Customer Reviews

Beltronics Vector V940 Radar Detector

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I had used Escort radar detectors exclusively for 15 years and thought they were the best detectors for the price. Earlier this year, however, I used an Escort 8500 X50 for a lengthy driving trip and found it just barely adequate.

I had a 5K mile driving trip to take a few weeks ago so I took a chance on this unit. I'm so glad I did. What a great product! The performance of this unit BLOWS the Escort 8500 X50 out of the water. I mean blows it right out of the water. I got warnings with this unit WAY before I needed them, whereas I got them just in time with the 8500. Perhaps more importantly, I got virtually no false warnings with this unit whereas I got them ALL THE TIME with the Escort unit. The Escort unit had me braking every 3 miles for what turned out to be nothing almost every time. Again when it counted--when it was real police--the Escort only warned me a split second or two before I would have been nabbed.

I am so seriously impressed with the advance warning range of this unit, the incredibly low false warning ratio, and the bargain price of the unit. It delivers WAY more than the Escort 8500 X50 for half the price! It is one of the most cleat cut comparisons I have ever experienced; no fine line here. I am surprised that Escort gets away with delivering such mediocre results for your detector buying dollar.

I found out about this unit by conducting extensive internet research and I'm happy to say the tests found on the internet were accurate. The only way to step up to a higher level of performance will be to buy the Valentine unit for 4-5 times the price of this unit. If you are like me then you can't afford the Valentine so you are looking for other options. I respectfully argue that this is the best value (performance for price ratio) in all non-Valentine units.

First: the Amazon picture of the V940 is not correct. The unit that I received looks identical to the V955. This is why I'm reviewing so quickly.
Second: I thought that the mounting bracket was so small that a mistake had been made. But the mounting method is very clever, adjustable and easy to perform. It can be mounted in even a sweeping windshield. The suction cups have exceptional grip to them. Well done.
Third: Round trip on the LIE and zero false alarms.
Forth: The instructions recommend using in the highway mode, which I did. Therefore why would any of the more expensive and expansive Bels be necessary.
Fifth: The only negative so far. The top of the unit is gray. Black would have been preferable and less reflective. I found some cross-stitch material at Michael's, traced an outline of the gray area, cut out 5 holes, glued it onto the Bel, and now I have no more complaints.

I've had my Beltronics Vector 940 for about two weeks. This is my first radar detector, and it seems to be getting the job done, and well at that. I've done a lot of research on radar detectors, and have been able to weed out the sub-par brands and models. I'd heard nothing but good things about Bel, Whistler, and Escort detectors, and only the former two had products in my price range (sub-two hundred).

I'd actually put off buying a radar detector for a few months, to save for a few other things on my car, and after Whistler's Pro-78 (Whistler PRO-78 Laser-Radar Detector with Real Voice Alerts, POP Mode Detection, INTELLICORD ready) went out of production--which had been my pick--I saw it's update model and it had less than desirable reviews. Finally, about a month ago, I decided on finally getting a detector, and had my eyes set on Bel's Vector series. It was between the V995, V955, and V940. Long story short, I saw no real reason in going for the more than two hundred dollar V995, and since the V940 was on Amazon for only a hundred around Black Friday/Cyber Monday Weekend, there was no real reason to spend the extra fifty dollars on the V955.

To give you an idea of the environment my V940 inhabits; I drive a four-door Cutlass with non-metallic, black window tinting (front sides, and all rear windows; nothing on the windshield but factory AS1). I also mount my detector low on the windshield. At first I mounted it above my rear-view mirror, but have since moved it lower to increase the potential of it detecting LIDAR/laser signals. I have my V940 about four to five inches directly above the dash on the windshield. I also made sure that the front of the detector (toward the front of the car) well above the wipers in their normal resting place. The manual says to make sure the detector's sight isn't inhibited by anything, like the wipers.


Pros:

+ Good range. On the highway (typically I-170 in STL) I travel daily, there are departments posted at any given time of day--it gives very accurate alerts, plenty of time for me to get back down to sixty-five. At worst, I'd say the V940 is able to give me some kind of alert at least a fourth of a mile--whether counter-bound or en route. I've seen the detector alert me a good half-mile, plus on the highway as well.

On city streets, for example, I was able to run a good test of the V940 once at night on a drive home. Sitting at a light, I noticed I was getting a steady single bar of K-band. I knew the particular intersection I was stopped had never given me any false-alerts so I was pretty sure there was an active cruiser shooting somewhere around me. I looked closely up the road while still stopped and noticed flashing lights about a half-mile ahead. I took a little detour to see if it really was him shooting radar... long story short, moving towards the flashing lights, I was able to confirm it was a cop who'd pulled someone over, and he was still shooting radar.

+ Solid Construction. The detector seems to have a good build. We'll see how it holds up after sitting in my glove box or somewhere in the console when it's 3 and 93 degrees outside (even worse in the car).

+ A few customizables. The `program' mode on the V940 allows you to change a few things. You can opt to not have the startup chirp test (which can immediately be skipped, temporarily, by pressing the Power button again during the test); change the standby display (having it say `H' or `C' instead of Highway or City); toggle `Auto Mute' which will mute the X-alerts after a few chirps.

+ Voice Alerts. This is a nice feature. I remember being fascinated by my dad's radar detectors years ago when I was younger (he's the ultimate lead-footer). It was nothing but random beeps and lights to me--but the V940 will begin beeping (about twice) and a male voice will say "kay-band" (K-band) or "kay-aye-band" (Ka-band) for the alerts. I have yet to be hit with LIDAR/laser or to enter a SAFETY zone (which it will also alert you to apparently), so I can't exactly speak to how he says those--if he does.

+ Brightness modes. I'm sure most detectors probably have this kind of array of levels of brightness for the display. The V940's levels include: Bright Max, Med, and Min, and a Dark mode. The Dark mode will take away the `Highway' or `City' standby display, and any potential strength bars when detecting any radar and alerting you. Instead it will show a smaller, dimmed "HD" or "CD" for Highway dark or City dark, and will, obviously, include the audible alerts.

+ Price. For performance, the price seems pretty right.

Semi-Cons:

- Customizables & Features. Although it does allow you to tweak a few settings, there aren't too many frills with this detector--and I didn't expect any. It gets the job done.

- Red LED Display. Again, not a real con, and I have no problem with it, but the Whistler Pro-78 was in this price range and it had blue LEDs. I still don't buy Radar Roy's explanation that it costs more to implement blue over red LED's. The Escort 8500 X50 (Escort Passport 8500 X50 Radar and Laser Detector (Blue Display)) has almost a forty dollar difference in the red/blue LED'd models. Ridiculous!


Again, this is my first detector, so I'm not too seasoned in the knowledge of range for different priced detectors, but I've done my research. For my driving habits (somewhat of a lead foot) it seems to do the job well. I drive about half and half highway and city driving, and I keep the detector in the `Highway' mode 100% of the time--again, the X-band alerts are `auto muted'.

I've been driving for two years, and received two tickets within months of each other--when I was 17 and had just started driving. I have been on license probation before and was in danger of losing my license. This detector would have NO DOUBT saved me in those situations. I've since become much less of a speeder, but am still somewhat of an aggressive driver. Having a radar detector does NOT give you immunity, and will not save you 100% of the time, meaning you shouldn't run ten to fifteen over everywhere you go until it picks up something. However, if you do find yourself doing fifteen over the limit, and there's a unit somewhere shooting radar around a curve--it CAN save you. It's also fun to be the one who's slowing down when there's a cop posted up the road, and someone's still speeding fifteen over past you and they get caught. If anything, it's made me less of a speeder.

All-in-all, I am very satisfied with the detector, and have never found myself frustrated with it, especially at the price I paid Amazon for it. Highly recommended as a first radar detector.

UPDATE -- 5/10/2010

I had all of five great months with this detector, and I got a great amount of use out of it.

However, upon leaving school one day, I made a rookie mistake, powering on the device (plugged in) prior to starting the car. Thus, leaving my detector prone to a random spike in power through the DC outlet (cigarette lighter). Take it from me, always leave you detector -- regardless of brand or model -- OFF when starting your car. If you must leave your setector plugged in while you start your car, at least turn the detector on AFTER you've successfully started the engine. Long story short, I botched the start (had to crank it again) and a second later I got some beeps from the 940, and then it was bricked.

Now it displays nothing but voltage output of the DC outlet and it's obviously damaged since the menu and settings are no longer accessible. This incidence in no way affects my rating of the Beltronics Vector 940 (all my mistake). And I've taken this opportunity to upgrade to the v995 (already ordered) and won't make the same mistake again.

On another note, I've heard of some sketchy experiences with Beltrnoics and warranties when the device is bought from Amazon (actually from Amazon, not a merchant). I got my 940 for so cheap; I didn't care to get back to Bel after I initially contacted them because of this problem. Hopefully if I ever have a problem with my 995, Beltronics will be able to work with me. Amazon IS supposedly an authorized Beltronics reseller, thus Bel should honor the devices warranty when it's purchased directly from Amazon. Bel makes good detectors, and they'll get my buy again.

I purchased my 940 bell about two years ago to replace my cheap ($40 wally world special) cobra. The range is good, I have a 1,200 mile round trip drive to get home and the 940 unit has not let me down yet. I have driven over 17,000 miles with this radar and I have yet to receive a ticket! This radar does have a high volume of false alarms but I don't mind that. My only complaint is that within the first month of buying it I had to take it back to the store and have it replaced (free of charge). Take note that I know how to handle a radar detector and I even take it out of my truck on extremely hot/cold days. There was no good reason for it to die and my truck is only a few years old with no electrical problems. But, this said the new 940 unit is still up and running so maybe it was just an isolated incident.

This is the first detector I've owned. Did lots of research and read lots of reviews, but didn't want to spend more than about $150. I was skeptical of whether a detector could consistently give me adequate warning time, but this one seemed to do just that. This is great for those little towns trying to boost revenue with speed traps. Best thing about this one is its powered by a standard RJ-11 phone connection. This means you can easily hardwire it to an ignition controlled fuse in the fusebox. Mine is mounted low on the windshield and you can only see about 2 inches of power cable before it goes down behind the dash. Comes on when my truck comes on, goes off when truck does. Would definately buy this one again.

Everyone has said it all, so I'll be brief. I've done my research and simply put, this is the BEST radar detector for under $150! I've had it for about a year now, purchased because of a run in with a friendly suburban police officer, and I can honestly say I have not had the pleasure of their presence since purchasing! =D

Seriously. Well worth the money.

I purchased my BEL 940 a few weeks ago and I must say that I love it. I originally purchased a Cobra, which was around the same price as the BEL 940. It was horrible, kept falling off of my windshield and never picked up any patrol cars. After doing a bit more research I picked out this one and for the same price it is 100 times better. It actually stays in place, easy to operate and is fairly inexpensive compared to other models. I'm impressed!

My Beltronic V940 is music to my ears. Every time I hear the "churp" I know it's doing its job and more. The "smokies" are now coming out of the bushes and not the emergency route on the xpresswy. This unit picks them up every time. If you do a lot of traveling, you need to consider a Beltronics Radar/laser detector. I will never be without mine.

Very pleased with this product. This is the second Beltronics I have purchased and like the first is a good value and I am happy with it. One thing you should be aware of is that it needs it's own power supply from the vehicle. Putting it on a splitter i.e. with another device (GPS, mp3 player, etc.) will cause it to give a service required warning. I learned this from Beltronics customer service department.

The V940 works very well and is convenient to use. The range is excellant for all types of radar and laser. There are virtually no false alerts. Expected reliability is very good based on the quality feel of the product and experience with my old Beltronics detector which lasted 7 years. Easily the best value in radar detectors.

Glen