...Another One of thos annyoing newbies

[JamesK]

Sorry guys I know what it's like to have a another one of me around, we come by a dime a dozen but you got to start somewhere right? Anyway I'll get straight to it since I really should be study for my exam which is in a few hours. I recently bought a new/old Bel Sti (New as in it's never been opened, old as in it was made in WEEK 5 YEAR 2006 , and bought as in: hey bro your in the states mind shipping it to me since it outrageously cheaper over there and leave it to my tech challenged brother to send me an outdated one) but anyway I have several questions on my mind first being my firmware rev is A2M8 and thanks to handy search I've discovered I'm at least 2 revisions behind, I am quite clueless what all this Ramp and 33.8 problems everyone has been talking about and wondering what are people opinions on my outdated STI? I really want to send it in to get upgraded but that means sending it all the way back to the US of A....god i miss that place...and I just got IT! I also heard since it was bought cheaply from a company that was going under (they bought a boat load and they were liquidating) I doubt Bel will be to happy to take mine in although I received a "Service Required" notification after about 30 mins of use but I'm pretty sure it was because I live in Victoria, Australia the sun pretty much cooked it (I've been reading how it's coming up when it gets to hot) so I'm going to test drive it at night where operating temp will be great and the coppers cant see it (Victorian police HATE RD's) Concerning that issue I wanted to know where you guys place your RD? I want it to be effective but I need to hide it cause of the law I heard it's around $1500AU fine ($1000US) I've got a speaker and hardwire cord but I have no idea where to place it I'm going to get my windows tinted to it's harder to see but i've been primary looking at "Radar detector housings" and maybe hiding it in my engine bay? Also the visor looks pretty tempting but the 5-0 don't strike me here to be that dumb (I know about the STI-R but it's out of my price range)

Anyway in short:
What do you think of me sending my un-warranted STI with rev A2M8 for an upgrade? And even though it was manufactured 2 years ago (almost 3) does that make it worse of an RD?

Whats this whole rampup 33.8 & deali-o?

Where's the best place to hide your STI?

Comments and suggestion from other STI owners in Melbourne Australia

I'm really interested in your 2 cents and any advice is appreciated I know how annoying newbies (ie ME) can get..thank you so much in advanced

James

[RoadCourseRacer]

JamesK: First off, Welcome to the forum!! I do not own an STi but I believe that if your STi has the serial # intact then Bel should provide the updates for a fee. Call Bel and tell them your situation and find out what they charge for the work. The problem is going through customs twice!!! Should take some time for the STi to arrive in the states and the same returning home to you.

[JamesK]

Yea the idea of it going through customs TWICE is a bit nerve racking it's basically new everything is intact still has that new detector small buy yea just worried about the rev waiting to 9:00 EST to talk on their live chat thing lol

[RoadCourseRacer]

Yea the idea of it going through customs TWICE is a bit nerve racking it's basically new everything is intact still has that new detector small buy yea just worried about the rev waiting to 9:00 EST to talk on their live chat thing lol

Good luck and let us know what Belscort has to say! Maybe you won't need an upgrade.

[JamesK]

Thanks road, just emailed them (9"oclock and still not online at live chat) post their respones, also I wanted to ask I seem to be getting quite a few K band alerts (driving from home to the city) Never really owned an RD before is this normal? And also I get quite a bit of X band alerts (I know it's not used in AUS but this was my first test run didn't want to fiddle with the settings, it's off now) does anyone know why? I mean does anything else use that freq? Although sometimes as the X band got stronger it would change to K band....

[Aoshi]

As a new owner of a RD detector, you need to start training yourself to be aware of the automatic door openers around you.. Basically, you need to look out for stores located on or very near the road, as all door openers operate on the same radar frequencies as police radar and will trigger an alert.

I highly suggest you check the regional forum and see if anyone has listed off which bands are actually in use in your area. You may find that X-Band isn't even in use there anymore and you can just turn off monitoring of it... that would eliminate quite a few false alerts I'm sure.

[JamesK]

No one else can help answer some of the other questions? Please?....prob should of chose a better name..dammit

[Aoshi]

hehe, I think it's cause everything is already answered several times in the forums.

The 33.8 fix addresses a very serious issue where the STI is almost entirely DEAF to 33.8 KA band. I don't know if this band is popular where you are, but it's almost entirely the enforcement here. If you do elect to send it back in, don't worry about customs. Return it as "Automotive Electronics", manufacturered in Canada and being returned to the US for warrenty repairs. Customs won't even look twice at it. Just make sure you properly declare it's value for insurance!

Yes, there are newer hardware revisions on the STI, but if I recall correctly the changes are mainly cosmetic... A 3 year old STI should perform as well as a new one if you get the software updated.

As for hiding your STI - I guess the best place would be getting a visor pocket for it. Most RD places carry some version of it for around $20USD.

[RoadCourseRacer]

Thanks road, just emailed them (9"oclock and still not online at live chat) post their respones, also I wanted to ask I seem to be getting quite a few K band alerts (driving from home to the city) Never really owned an RD before is this normal? And also I get quite a bit of X band alerts (I know it's not used in AUS but this was my first test run didn't want to fiddle with the settings, it's off now) does anyone know why? I mean does anything else use that freq? Although sometimes as the X band got stronger it would change to K band....

Any news? As for the X band and K band signals, Here in the U.S we receive lots of false alerts from door openers and from cheap detectors that leak signals!!
What mode are you using? Autoscan, Highway,etc. You have a very sensitive radar detector and I would use the Autoscan to try and eliminate falses. Also like Aoshi stated, you need to start learning where falses are on your driving route, that way you will know when you detect a new signal in an area where you normally receive a false!
Keep us informed and it does take some time to get used to the best way to use the detector! If used correctly it will improve your awareness which helps you avoid other driving problems such as impending wrecks,etc.

[JamesK]

Yea they e-mailed me they don't seem to mind taking my radar in however I'm trying to get it done a little closer to home I've been recommended to our local authorised dealer (Neltronics) I've heard a lot of bad things about them on this forum though, what do you guys think? I'm still waiting for them to get back to me but I'll let you guys know how everything goes down

Thanks again for you help

James