I bought this to replace my older BEL, which false alarms a LOT, thanks to newer German cars with their obnoxious lane-change and auto-cruise control systems (which use microwave radar too). Unfortunately this detector isn't any better at rejecting those false alarms. Not much you can do but ignore them and give the finger to Audi drivers. Otherwise this unit works as advertised and the price can't be beat - who can afford those Escort units anymore?
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
The device feels and works well enough although the dash mat that comes with it is useless for anything other than grandma acceleration or it ends up in your lap and the suction mount rattles really annoyingly and is a dead give away of the device in use. Obviously in the USA where it is built they are allowed to use the devices legally and the mount makes no difference but, to everyone else it is a flag saying "DETECTOR IN USE". The device seems has a lot of activations for e.g. the laser detection is activated at every number plate reader on the tollway so I've turned that off and X Band activates if someone walks through an auto sliding door within 200 miles of the device so I've turned X Band off also. K Band and Ka Band are active but K Band goes off every time an Audi or a VW is in the vicinity likely because of radar guided cruise control. The GPS red light system works well even thought there is no Australian database but the 1000 item user database allows me to add my own. Sometimes though the GPS just doesn't alert me to the red light and other times it does, likely a GPS issue. One problem with the red light database is it that it cannot define if you are on a road or not so it goes off in the local supermarket car park because of its vicinity to a intersection with a camera. Another issue is that if the detector is going off, you cannot add a red light camera to the database. So if the VW in front of you has its radar guided cruise active you can't operate the user add function or at least it doesn't seem to. If the frequency was shown for K Band I could block out their cruise control but frequencies are only shown for laser and Ka Band The device also needs an interface so you can look at and add/remove and edit GPS points as by the time you've pressed the button for three seconds, often you are through the lights and the device activates off to one side and not the centre of the intersection. This means that detection is reduced by 50 to 100mtrs in three directions and is earlier in the other one. An interface with a map would allow you to tweak the points so they are correct. To Sum up, the device is well made but sounds like one of those laser guns gimmicky toys that were around in the 90s so you could laser blast other drivers especially when detecting a laser. The device does activate at a lot of cameras but I'm not 100% certain whether the camera is doing this or a radar cruise control in a car in the traffic. I think Whistler, like other US manufacturers need to start making international detectors that can really be used in other countries that has a GPS map interface that can be edited and utilise other red light camera databases like GPS devices do. Also, they really need to rethink that rattly horrid mount and provide a dash mat that actually works. Would I buy another one of these, probably not.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I have used radar detectors for over 30 years. Gave one to my wife when we met. Gave one to my son when he started driving. It makes you a better driver once you realize how many radar units are out there. We all had the pro78 series from Whistler and for the price I recommend them. We all did have one similar issue, after about 4 years the speakers went bad in all of them. The reason I bought this one is that one of our Pro78's stopped remember its settings. I hard wire them to come on when we start our vehicles so we don't have top remember anything. Unfortunately it stopped remembering. The other two are more than 7 years old and still working. This is a little bit more in price , but has some additional features. I do drive into unfamiliar areas sometimes and having the speed trap and light trap data helps.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Great distance, easy to navigate menu. Unit has minimal false alerts (you can't stop them all) Good for both city and highway. This is my first whistler unit very happy at this time.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New