Considering an upgrade.

[Telkar]

I suppose ill stick with what I have. They're both in mint condition, I love the oldschool clicking automute and their range beats anything under $250 on the market considering some tests I've done with a friend. The new v995 couldn't beat either of them....and the sti only beat them on, like gto_04 mentioned, 35.5.

I wish they had kept that feature! I find the automute completely useless on every Escort/Bel model I have had...........it drops the volume down WAY too much.

That "clicking" type mute was superb. You had already identified the band by the initial audio tone and the clicks just verified that the signal was still there. It was similar to the sound of the vehicle's "indicators" and therefore not at all irritating.

Let's make a petition for Beltronics to re-introduce it -- as an option in the preferences menu.

Amen to that. If you have voice on, it does the alert, tells you the band, then switches to clicking....which ramps up or down depending on signal strength. Imho, I prefer this to anything as it keeps me informed without driving everyone else in the car, or truck, crazy. Im a computer tech so I keep all of my electronics in pristine condition. Though I need to buy a k and ka gun to recalibrate if needed (they're both spot on still, I know some local leos and they've been kind enough to shoot me with their k, ka, and even lidar...I've found these old beltronics actually perform well vs lidar as long as the hit is atleast 250-350ft.

[frankw]

Its a shame they dont service these anymore. I have two and love them.I was hoping to send them in for a tune up but I guess Ill keep them until they no longer work.

[Ray]

I'm with yall on that. I have an old Bel 980 that was an excellent RD. I retired it as a back up when I bought my RX65. Decided to check it out one day and it no longer functions properly, kind of hard to explain. Although, I believe Beltronics still services the 985 unless that recently changed within the past month or so.

[frankw]

I thought they serviced them too so i sent them an email thursday and the reply was they no longer service them.

[Ray]

I thought they serviced them too so i sent them an email thursday and the reply was they no longer service them.

Huh!?!? That's interesting and very disappointing.

[frankw]

Its disappointing for sure. He told me i could use it as a trade in but they no longer service them.

[Ray]

I would like to get past the sales reps and customer service reps and talk to an actual technician and see if they still have some stuff "in the back" somewhere and fix them. I'm sure it's all minor stuff. Customer service reps are just going to try and sell you something, hence the standard line: "you can use it as a trade in...". All they know is what their supervisor tells them.

[frankw]

I will give them a call and see if that was just a line trying to sell me a new model.

[Ray]

I will give them a call and see if that was just a line trying to sell me a new model.

I have called them. You will talk to a customer service rep. Ask them if you can talk to a technician directly. It was about a month ago when I asked them if they still worked on the 980's and they said no, they do work on the 985's. I've been meaning to call back and ask if I can speak with a technician directly but been busy with other things. I'm not sure how much difference there is between the 980 and the 985 besides features, such as freq. identification, etc. Let us know what you come up with.

[frankw]

I will let you know what they tell me.