V955 - Poor Range

[The Notorious Frosty]

Let me first state that this is the first RD I have ever owned.

I recently purchased the Beltronics V955 after reading numerous reviews. It seemed like it was the best (if not the only) radar detector worth purchasing in the sub $200 price point.



I have been very satisfied with its ability to filter out false signals, but I have been incredibly disappointed in its range.

I have had it for two weeks now and have experienced the following results:
LEO three cars behind me, KA band with only 1 bar of strength. Signal pops on and off (he could have been turning the RD on and off). But one bar of strength?

With LEOs sitting facing me with KA I typically get .2 to .3 miles of warning. This is in open desert, no curves or trees around. Moderate traffic.

When LEOs are facing away from me I typically get .01 to .2 miles of warning.

Photo radar: REALLY Poor performance. For fixed mounted cameras the RD NEVER goes off. Movable vans, the RD goes off when I am directly parallel, and if I am lucky, 50 feet in advance.

Does this performance seem typical to you? I need to decide if I want to return it and purchase another model. Currently it's about as useful as a paperweight. I can see LEOs far sooner than the RD ever goes off.

The V955 is mounted directly below my RV mirror. It sits perfectly horizontal with the front of the RD touching the window. Can you think of any possible issues here?

Thanks!

[Woodscolby]

For the first situation with the officer behind you, was this also in the desert area and were there cars in front of you? If there were no cars in front of you, there would be little for the radar from the officers car to reflect off of and back to your radar detector. The only detector with a rear antenna is the Valentine One. All other detectors rely on reflections off of objects in front of the car to pick up an officer behind.

The most likely explanation for the officers facing you is that they are running selective instant on. Meaning they will only send out radar when they see a car that they think is speeding. So that car may be .3 miles ahead of you but the officer did not use his radar earlier than that car.

Officers facing away also brings up the question, was this also in the desert? If it was, there was most likely nothing for the radar to reflect off of. If he is on the side of the road and is projecting radar off into the distance with nothing to reflect off of you will not pick up the radar until you get into the radar. If there are cars, it can bounce back and forth down the highway picking him up earlier.

Mostly all radar detectors perform badly against photo radar vans. They are low powered cameras that read your speed and take your picture as you pass the van. Your best bet against photo radar vans is to get a program like trapster on your phone or set a route online on the Trapster website and have it send you text messages of where the vans are.

Your radar sounds like it is in an alright position, make sure it is facing straight forwards level with the road. I have had a 955, 965, and RX65. They are all good detectors and the 955 is a good one to start at. If you are detecting falses well then the situations I described above are most likely your issue.

[djrams80]

Let me first state that this is the first RD I have ever owned.

I recently purchased the Beltronics V955 after reading numerous reviews. It seemed like it was the best (if not the only) radar detector worth purchasing in the sub $200 price point.



I have been very satisfied with its ability to filter out false signals, but I have been incredibly disappointed in its range.

I have had it for two weeks now and have experienced the following results:
LEO three cars behind me, KA band with only 1 bar of strength. Signal pops on and off (he could have been turning the RD on and off). But one bar of strength?

With LEOs sitting facing me with KA I typically get .2 to .3 miles of warning. This is in open desert, no curves or trees around. Moderate traffic.

When LEOs are facing away from me I typically get .01 to .2 miles of warning.

Photo radar: REALLY Poor performance. For fixed mounted cameras the RD NEVER goes off. Movable vans, the RD goes off when I am directly parallel, and if I am lucky, 50 feet in advance.

Does this performance seem typical to you? I need to decide if I want to return it and purchase another model. Currently it's about as useful as a paperweight. I can see LEOs far sooner than the RD ever goes off.

The V955 is mounted directly below my RV mirror. It sits perfectly horizontal with the front of the RD touching the window. Can you think of any possible issues here?

Thanks!

What kind of car are you driving?

The fixed speed cameras throughout Arizona do not use radar, they use induction loops buried in the road, so there is nothing for your v955 to detect. The mobile cameras use very weak K band radar. The best of the best RDs struggle mightily against these vans. The mid-level Bel Vectors aren't sensitive enough to give you much warning against these vans.

[The Notorious Frosty]

In the scenario where the LEO is behind me, there were quite a few cars in front of me and behind me.


I seem to detect falses at about the same range as I do legitimate radar signals.

I have also had instances where I had .1-.2 miles of range and the LEO was driving at me on the opposite lane of the highway with the radar gun on constantly. So realistically, if I traveled .1-.2 miles, the total range was .2-.4 miles (since the officer was traveling a distance as well). There was no median on the highway either.

The maximum range I have ever seen for any type of signal, K, X, KA, Laser, you name it has been .4 miles.

More than anything, I am concerned about my range for radar coming from in front of me. I was wondering if there is anything important to keep in mind when mounting the RD that the instructions fail to mention.

[The Notorious Frosty]

I drive an 06 Mustang GT and live in Phoenix. Good to know that it's not uncommon to have trouble detecting mobile vans. I don't know if it matters, but all of the mobile radar units seem to use K band and all of the LEOs I have seen were using KA band.

[2Bolt]

Man that does sound disappointing. Especially if your out in open desert.
I find I like the V1 for the open road - sensitivity, especially rear sensitivity, and the arrows to go along with that.
In town, I use the 9500ix as it's calm. I could use the V1 and just decipher it's language, but sometimes I like to minimize the alerts.

V1 for the open travel
9500ix for in town

[KaPro]

Your mounting location is not the problem. I think you have a dull performing 955. Can you send it back for an exchange? It is what it is as far as the mobile cams goes.

[gilberto814]

I run a 955 and yours has a definate problem. With Ka and K on my RD in a front facing LEO C/O my pick up is at the lowest a mile or over a mile on a stright road. I agree with KaPro and you have performance problems and problems with your RD.