Just published our new review of the Uniden LRD950 radar detector and plan on doing a video later this weekend or next week.
Here is what we just posted, would love your comments: https://www.radarbusters.com/Uniden-...iew-s/2522.htm
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Just published our new review of the Uniden LRD950 radar detector and plan on doing a video later this weekend or next week.
Here is what we just posted, would love your comments: https://www.radarbusters.com/Uniden-...iew-s/2522.htm
I saw! Yet-another LIAR about their product..or just ignorant. Excellent review.
Thanks Roy....Marty
I've been testing the new Uniden ALL day today and really surprised about a few things. Actually does ok with the Spectre as long as it is further away then 35 feet. Also one weird thing, if I shoot our ATR Ka band gun within 5 feet of the Uniden it will not detect it.
Another comprehensive, professional review.Quote:
Originally Posted by Radar Roy
What I took away is that it is suspect as to it's more aggressive claims, but not a phony useless brick, and likely worth about that $193.00 that it can be had for.
Except for the CS part. That gives me pause.
I have to question whether they realized with whom they were dealing.
If they did, if they were cognizant of who Roy Reyer is, then...that's like answering the phone and hearing "Hi, this is Chris Hansen with To Catch A Predator, and I'd like to ask you a few questions...".
Time to hunker down, go turtle, head for the potato cellar...
But if they didn't, if this is what Joe Lunchbucket is going to run into...
Hmmm...seems like they offer "Customer Service", but not "Customer Satisfaction", right Roy?
Ride safe,
CR
35 feet is actually very good, IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Radar Roy
The failing to alert to what amounts to essentially a point blank range shot may be a situation where the signal strength is too strong and exceeds the dynamic range of the unit. When that happens a detector may not alert.
Saw this years ago with a V1.
VG
Roy, you were testing it against the Spectre 1 and 4, when clearly the manual said it was invisible to the Spectra :rolleyes:
I'm glad to see Uniden back in the game, as there was a time when Uniden actually made good detectors. I remember in the mid-80's when they had the RD-9 (which believe it or not was a clone of the Cobra3160, which was also marketed to RadioShack as their own RoadPatrol XK) In fact, Car&Driver magazine ranked these units pretty favorably compared to the then champ Passport.
Later on Uniden came out with the RD9xl, which had great performance in the day in a super small package. In fact I recall it winning a C&D detector comparison.
/J
Bob, I agree, 30 feet is pretty damn good, I was shocked!
http://youtu.be/Z6zUTwMionE
Here is an instant on Ka-band test we did today which includes the Uniden LRD950
http://youtu.be/3RrzAkYljms
We have done so much testing out here this week that Escort Live determined that we are a speed trap location <grin>
Attachment 6648
We did a bunch of other tests this weekend with the Uniden LRD950 and on Constant on K and Ka it did ok, ranked along with the Whistler CR90.
One thing, this is NOT a $399 radar detector, it should sell in the area of $199 to $225 perhaps....
I wouldn't discount the LRD950 entirely. It's no Redline/V1, but it's definitely better than a Cobra.
Here's a quick test I did yesterday against a Cobra, Redline, and V1 around a bend.
http://youtu.be/sZSZeBnJ7YA
I'm doing a test tomorrow morning against a bunch of other $200'ish detectors, but driving around with it, it definitely seems to be holding its own so far.
For example, in terms of reactivity, it's actually FASTER than the Max/Max2 on Ka. It's neck-and-neck with BS/RDR Redline, only slightly behind a custom swept V1. Amazing performance there. K band reactivity is slower, however.
If you're gonna test this, make sure you avoid any overdriving issues like VG mentioned. If you do that, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with your ATR.
http://youtu.be/N2JeK7QcbPM
Range is decent. Not the same level as the higher end detectors, but still very usable.
http://youtu.be/7NiS1vRzpA0
http://youtu.be/Itfkg8q-uhw
K band blind spot filtering seems pretty good, but I need more time to really get a feel for that.
Its RLC alerts do suck as you found. It's alerted at two intersections that don't have any RLC's (just traffic cams on the traffic light posts), it missed the one legit speedcam I went through, and it also does the Max thing where it will alert to RLC's on parallel surface streets when you're cruising down the highway. The database is updateable online and is currently about 5 months old.
Rampup looks pretty decent as well.
It has built-in manual lockouts which do work, but you only get like 100, so you'll use them all up quick. I think its radius is pretty small though, like I have a false on the highway that I drive past and it looks like I can lock it out and then I'll see the lockout go away as I keep going past. It does stay muted though which is good. More testing needed to see if it alerts from the other direction before I get back in the lockout radius. If so, I'll need to use multiple lockouts for one signal, not good when we're already limited on quantity as it is.
I'll know more after tomorrow's test with a bunch of affordable detectors. It's not perfect, but it seems to be a solid contender from what I've seen so far.
When I saw this on the Webinar today (RE: ESCORT PLACES ROYS ADDRESS AS A SPEED TRAP-For SO MUCH TESTING).....I LMAO!! Poor Roy..NOW ESCORT is bangin on him!! LOL..... "If you are not being shot at--YOU are not close to the target"!!! You are on target-my friend. Thank you...MartytheMortician....
Its actually selling in the high $100 range, so the price point for its performance is actually pretty good. I haven't spoken to anyone who's paid full retail for one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Radar Roy
Not sure what's up with your results, Roy, but I've been testing out the LRD950 over the past few months and have been pleasantly surprised with the results.
https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.php?t=44373
https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.php?t=42809
https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.php?t=42737
I've had two of them now so far and both have been competing pretty favorably, consistently, with some of the other high end detectors. A couple other people have been testing them out and have been reporting similarly impressive results as well.
At $200, it's becoming a really interesting proposition. It's got many of the same features as the Max, and actually pretty similar performance, though admittedly it's not as refined as the Max, except you can get it for $200 instead of $550. It's maybe 80% of the Max at a fraction of the price.
It's doing so well that I recently had a LRD450 and LRD750 sent to me to see how they compare as well and see if maybe we can find some standouts in the affordable RD category.
After seeing your I/O tests, I spent some time bench testing the LRD950 and it's very responsive to K band. Surprisingly, this applies whether K band filtering is both on or off. I can't replicate your results with my LRD950.
by the way, the LRD950 does in fact have GPS lockouts. It has the ability to mark a location manually for you to get an alert, yes, and you can also lock out a false manually. Press the Mute/Dim button twice rapidly in the presence of a K band signal and it'll go to "Mute Memory" which is Uniden-speak for lockout. You only get 100 lockouts total and because of the small lockout radius, you may need several lockouts for one K band source, so you're going to run out of lockouts pretty quickly in practice. Like I said, the implementation of some of the features isn't as good as Escort's, but it has the feature nonetheless.
With respect to the LRD950 not alerting if the ATR is shot 5 feet away, that's normal. You're overdriving the detector. That happens with LOTS of detectors. They're designed to detect weak signals far away. If you blast it at point blank, you're going to get missed alerts, delayed alerts, and incorrect alerts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2JeK7QcbPM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlXqZfPjaB0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exe4i1WHZnk
Thanks for all the hard work and posting the results of your LRD950 comparison testing Vortex. That is how you test a radar detector.;)
Contrary to the results Roy has posted with his broken unit, the LRD950 is a lightening quick detector with impressive range. The best bang for the buck at $200 with performance that exceeds Escort's M4 detectors that range from $350 to $450. As you've shown, it will even give the $600 MAX2 a run for the money.
Certainly on the Best Buy list.
Yep yep. Given the affordability of these detectors, more and more people are acquiring them and doing their own testing.
Here's a test where it actually slightly edged out a V1 on 34.7: https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.p...l=1#post593707
Here's another with someone finding it topping their M4's and Whistlers: https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.p...l=1#post592628
Here's another person with good initial impressions of theirs vs a V1C: https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.p...l=1#post593790
Those are just a few examples I pulled up. There's others with these units as well.
We're also finding that the blind spot filtering on the 450, 750, and 950 is very good as well.
I did a quick makeshift test yesterday and it does look like the range of the 450 and 750 is lower than what we see with the 950, V1, M4's, and so on (makes sense given the cheaper units don't have the same LNA the 950 does), but further testing is needed to really get a solid feel for these units. The results continue to roll in...
I'm really starting to wonder if you had a busted unit or something Roy. It may be worth retesting, based on what I'm seeing. Other than your review, I haven't heard anything bad about the LRD950's performance yet. Complaints about its RLC database, yes, but not its radar detection capabilities.
by the way, if you do retest, please don't run the detector next to the Redline like that. Even though it's stealth to the Spectre at normal distances, it still leaks enough that it can be detected at very close distances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qHiydF02yM
I'm curious how the 950 will stack up against the RedLines off excess sensitivity. That would be the true test in my opinion.
Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
More test results are rolling in and again the LRD950 is doing a fantastic job. It's often able to hang with the Redline and V1. It's even topping the Max with many of the same features at a fraction of the price.
https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.php?t=45392
https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.p...l=1#post603655
Looks like Uniden is also releasing an LRD850 if you want the performance of the LRD950 but don't need the GPS functionality (ie. lockouts, low speed muting, RLC alerts). It's looking like we've got some solid new performers on the market.
Gleaning HC's results from recent testing, it does NOT do off-axis like an M3 does off axis. Although the LRD does very well on 34.7, beating even the V1C and Radenso in testing.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJR238
Impressive. Think ill stick with my M3's but it certainly sounds like a great cost effective option.Quote:
Originally Posted by PointerConeGleaning HC's results from recent testing, it does NOT do off-axis like an M3 does off axis. Although the LRD does very well on 34.7, beating even the V1C and Radenso in testing.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJR238
I've posted this on other forums but my 950 is on par with my V1 as far as Ka 34.7 detection goes..
I am currently using an LRD950 and I can tell you that so far it has been the quietest RD I have ever used. I am using firmware 1.51. I can't comment on its performance yet but everything else so far on this RD has been impressive!
I've heard great things from lots of people about the Uniden, so I wonder being I had one of their first models if there was something screwed up with it? We also tested the same unit at the Shootout and didn't do well there either.
I think so, Roy. The very first unit I got had serious reception issues. Send yours in, like me, and let's give it a second look. VGQuote:
Originally Posted by Radar Roy
So before you guys go back and retest this unit (please do it properly, one detector at a time, and mounted on the windshield), can you check what firmware version you're running?
Some people have reported better results with the older firmware versions, but I'm not sure yet if that's simply sample variation. 1.22 is the earliest version I've heard of and some people are still receiving older firmware revisions on brand new units. Heck even the brand new one I received earlier this week shipped with 1.22 on it. There's also 1.35, 1.37, 1.48, 1.51, etc... so lots of improvements and changes over time. Plenty of testing has been done with the older versions along with the newer versions and they've all done well.
Can you double check what version you've tested? I don't think it'll make a big difference in the end, but it's something to consider before writing things off as simply being due to earlier production unit or version.
I'll have to check. I will say this, I have refrained from a review because of the disappointing performance. So much so, I had it checked in a chamber and its reception was seriously off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vortex
We believe is that it's hardware. Not firmware. Keep in mind too, I had one of the very first units. So I wouldn't rule out early production or QA variance issue.
VG
We got one of the earliest versions Vortex, 1.22 and those were the 1st tests we did with it. Then we updated it to 1.35 for our April shootout.
It's going to be awhile before we do anymore retesting, but Vortex I have complete trust with your findings, perhaps I just got a dud??
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vortex
Gotcha. Sounds like it's not firmware dependent. Thanks for clarifying.Quote:
Originally Posted by Radar Roy
Given that you were running two detectors side by side, we can't rule out interference either. I know it was a Redline you tested with, but even the Redline will alert to the Spectre if you put it close enough. It's effectively stealth to RDD's in practice, true, but that doesn't mean that it's truly leak-free at very close distances. I've run a V1 and Redline together for a while and noticed the V1 would affect the Redline and sometimes vice versa. Because of this, it's hard to take your I/O results seriously when you're breaking one of the cardinal sins of radar detector testing, you know? Weird stuff can and will happen and we gotta do everything in our power not to do anything that could incorrect skew the results.
As for the radar shootout you did, are you referring to the one where you were handholding detectors while the radar gun was being transmitted? I wasn't there and I only saw the little clip you posted on youtube, but how can we be sure that some detectors weren't pointed off in different directions, incorrectly skewing the results? Is it possible that one detector was being tested on axis while another was being tested off axis, for example? Radar detector sensitivity can vary significantly based on the angle the horn is receiving the signal so you looked to be introducing a bunch of variables that could easily be invalidating your results.
It's certainly possible that you had a dud of a detector. Things happen. At the same time, we have to make sure the testing itself is conducted properly for obvious reasons.
Never thought of the Redline interfering with the other detectors so you bring up a valid point with your experiences with your I/O tests, thanks for sharing..
the LRD950 is an AMAZING RD. Its not nerve wrecking and when it alerts you get plenty of warningQuote:
Originally Posted by Radar Roy
I picked one of these up the other day. I have to admit the range on KA blows the 9500IX (if that is even a contender it todays age) away. Other than that- this thing has been the quietest detector I have ever owned. It would be nice if they could bypass Escorts autolearn patent by simply "suggesting" if a known alert is to be added to its Mute Memory- then the user would have to tap the mute button to confirm they want it ignored.
This thing has some serious potential to rival the big boys with a price tag like this.
