCC # and it is an M4. So are all the new vector RDs using M4 or just the 955. Cause its a big difference in Ka detection between the two. I cant believe a newer model would be that much worse than an older one on Ka. If another vector RD is using the S7 still i would prefer to get that instead. Otherwise i think i'll be getting the Whistler pro-78.
I put my old 940 in my wifes car. Thats why i got a new one. Thought i was getting the better end of the deal. Looks like i was wrong.

Just to clarify your older 940 is an S7 then? If it is then keep the 940, the 955 is not much different anyway. If you really wanted to send the 940 in for a tune up, then you know for sure you have a winner.

I have an older 960 and it is killer on Ka. K band is not as strong esp with instant on K, but Ka is more of a threat in my opinion.

[Paperlantern]

Just checked the FCC # and it is an M4. So are all the new vector RDs using M4 or just the 955. Cause its a big difference in Ka detection between the two. I cant believe a newer model would be that much worse than an older one on Ka. If another vector RD is using the S7 still i would prefer to get that instead. Otherwise i think i'll be getting the Whistler pro-78.
I put my old 940 in my wifes car. Thats why i got a new one. Thought i was getting the better end of the deal. Looks like i was wrong.

Just to clarify your older 940 is an S7 then? If it is then keep the 940, the 955 is not much different anyway. If you really wanted to send the 940 in for a tune up, then you know for sure you have a winner.

I have an older 960 and it is killer on Ka. K band is not as strong esp with instant on K, but Ka is more of a threat in my opinion.

Well from what I gather he was getting the new detector so his wife would have one. I did the same thing when I got my 955 form CC. I would just add that I do not have the performance that youve experienced with my 955 as it is an S7. If you can get your hands on one I highly recommend it, excellent range on all bands, and very good ramp up. :wink: