7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Deserving to be among the top detectors.
Date of Review: Sep 3, 2003
The Bottom Line: With a few engineering changes to display and mount systems I would go 10/10 on this detector.
I have owned a myriad of detectors over the past 20 years. I dropped my BEL vector in driveway and it dissassembled itself beyond repair. Purchased new BEL 985 as replacement.
Construction: This unit is very well built physically and ergonomically. Came packed in very nice aluminum case for storage.
Installation: This was the first hint of nasty. The windshield mount has click detents that would not allow it to sit level on my windshield. Had to use brute bending force to get it to sit level. The power cord attaches to the left side of the unit, which on all vehicles I have used it in, causes the cord to have to cross the unit to hit the lighter socket.
Setup: Instructions were very clear and setup was no problem. You will want to switch to quick startup as the standard one takes forever and is quite noisy. Nice feature is you can disable elements that don't apply in your area.
Operation: This unit detects X, K and Ka far enough away to have a coffee before the radar is on you. Most impressive.
On less than glass-like roads the unit flaps up and down and is annoying especially at night. This is likely due to two things: first the mount attaches to the rear portion of the relatively heavy unit. Second: there are only 2 suction cups that attach to window. The bottom is just a rubber pad. The display is all but useless in any kind of sun, however the alert tones and voice alerts suffice. Recessing the display, and angling toward driver would be a good idea. I also find the dim setting a tad to bright for full night driving. The unit is flashable and will handle firmware updates as new technology is developed or existing updated. This will help extend the useful life of this detector.
I chose this unit over the Passport 8500 and am quite comfortable with the decision.
