Radar Detectors

Bel Express 920 Nicely Packed For An Express Driver… $20 Will Go Further Though Beltronics Express 920 Radar Detector From Beltronics, the Bel Express 920 is the 2nd best of the Express model line. This is one of the two Express mod...

Beltronics Express 920 Radar Detector Technical Details:bel920 Key FeaturesDetection Mode:City / Highway modesDetection A...

This is my first radar detector, so I really have very little to compare it to. I’ve had it for about 4 months now though so I feel I could better evaluate its performance. I didn’t want to write a revue too soon, because I felt like there is no need of just repeating the features described on the products advertisement.

I don’t consider myself a big speeder, and that’s why it really got to me after I got my second speeding ticket, right after the 3 years from the first one had just past and my insurance had gone down. I was barely going 5 miles over the limit, but the cop said I was going 15. Go argue with a cop though. It really bugs me that any blue haired, Buick driving grandma on the road would get away with just a warning, but because I drive a bright red Ford Probe I am naturally a reckless driver in the brain (whatever amount there is) of any cop. So my first thing after getting out of the court was to run to the closest Circuit City store and get a radar detector. In my initial frustration I was ready to just spring right away the $300 for the Escort Passport, but luckily I had just received a very pleasant $100 gift card from CC and the Bel Express 920 was on sale that day for $99. So I figured even if it’s absolutely no good I could always exchange it, but if it’s OK, I couldn’t go wrong with paying some $5 for the sales tax.

The detector looks really plasticky and not particularly attractive, but it’s really not looks that matter in a radar detector. The installation wasn’t very intuitive either. The windshield bracket used to mount the detector is quite big and unintuitive to use. I had to actually read the instructions to figure out how to adjust the angle of the rotating arm of the bracket. But still all these are trivial things, which once you do; you don’t have to worry about anymore. The biggest problem I had was that my cigarette lighter is old and rusted so the plug didn’t make good contact and the detector didn’t power up at all. After taking apart my cigarette lighter I finally fixed it and got it to work.

Knowing the SC budget, I thought it would take me months before I encounter a cop with radar on the road, especially after meeting one just a few days earlier. Lucky for us the police around here is so poor, you’d hardly ever see am at all, let alone using radar. Still though, even just once every couple of years is enough to make your life miserable with the increased insurance premiums.

So without any expectations, I turned the detector on and decided to go for a quick ride on the closest interstate. For my biggest surprise As soon as I pulled out of my drive way, the detector went off on K band. I live in a quite neighborhood with absolutely nothing around that could possibly produce a false alarm so I immediately got kind of discouraged and thought that this detector is no good. But about another block down the road with the detector still beeping I glanced in my rear view mirror and I saw the cop about 4 blocks further behind me. I was immediately rather impressed. Of course there were no more alarms the rest of the way for about 20 miles I drove on the highway. I did get the occasional signals from gas stations and grocery stores, but you always know it’s false, because they are always pretty close for the detector to go off, and rarely have signal strength of more than 5. So if you have the City mode activated the audio signal won’t go off until the signal strength exceeds 5, which is fairly rare and doesn’t last long. I guess what I am trying to say is that this detector is not excessively annoying with false alarms. I drive with it on all the time.

On the very next day early in the morning on my way to work, I got a warning for laser close to a local school. It’s really beyond me why would cops even bother in that area, since the streets are so narrow that it’s pretty much impossible to speed there even if you wanted to. Still though they were there. 2 police cars 2 blocks away from where the detector went off. I am not really sure if you are really speeding if that would be enough warning for you to slow down, but the cops were not visible when I got the warning and there were about 10 seconds before they were in sight.

After 4 months with the detector I’ve encounter no more than 5 cops on the road with their detectors on. Generally my observation is that if you’re really been clocked, the detector gets a pretty strong signal - normally starts around 7 and gets stronger as you approach the cop. If it’s lower than 5 it’s most probably a gas stations or a store door.

I would still suggest not to rely too much on the detector and generally stay within 15 miles over the speed limit, and will most probably at some point spend the $300 for the Escort, but for right now I think this one will do.

Before I bought, of course I read all the reviews I could find on the detector, and they were generally favorable - both the professional, and the ones from customers. I did notice a lot of customers complaining about the volume on this detector, and some even insisting that there is no way for it to be adjusted. I admit it’s not the easiest thing to do, and could be more efficient, but there is definitely a volume control, and I found that once I set it to the comfortable for me level, I haven’t really messed with it anymore.

I also don’t understand what is people’s hang up on the display. I really don’t understand why does it even matter what band are the cops clocking you on? Who cares the result will always be the same. And if you think you’ll be less likely to get fooled by false alerts, I don’t really see the logic in that either. First the false alarms happen always with the source clearly in sight. You have to be right next to a gas station, or a door opener for the detector to go off. In contrast the police radar is much stronger obviously and activates the detector way before the cop is even in sight. I also noticed that a lot of the automatic doors on stores are actually on K band and not on X band (which people complain most about falsing). By the way drive by a BestBuy or any other electronics store and the detector will go crazy so bad it would start stuttering trying to tell you every single band in its arsenal.

I didn’t find the lack of a graph bar to much of a disadvantage either. While you drive you shouldn’t be looking much at the detector anyway. The audio alerts are good enough. And the numeric display is clear and easily visible.

Bottom line - if the detector beeps and you don’t see a possible source, then just slow down. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

All things considered, I would generally recommend this detector if your budget’s tight. It’s not the most attractive thing to look at, but it’s unobtrusive as well. It seems to pick up radar pretty well and give a fair warning. It’s always best to not rely on your detector completely, because cops will pull you over for other things too. You just might not look right, driving a $30 000 car when you’re only 20, who knows? But in love and traffic all is fair so every little bit of help you can get is welcome.

Drive safe and please, please, please, please use turn signals. It drives me nuts when people don’t.

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Tags: Beltronics, Escort

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