8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Audible alert quit working after 1 year!!
Date of Review: Jan 3, 2005
The Bottom Line: If you can, spend the money on a better detector - it will be worth all the saved money from tickets/raised insurance.
After researching radar detectors on the internet and on Epinions, I purchased two of the Beltronics 985 Radar detectors for each car. Both worked for just over a year - conveniently the warranty was for a year as well. The first one stopped working about 4 months ago, the audible alert went. What's the point of the detector if you can't have the alert!?
I spoke with the reps at Beltronics and was offered a part that might fix it... for a price. So I got the part in hopes this would be all I need but no luck there. I was upset that the company would not replace the unit - it gave me the feeling that they would not stand behind their product.
The second detector in the other car went just last month, oddly enough it had a problem very similar to the first one. The audible alert would fluctuate from on to off and eventually all I heard was garbage. Of course the warranty was expired so no hope for this one as well. I think the odds that two of the same product in two different cars managed by two different people would end up with the same problem are quite low. I have decided to go with the Valentine One as my next detector based on reviews and a personal friends advice. His had a problem with the laser alert 3 years after he purchased it and it was replaced no questions asked.
Overall, when the unit was working it did work well. Although there seemed to be a lot of false alarms especially on X and K bands that made it annoying to own at times. It was always on the money when it came to Ka band support (the one that counts!) but I wish it had longer range capabilities. It probably saved me from a few speeding tickets. I did like the fact that you could switch from Highway to City X, etc modes with the touch of a button.
I find it hard to recommend this product based on my experience and because of the equipment failure after only a year and 1/2 of use I would not recommend this to my friends/family. Apparently the cheaper cost of the detector reflected the quality of the manufactured part.
