pennetta

I have had a radar detector since the 1980's with the original big black box Escort by Cincinnati Microwave. Cops used to leave their radar guns on all the time and there weren't many sources of trash radar so you got warning a few miles away.

I since progressed to the later versions of Escorts and then Passports through 2000-ish. In these later years the V1 was clearly the top rated detector with the Escorts/Passports not far behind, but behind.

Here in NY they break into your car if you leave a jacket on your seat. Stolen radar detectors are a big problem and many times I would drive home sitting in broken glass without my radar detector. Since I don't want to remove my detector every time I leave the car, this has weighed heavily in my decisions on what detector to buy and my last three were Beltronics. Previously they tested just behind the V1 and Escort. I have never had any of the Beltronics stolen because its easier for a thief to sell the V1 or Escort.

This time around I again read all of the radar test. One thing that became apparent is that the V1's philosophy is to let the user know about all threats, real or otherwise, and give directional info as well. Many testers stated that these can be overwhelming and leads to ignoring all alerts as you tire of interpreting them all. The Escort was more discerning and uses GPS for known false alarms and it lets you mark false radar yourself. It gives the additional benefits of Red Light and Speed Trap warnings.

In my searches I found out that Escort and Beltronics are now the same company. I went to the Beltronics website and the GX 65 had all the same features (Escort does have AutoLearn that marks its own trash signals after you pass them three times and don't manually mark them). The tests between the three are for all practical purposes the same. The V1 is the least expensive of the three, with the Escort and identical Beltronics $30 apart with a premium to the Escort.

The Beltronics is web based upgradable for firmware, software and redlight and speed trap databases(the later $29.99 for three years). I feel like I satified all my requirements with no compromises to performance. I will let you know how it works.