Beltronics v995 in UK - Should I Bother?

Hi all,

I live in the UK and I use the CamerAlert app for GPS-based alerts at the moment, and I was curious about getting a radar detector. I bought a cheap one from China and to my surprise it actually works, but it works a little bit too well as it gives false alerts on almost every traffic light with a traffic detection box sat on top of it, on a variety of different bands (K, Ka, rarely Ku).

So this renders the unit useless around town, but okay for motorways/highways. I was looking at upgrading to a Beltronics v995 which appears to do all the bands I need along with a good set of features, and a low price point when purchased 2nd hand.

My question is is there any point buying this unit in the UK since almost all LEOs use laser detection now? Will it still give false alerts at almost every traffic light?


My daily drive is typically a short trip down the motorway and some city driving occassionally.

Thanks for any info you can give.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scc

Hi all,

I live in the UK and I use the CamerAlert app for GPS-based alerts at the moment, and I was curious about getting a radar detector. I bought a cheap one from China and to my surprise it actually works, but it works a little bit too well as it gives false alerts on almost every traffic light with a traffic detection box sat on top of it, on a variety of different bands (K, Ka, rarely Ku).

So this renders the unit useless around town, but okay for motorways/highways. I was looking at upgrading to a Beltronics v995 which appears to do all the bands I need along with a good set of features, and a low price point when purchased 2nd hand.

My question is is there any point buying this unit in the UK since almost all LEOs use laser detection now? Will it still give false alerts at almost every traffic light?


My daily drive is typically a short trip down the motorway and some city driving occassionally.

Thanks for any info you can give.

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Welcome. Actually a detector that falses too much is not so good. Effective filtering and signal rejection balanced with superb detection is the mark of a great detector.

Personally I would tend to stay away from the V(ector) series at this point. The Pro series would be the better play. Even better, the Escort Redline would be my recommendation for you followed by the STi Magnum (segmentable) as a very close second. Both detectors are basically as good as it gets in the windshield mounts. Plus they have advanced signal filtering and rejection that would be far superior to your Chinese model. The laser sensitivity is also great.

If you are really interested in superb laser detection (the very best), I would strongly recommend a current V1 set in Euro mode. It may be a little harder to get from the states, but, IMO, it would be worth the effort. Let us know which way you ultimately choose and good luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Veil Guy

Welcome. Actually a detector that falses too much is not so good. Effective filtering and signal rejection balanced with superb detection is the mark of a great detector.

Personally I would tend to stay away from the V(ector) series at this point. The Pro series would be the better play. Even better, the Escort Redline would be my recommendation for you followed by the STi Magnum (segmentable) as a very close second. Both detectors are basically as good as it gets in the windshield mounts. Plus they have advanced signal filtering and rejection that would be far superior to your Chinese model. The laser sensitivity is also great.

If you are really interested in superb laser detection (the very best), I would strongly recommend a current V1 set in Euro mode. It may be a little harder to get from the states, but, IMO, it would be worth the effort. Let us know which way you ultimately choose and good luck!

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Thanks for the recommendations.

The reason I was looking at the Vector series at the moment is because of the performance at that low price point (~$130 used). I wanted to keep the price low as I'm wary of the usefulness of these detectors when it's mainly laser over here, but if they generate a lot of the same false alerts then it's a shame that the vector series won't do very well for me.

I would love to buy an Escort redline but at ~$360 used it's just out of my price range given that I can't be sure how useful it will be over here. If it generates too many false alerts I would imagine I would just leave it turned off.

Perhaps the Bel Pro 200 would be a good choice for me as it appears to have TSR.

The V1 is nice but a little chunky and far more expensive than the Escort so that's off the table unfortunately.

Also, for perspective, my Chinese detector (which I got mainly just to play around with) was $20, so not surprised it's bad with falses as there's probably no filtering at all!

Thanks again

I have a V1 mounted in one vehicle I own and a Bel Vector 995 mounted in the other. Lately, the V1 has been rendered almost useless due to constant chirping and chatter, and indicating numerous false bogies in even remote/rural areas. On the other hand, the Vector 995 has remained quite the stellar performer with rarely any influence from junk signals. Maybe I got one manufactured on a Wednesday ... I don't know ... but it simply performs exceptionally well for it's age.

Regarding my V1, I just received it yesterday, back from Valentine, after having sent it in for an upgrade. I'll try it out today to check the performance improvement. By the way, I sent my V1 in to Valentine last Friday, June 3rd, for the upgrade. I got an email from them the following Monday, June 6th, with a tracking number indicating my V1 was on it's way home, upgrade completed! Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, it arrived yesterday, June 9th. Now that is FAST in anyone's book! HATS OFF TO VALENTINE FOR SUCH A QUICK TURN-A-ROUND!!

OkeefenokeeJoe

995 is a good detector, but after a few years have big reability problems....well known self cal messages...

i have had my 995 for over 5 years without a hitch.