so did anybody get their new xtr-695

**Michael B** · 08-21-2008, 01:08 PM

I run BRT-BRT and have no problems seeing it as long as the internal temperature of the vehicle does not exceed 150 degrees.

You would be surprised at how hot a vehicle gets in the summer sun parked for an extended amount of time with the windows up.

About 25 years ago I left a licence plate cover on my dashboard as I had not yet installed it, and it deformed due to excessive heat build up on a hot summer day.

Needless to say I purchased a cheap thermometer and put it in my car the next day only to find it can get well over 160 degrees if you leave your windows up and park in the sun during the summer months even here in New England.

Park in a shady area and crack your windows down an inch and there should be no issues.

**Sarge** · 08-21-2008, 01:21 PM

LOL...well Michael it gets 160f in the shade here

I have it on BRT-BRT and literally cannot see anything even with the A/C on and going down the road it is hard to make out.....we now have another one (neighbor) and his is the same thing...so it isnt defective just painful to try and make out what is in the display. The Pro78 is a great display....bright and easy to read.....Disregard my other thread...I was curious what other 690 owners do....Maybe I'll just sell it and get another Pro 78...I dunno....or trade it for a new Pro 68....as always I sure appreciate your participation here...I respect your info/opinion.

**Sarge** · 08-21-2008, 02:29 PM

I was remiss...so there is no misunderstanding....The in car temp is around 76f with the A/C and neither of us can make out (hardly) what is in the display.....I am not talking about when I first get in the car....we are talking two different brand new XTR 690's here......and I see others around the interweb have the same issue....and that's OK...if that is the best it is then I can do what I need to do....but just wanted to be clear....and for the record....if the answer is park in the shade I guess about 60-70% of the parking spots in the USA are pretty much screwed

**Michael B** · 08-21-2008, 05:42 PM

It may be 76 in the car with the AC on but because the radar detector is not in the path of your thermometer and is for the most part sealed such that air does not pass thru it, the unit is internally much hotter than what your car thermometer is telling you.

Place a digital thermometer in front of your mouth, blow on it, and watch the temperature change.

Put the digital thermometer in a box and blow on the box, the temperature inside the box does not change.

You can always install window vent visors and crack your windows an inch to help minimize the high temp issues.

**MEM-TEK** · 08-21-2008, 06:22 PM

The XTR-695 which I saw at SML 2008 was clearly readable except when the low setting sun was right behind the car. Yet in that particular case I could still read the LCD display although its displayed characters appeared rather dim due to the overwhelming sunlight shining through the rear window and directly onto the RD's display.

I've been recommending for a long time that RD users put their RDs in a cheap small padded point-and-shoot camera case whenever they park their car since excessive heat is the killer of all electronics. Besides, the cheap padded case prevents scratches to the RD and allows you to toss it either in your glove box or preferably under your car seat. My car on a 90 degree summer day with the windows rolled up easily hits 140 degrees F for anything on a car seat yet in the shade within my car. Yet, after my car has baked all day long in the sun and when I get in my car around mid afternoon and pull one of my padded case protected RDs out from under my car seat, the RD's temperature is only 80 to 85 degrees!

Last Saturday I bought on eBay (for all of $17 plus $13 in shipping) some stick-on side window vent visors like Mike B suggests for my four-door compact car. They took all of 15 minutes to install this morning after the UPS truck arrived, including cleaning the surfaces where they would be attached with a rag and isopropyl alcohol. While these cheap vent visors are not an aesthetically pleasing perfect fit, they work. I cracked only my two front windows by about 1-1/2 inches and around 4pm this afternoon, after my car baked all day in the blazing sun, I found that my car's interior definitely was 20 degrees F cooler compared to when my car's windows are fully rolled up. These visors are the best $30 which I have ever spent for my car. My $500 in-dash car stereo might actually last for 5 years now!

In short, if you keep your XTR-695 out of the blazing sun and heat when you park your car, then its display will work just fine. Note that LCD displays have a long recovery time once they have excessively heated up. So the simple solution is to not let your XTR-695 roast in sunlight or in excessive heat within your parked car by putting it inside a padded camera case as I have recommended. How hard is it to take the 695 down for stowage? Press the button on its side to release it from its bracket. Later, simply push the 695 onto its bracket to reattach it since it clicks into place. Thats hardly a big deal to do at all.

**Sarge** · 08-22-2008, 06:16 AM

Guys...the 690 is not left in the sun. I pop it off and put it in the center console.
I love the performance and features so don't get me wrong here...I can see the display and make out what is on it...it is just barely legible is what I am saying versus the Pro78 display. If the "solution" is to put the RD on ice and cover the car ( exaggeration to make the point

) then I'll pass.....I mean it is designed to hang on the windshield during operation is it not? I have bought 4 new Whistler models in the last 30 days so I am sold on product quality and the company as a whole.....just this display is the lower end of product offerings.....OK...thanks for the responses folks...

**Prime First** · 08-24-2008, 09:28 PM

woo! Just purchased my 695! Hope it gets here before the weekend! Going home to see mom.

**Lucky225** · 08-24-2008, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Prime First

woo! Just purchased my 695! Hope it gets here before the weekend! Going home to see mom.

Hope it wasn't from optiscale, my order is still on hold and I overmaxed a CC I don't care about just to get it, now my bill has generated, but it's over the max WITHOUT OpticSale's purchase, so it will probably decline when they actually ship :/

**djrams80** · 08-24-2008, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by Lucky225

Hope it wasn't from optiscale, my order is still on hold and I overmaxed a CC I don't care about just to get it, now my bill has generated, but it's over the max WITHOUT OpticSale's purchase, so it will probably decline when they actually ship :/

Yikes!

**Lucky225** · 08-24-2008, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by djrams80

Yikes!

LMAO, well I had paid the bill off last month in full, and they charged me interest on purchases for partial month even though I paid it off in full BEFORE the due date, so that kind of practice by the issuer pissed me off, so I went on a shopping spree, first thing I ordered was the xtr-695, didn't realize it was only pre-order tho.. it authorized on the card but only a pre-auth, so then I went out and bought a bunch of other stuff and that put it over the max, even w/o the xtr-695 pre-auth.. So I don't think that purchase is gonna go through.. been like 1 1/2 weeks and my order is still "on hold" w/ OpticSale.