9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Awesome Detector !!!!!
Date of Review: Jun 27, 2002
The Bottom Line: If you want a detector that does what it it supposed to do, which is sniff out radar, then this is definetely for you.
Hello Folks,
The results are in and they are not good but GREAT. I have had quite a bit of experience with detectors ranging back about 16 years ago. I have previously owned 3 top brand models that fell far short of my expectations. For many years I had given up on radar detectors completely. I was getting more tickets using them than when I didnt have one at all. There were a few problems, first and most importantly was the range, by the time I would get the signal It was far to late.The detector would go off and Bam there they were right in front of me. The second problem was the continuous false alarms that drove me to detector insanity. I wanted at times to throw it out the window. The problem with false alarms is that you begin to distrust your unit and tune the alerts right out because you hear them so often.
Now to the Bel Vector 985. This company has pretty much thought of everything when it comes to a consumer friendly Detector that does EXACTLY what it is supposed to do, and might I say it does it incredibly well. I based my purchase on my previous experience with my last detector, the Bel 980. I honestly thought that it couldn't get any better, boy was I wrong! They basically took the 980 and made it even better than it was before. I used to get my share of false alarms with my 980 (not many though) to virtually NONE, thats right NONE. Driving the same routes that I used to. I would get approximately 8 false alarms driving my wife to work, which is a 10 mile ride through the heart of the city. With the 985 I got not 1. I honestly thought it wasn't working until I got a signal from a stationary radar unit that tells you the driver how fast your going. I got that signal 3 miles in advance. I was really impressed. My 2cd detection was a K band radar by a motorcycle cop that I picked up 2.5 miles in advance. The Ka was picked up 2.25 miles in advance. That is impressive by any radar detectors standards. You can go buy a V1 (a.k.a. Valentine One)for about $200.00 more, but from what I have read and heard from my friends is that it falses a whole lot. Arrows or no arrows, if you get falses all the time you will begin to tune it out. Honestly I think that this is dollar for dollar the best detector in the country. The new features that they have added to this are awesome. I really don't see how a detector could get any better, but maybe the folks at Beltonics will surprise us again. Hope this helps you out with your purchase.
