12/15/2023 0 Comments Irad 900 cobra![]() ![]() The XTR-540 is a little unimpressive when compared to even the V6, it has no app and it too is a legacy model, so the filtering could be better. The reason the XTR-540 is on this list is due to the price. Whistler are not a firm known for their cutting edge tech, and it holds true here. I found one for $75, which makes it the best value for money model that can use Escort Live.Ĭheck out the full review here. The build quality is high enough that even second hand it should last a while. I mentioned that finding the V6 is difficult, it is a discontinued model, so you have to go hunting for a second hand one. So the fact that the filtering isn’t great is less of an issue, you can know for certain in most cities what signals are real alerts and what aren’t. Escort Live allows you to get updates from all other Escort Live users on the road, it has a real time updated map of the area, with all the false positives and hazard zones marked for you. It increases the effective range of the build by a lot. It doesn’t have the best range, and the inner city filtering leaves much to be desired, but it has access to the Escort Live app, and that is a real game changer. The core feature set is fine, nothing magical to write home about. The worst of the V series, and yet still amazing. Not much of a surprise really, seen as it might be the most impressive build Beltronics ever released. ![]() The V6 is an older build, so old in fact that finding one is nearly impossible. ![]() The real selling point is the look, if you care more about form rather than function, and spending $400 sounds okay, then the GT-7 is the right model for you.Ĭheck out the full review here. The core feature set is great, and the addition of the smart coil cable is nice. This model is too expensive for me to recommend to everyone. It falls short, but it is also the prettiest radar detector on the market, That excellent HD screen and copper accent color is just amazing, no other radar detector looks as stylish as the GT-7. The V6 is an older build, and even it has access to the wonderful Escort Live app. The issue is the lack of app integration. The mounting bracket is okay, far from the best, but it gets the job done. The core functions of the GT-7 are fine, it has good range, all the protection modes you could want and access to Beltronics excellent Smart coil cable. The only reason the GT-7 is on this list is because I was too embarrassed to fill it with legacy Cobra builds alone. This is on the surface a better model than the V6, and is broadly considered one of Beltronics best models, but I don’t think that’s true. I have taken into account the price, the function, the aesthetics and the freebies, the more a model has to offer per dollar the higher I have ranked the thing. A few of the older legacy models have less advanced filtering, and so are a little noisier over all, but so long as you expect that you can mitigate it. Improved filtering algorithms and external integration are the order of the day, and I have made sure that every model in this top ten has at least one of those. The real changes have been happening under the hood. There has only been a few advancements in the last few decades, which is why you’ll see the venerable Valentine One on this list alongside the ultra modern Max II HD. The core underlying hardware of radar detectors is essentially the same. Granted, not a huge deal that last one, but it is the primary reason the GT-7 is on this list, so it matters to me it seems. They have to be affordable, the have to have access to an app, they need to have a good feature set, and if at all possible they should look good. On the market right now are a wide variety of models, enough to suit every consumer, so rather than simply listing off the most expensive and feature packed radar detectors I am going to be judging these builds on what I think makes a good radar detector. I’ve been thinking about this article since the beginning, and my short list has changed several times. The top ten, where I take a look back over all the models I have tested and try to figure out the best. Now we are at the real end of this series of reviews. ![]()
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