Uniden R7 Long Range Testing vs. R3, Max360c, Pro M, V1, and more

It’s time to test out the new Uniden R7! The Uniden R3 has established itself as the best performing windshield mount radar detector on the market. The updated R7 not only adds arrows and several other new features, but its performance should be able to meet or exceed that of even the R3.

To test this out, this weekend @meismyname and I headed back out to the Red Barn course to go test the new R7 against a bunch of other radar detectors against all three Ka frequencies: 33.8, 34.7, & 35.5.

Radar detectors to test and radar guns

Windshield mount Radar Detectors and Radar Guns for Testing

Here’s the complete video if you’d like to sit back and watch the test, see the detectors in action, and learn about the results this way.

Windshield Mount Radar Detectors:

Uniden R7 (beta) ($599), fw 1.20 (supplied by Uniden)
Uniden R3 ($399), fw 1.48 (supplied by Uniden)
Uniden DFR9 ($287), fw 1.02 (supplied by Uniden)
Escort Max360c ($649), fw 1.8 (retail or supplied by Escort, I don’t remember)
Escort iXc ($449), fw 1.1 (supplied by Escort)
Escort Solo S4 ($249), (retail)
Radenso Pro M ($449), fw US 16 (supplied by Radenso)
Radenso XP ($349) , fw 1.35 (supplied by Radenso)
Valentine One ($449 w/ BT), fw 3.8945 (retail)
Whistler CR97 ($249), fw 2.1A (sent in by @Kennyc56)
Chinese Batman detector ($25), (retail)

Remote Radar Detectors:

Escort Max Ci 360 ($2,399), fw 1.9 (front/rear, supplied by Escort)
Radenso RC M ($1,849), fw 12 (front/rear, supplied by Radenso)
Stinger VIP($2,550), fw 4.4.00 UK (front only, supplied by Stinger)
Net Radar DSP ($1,149), (front/rear, I think supplied by NR)

Testing Setup

The radar detectors were set up for their optimal real world settings with X off, K on, Ka on, Ka filters off, segmented 2/5/8, etc.

This test was focused on windshield mounts, specifically the R7 vs. the toughest competition. I was also curious how the M4+ in the iXc fared, how good Escort’s latest cordless detector does, how the less expensive DFR9 and CR97 compare, and I threw the cheapy $25 Chinese Batman detector into the mix last minute too for fun. 🙂

Note: I’m testing with a beta version of the Uniden R7 running beta firmware. Things may change between now and when the detector is publicly launched. Nevertheless, this should give us a good indication of what we can expect with production R7’s.

To measure everything, I used V1Driver’s GPS logger to give me a distance to the radar gun in realtime and I read back the distances by looking at the GoPro footage. It’s not an exact science since the distances change by 60-70 feet every second and the app’s GPS accuracy is around 25-50 feet so there is a bit of fudge factor here. Nevertheless, with a bunch of runs (typically 3 per detector minimum) and averaging out the results, we can get a good idea of how they all compare.

Uniden R7 running the red barn test course

Uniden R7 and V1Driver on the Red Barn course

Radar Detector Test Course:

Red Barn Test Course Map

Radar Detector Test Course Map

The test course is about a half mile long with slight curves and hills in the road. Traffic was pretty minimal. The course has changed since I’ve used it in previous years. They’ve cleared some of the trees that used to block a lot of the signal in the middle of the course (marked by the yellow bulldozer) which changed the dynamics of the course. Nevertheless, we got some good data.

33.8 Test Results

We started off with the Bee III running 33.8.

MPH Bee III clocking traffic

MPH Bee III running 33.8

and here’s the raw data, ranked by average detection distance.

33.8 Test Results Data

The R7 beat out all the other windshield mounts, followed by the R3. Impressive. The other detectors were clustered together a few hundred feet behind. The Solo S4 and cheapy Batman detector ranked at the bottom as expected.

To make it a little easier to read, here’s all the runs in chart form.

33.8 Results, All Runs

As you can see, things were pretty consistent run-to-run. Here’s a look at the averaged results.

Avg 33.8 Results Chart

On 33.8, the R7 had a pretty decisive lead above everything else, including the R3! The Chinese Batman detector, on the other hand, was busy getting COwned. It didn’t go off until after the radar gun had already locked in my speed…

With the majority of the detectors, even though they do have varying levels of sensitivity, due to the layout of this particular course, most of the detectors all went off right around the same location, around the red barn or shortly thereafter.

33.8 with Remotes

The next time I go out and test, I’d like to focus on custom installed remote radar detectors. This test was focused on windshield mounts. However, curiosity got the best of me and so I did a few bonus runs with all the remotes to preview those results.33.8 Test Results Data w Remotes

Avg 33.8 Results Chart with Remotes

The surprise here was the Escort Max Ci 360. That detector managed to get brief mind blowingly long detections past where I normally started the course. I tried it twice and it alerted both times. I also went back there with the R7, but it went 0 for 2. After that crazy long detection location though, the Max Ci 360 dropped the signal. It didn’t reacquire until just after where the R7 went off so I marked both of those locations too for reference.

The Stinger VIP I have tucked behind a removable plastic foglight cover and I was curious to test how much that impacted performance, if any. There was a small hit to performance (I only did one run with and one run without the panel since this was just a quick preview before the full remote test) and while I did see a slight hit to performance, it did well even with the cover in place.

The RC M ran closer to midpack. It wasn’t a top range detector in this instance, much to my surprise. Interestingly, I got longer range from behind than from the front. Maybe the rear antenna I have is slightly more sensitive? Maybe it was just a longer latch? I’m not sure.

The Net Radar DSP unfortunately has some wiring issues that I still need to resolve and so I wasn’t able to test it. I’d like to get it up and running before I go out and do the full remote test.

Either way, on 33.8, the R7 was extremely impressive against the windshield mounts, and the Max Ci 360 was more impressive yet, turning in the longest runs of the day.

34.7 Test Results

Next up, let’s switch over to the Stalker II to run on 34.7. I know there was some concern last time about potential power level dropoffs as the battery level started to drop after hours and hours of testing, so just in case, I picked up a power cable to give it external power the whole time.

Stalker II clocking an officer

Stalker II running 34.7

Now for 34.7 and 35.5, I wanted to focus on windshield mounts, but I still did a pair of passes with the Max Ci 360 because I was curious to see if it could continue beating everything, plus it’s one of the detectors that I’d want to run as a daily detector so I ran it too.

Here’s a look at the test results:

34.7 Test Results Data
Avg 34.7 Results Chart
On 34.7, we saw much more separation between detectors, unlike 33.8. For whatever reason, we were able to see more of the differences in radar detector sensitivity in this round of testing.

The Uniden R3 and the R7 led the pack, beating everything else. Even the DFR9 did outstanding, beating the Max Ci 360. The Unidens basically owned on 34.7.

Then going down we’ve got the Radensos and Max360. The V1 started to lag behind further, followed by the CR97.

The Batman detector gave a surprisingly good show, all things considered. It was the Solo S4, this time, that got COwned with the Stalker picking up my vehicle’s speed before the radar detector went off.

The iXc unfortunately did really poorly. I think my detector is defective or something. It had two 1600’ish foot runs in CR97/V1 territory, one 700 foot run, and two runs with literally NO detection. I could drive right up to the radar gun without a peep from the detector. It was just fine on 33.8 and 35.5, but 34.7 had some serious issues so I can’t really count its runs on 34.7.

So I guess the main takeaway on 34.7 is that the Unidens are amazing.

35.5 Test Results

Finally towards the end of the day, we switched over to the Decatur Genesis II running 35.5.

Decatur Genesis II clocking traffic

Decatur Genesis II running 35.5

On 35.5 we saw a lot of detectors clustered together. This course didn’t really allow for much separation here so most of the detectors alerted right around the red barn area +/-.

Depending on conditions, sometimes we’ll see a big difference between detectors, sometimes we won’t. This is good to know because just because you run a high performance radar detector, sometimes the terrain will limit its detection range so that it alerts at a similar distance to a lower tier detector. In other situations, however, you will see a dramatic difference. There’s lots of variables at play here. 🙂

Anyway, let’s look at the results:

35.5 Test Results Data

Avg 35.5 Results Chart

The Max Ci 360 turned in the longest detections yet again, beating out everything else in both of its runs.

Of the windshield mounts, the R7 and R3 again led the pack, typically alerting just before or as I was passing the barn.

The iXc resumed alerting normally again and the DFR9 did better than I expected, especially considering the DFR’s are usually strong on 34.7 but weaker on 33.8 and 35.5. The Max360 and V1 were juuust a bit behind.

The Pro M didn’t perform quite as well as I’d expect it to, typically alerting after I passed the barn.

The CR97 was where things started to drop off. It wasn’t able to hang with the big boys here.

The Batman detector managed two decent runs just behind the CR97, but it had another run at 184 feet where it got badly COwned.

The Solo S4 alerted with just enough time to slam on the brakes and slow down before you’d get a ticket. Not exactly confidence inspiring.

Final Thoughts

So going back over the results, there’s a couple takeaway points that I got from this.

First, the Escort Max Ci 360 is a beast. It doesn’t always beat everything, but it’s always performing at the top of the pack which is what I saw last year when I tested with a different Max Ci 360 and a different R3.

The Uniden R7 was fantastically impressive. It’s clearly the new long range king of windshield mounts which is right in line with what the other beta testers have been reporting. It’s either on par with or beating the Uniden R3, which is pretty much what I was expecting. I know the Max Ci 360 has some additional extra features and it was able to beat the R7, but at $600 vs. $2400 plus the cost of installation, it’s a pretty big difference in price between the two so we’re looking at apples and oranges.

The Uniden DFR9 was one of the surprise stars of the test. I know 33.8 and 35.5 were somewhat terrain limited, but it still consistently performed well across the board. I didn’t see the same thing with the CR97 which is priced similarly. For the few extra bucks over the CR97, I think the DFR9 is a better choice than the CR97 not just for the added range, but also the improved BSM filtering you get, the GPS lockouts which are a huge benefit, etc.

The Whistler CR97 was a bit of a disappointment. It didn’t do bad, but it didn’t do nearly as well as I’d hoped, given the improvements in sensitivity it got over the CR93. It’s hard to tell by looking at the numbers, but when you drive with the detector, it alerts noticeably closer to the radar gun than the other detectors. It also falsed way more than everything else, with a BSM false to both a Hyundai and an Audi, as well as a laser false to a Toyota minivan. To be fair, I didn’t really dive into the K band filtering settings since this was a Ka band test, but even if we stick to Ka band, it didn’t give me the performance I was hoping for. That said, we enjoyed running the CR97 though because it would announce the direction you were driving. Every time we’d turn around at the start or finish of the test course, it would announce “north” or “south.” I don’t see this as particularly useful in practice, but it was very entertaining so we left that feature on to make the testing more fun.

The Escort iXc, it was a bit unfortunate to see the issues it had on 34.7. Ignoring that though, it did better otherwise. Big picture, I still think it’s overpriced at $450, but at least it could still turn in some respectable runs. As for the capabilities of the M4+, I think the results are still inconclusive.

The Escort Max360c was weaker than I was expecting on 34.7. It’s hard to tell on 33.8 and 35.5 because of the whole terrain limited thing and I know that the Max’s are typically pretty strong on 33.8 so maybe I would see something different on a different course. Either way, I think that’s a very well rounded detector, not a long range superstar, so I’m not necessarily looking for it to beat an R7 on any test course. With all the other features it has, I still think it’s a good option.

The Escort Solo S4 though, WTF. This thing is a piece of junk. The alert distance and rampup are awful. I get that some people like the convenience of a cordless detector, but the performance and non-existent BSM filtering make for a lousy choice IMHO. Going for a decent corded detector is much better. Speaking of which, we tried testing with the detector plugged in too and the results were identical to running on batteries which is exactly what I expected. It doesn’t run at a higher power level when running off of the cig. lighter.

The Radenso Pro M performed a little worse than I was anticipating. I’ve always thought of it as performing just behind the R3, and of course this is only one copy of the detector, one test, etc., but on this test it didn’t impress me on range as much as I’d hoped.

The Radenso XP, I feel like it’s been mostly forgotten about ever since the R3 came out, but it performed pretty much in line with what I was expecting.

The Valentine One, I feel like it’s starting to show its age. 33.8 it did well, and the same with 35.5, but those runs were pretty terrain limited so it’s hard to say definitively. On 34.7, the V1 marks where the range starts to fall off relative to the other detectors.

As for the cheapy Batman detector, that was fun to run as well. It didn’t get COwned on every pass, only on some of them, so on that note it did better than I was anticipating. It was entertaining to have it remind us to fasten our safety belts or try to figure out what it was saying in general.

The biggest takeaways that I got though are that the Uniden DFR9 was surprisingly impressive, the Uniden R7 is outstanding like we were hoping it’d be, and the Escort Max Ci 360 is a beast.

I look forward to more testing, moving on to remote mounts! I’d like to get my NR DSP up and running, toss in a K40, and run all the remotes on Ka as well and see how they compare.

After that, moving on to laser.

and as always, this is just one test, one course, and one set of detectors. Make sure you look at lots and lots of tests to get a more complete idea of the big picture.

Thank you for reading!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vortexradar.com/2019/04/uniden-r7-long-range-testing-vs-r3-max360c-pro-m-v1/

61 comments

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    • Andy Kaufman on April 3, 2019 at 2:40 pm
    • Reply

    Awesome test results!! Now I’m really salivating for my R7 to be shipped!!

  1. That’s very interesting. I do have a R1and a redenso pro m I would let you test with if you were interested

    • CHRISTOPHER CLINE on April 3, 2019 at 4:04 pm
    • Reply

    Wow…what an awesome test evaluation. Thanks for all your time and attention to detail! I live in MA now and see little need for the R3 right now. This may change, but for now…I love my R1…which I bought a year ago based on your tests and reviews. I love the arrow feature on the R7 and .ay break down and buy it some day… but for now…I’ll be cruising with the R1. ?

    • Mr. Cheese on April 3, 2019 at 4:44 pm
    • Reply

    Your time and passion is very appreciated!!

    • Kirk Aubertine on April 3, 2019 at 6:05 pm
    • Reply

    Can you publish the results in the time order they were performed? A time stamp on each run? Were the runs randomized?

    • David on April 4, 2019 at 9:22 am
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    Would love to see BSM testing on the R7 vs the others!

    1. Me too! I just have no idea how to do that in a specific and easily measurable way! 😀

    • VortexFan on April 6, 2019 at 5:44 am
    • Reply

    I’m having the same issue with my RC-M, where I am getting far more rear antennae alerts than front. Do you think it’s a setting, or a placement issue (where I have the front antennae mounted)? I am loving the set up thus far with the integrated ALP. The RC-M is quiet, more than adequate range, and has excellent BSM filtering and MCRD detection. I would have purchased the Max CI 360 if it would have integrated with the ALP in a single display/controller like the RC-M. Just would like to get better performance from the front. Any thoughts?

    1. Someone else mentioned this too and we think it’s just a longer latch.

    • GB on April 6, 2019 at 12:43 pm
    • Reply

    Would love to see the MRCT/MRCD tests between Radenso Pro M and R7

    • Tee Elle on April 6, 2019 at 7:20 pm
    • Reply

    As always, a HUGE appreciation for what you do. I am a fan.
    I believe the manufacturers owe you a huge debt for all that you’ve done for them, and us, the consumer.
    Thank you, sir!

    • Smokey on April 7, 2019 at 7:14 am
    • Reply

    Can you test the stealth capabilities of the r7 in a video?I was reading about one source with a unit being picked up by spectre at 100 feet front or back.

    • P4H on April 7, 2019 at 1:56 pm
    • Reply

    My R7 is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Are there any options for a visor mount?
    I’m in CA so windshield mount is not legal and not a big fan of the blendmout as it blocks the view.

    1. I’ve seen someone have good luck with the Radenso XP visor mount. http://amzn.to/2n8Wo1f

    • Marc McCord on April 9, 2019 at 10:34 am
    • Reply

    Hard to believe that anyone would take the time and go through the trouble you do to make these tests. We all appreciate it more than you can know. Very surprising that the Solo did so poorly. Tell your pals at Escort to dump it and put that money elsewhere. I am thrilled to know that my R3 is still one of the very best in the world.

    • Smitty on April 12, 2019 at 6:32 am
    • Reply

    Fantastic tests and great data collection on your behalf. I am always very impressed! Even though it’s not at the top of many people’s list to test, would you ever consider running a similar test but on K Band? I’m in an area littered with low frequency K Band and would love to know how these detectors, especially the R7, hold up with the latest firmware updates.

    1. I’ve been thinking about K band testing too. There’s so many options for filtering and whatnot that K band alone could easily take up an entire day of testing.

    • Romeo Lima Charlie on April 12, 2019 at 8:57 am
    • Reply

    This is an quite intriguing topic. As a newbie in DF area as well as a hobbyist of radio, DF equipment is more for fun than for real function to me. IMO, Uniden and Escort choose different strategies to evolve their products. With R3 and R7, Uniden apparently declares their aim for performance; that is to maximize the furthermost detection while efficient identifying and suppressing the fake alarms. With Max360, Escort make the balance between the distance of detection and the mistaken alarming; sometimes compromises make things better in that we don’t need to have the alarm last for a big long time, don’t we? Nonetheless, Escort is really overpriced, especially in the international markets. Next generation of DFs will be based on SDR which means DFs can hear the whole band continuously and instantly without the need for scanning. At that time, a new battle becomes.

    • Shane Baker on April 12, 2019 at 12:09 pm
    • Reply

    I am a Valentine 1 owner and am getting ready to upgrade to the R7, my question is, does the R7 show how many radars are hitting me at one time like the V1 does?

    1. Yeah, up to 4 signals at a time. So technically fewer than the V1, but it still does. 🙂

    • RB on April 12, 2019 at 7:25 pm
    • Reply

    Great review, many thanks for this and all the great work you do. For the RC-M, I’m curious why you turned the Ka filter off while Radenso recommends this to be set at High? Are there any other settings for the RC-M where you’d advise a setting different than Radenso’s recommendation (for USA, New England in particular)? Thx.

    1. I normally run Normal or High in practice. To go for maximum sensitivity and range and to keep a level playing field, I ran the detectors with the Ka Filters off.

    • RB on April 13, 2019 at 10:53 am
    • Reply

    Thanks, makes sense from a level playing field standpoint, other than overstating what you’d actually get in a real world setting. Would you go with all of the other Radenso recommended settings? Also see you ran FW12 when 13 came out last November, any reason for this? Sorry for asking, I just pulled my car out of winter storage and I’m updating everything so just curious if there’s something I should know as I get things going again. Many thanks.

    • _vn_ on April 16, 2019 at 12:49 pm
    • Reply

    can you transfer saved r3 lockouts to r7 ?

    • Norman on April 22, 2019 at 2:10 pm
    • Reply

    Hello. looking to replace my V1. Do you recommend the uniden R7 or Max 360C. Would like good customer service also.Is escort in chapter 11? Thanks for always having honest and fair testing.Keep up the fantastic work.

    • Rob B on May 10, 2019 at 10:21 am
    • Reply

    Hello,

    I currently have the Cobra RDG GPS and it has all the bands, K, Ka, X, Laser and VG2 warning. Looking to upgrade. Was looking at the Uniden R7 but for some reason, it doesn’t state that it warns you for VG2. Called Uniden, and the Customer Service agent was an idiot and had no idea what he was talking about. I’m not a detector guru, but shouldn’t a “high end” Uniden warn for VG2 detector detector? Please advise if the R7 has this function. Thanks

    1. The VG-2 is an outdated and ancient radar detector detector. Most radar detectors have long since become totally immune to the VG-2 so alerting to it being near you is kind of pointless. Alerting to RDD’s is usually a feature that exists on low end RD’s that are pretty detectable and can be picked up by an RDD before you can get the alert that an RDD is nearby. It’s a goofy workaround that most companies have skipped in favor of simply being undetectable in the first place.

    • Rob B on May 10, 2019 at 4:29 pm
    • Reply

    Thanks for your prompt reply. So the Uniden R7 protects against a dectector detector well? Would you say it’s the most dependable dash detector on the market now? Much better than the RDG I presume?

    Please advise thx

    • Greg on May 12, 2019 at 2:05 pm
    • Reply

    Awesome info! Thank you for all this testing and analysis. I would love see some more laser testing on the R7. At least like you did with the Cobra unit and the small tester to see if it’s sensitive to the different laser guns.

    • Marc on May 14, 2019 at 9:36 am
    • Reply

    You no longer list the R3 in the top 5 best detectors. Did the advent of the R7 push it below the others? In my view it should be a strong # 2. Also, do you not list the BEL units because they are an Escort with a different name?

    1. It should still be there, I agree, but that simplified list on the side of the page can only be so long. There’s best performing, best budget, etc. In the full recommendation list it’s right there on my site, but the trick is how to make a simplified version of the list, without having it all be 90% Uniden, haha.

    • joop on May 15, 2019 at 11:43 am
    • Reply

    can you tell me if the R3 is also soutable for europe specialy romania where they use the K band

    • Joop on May 16, 2019 at 12:33 am
    • Reply

    Thank you for the answer like I said we use the K band here my friend have the Escort max 1 and is working well here. Do they make for example the same detector in two versions for example one model for US marked and one for international (Europe)

    • joop on May 16, 2019 at 12:37 am
    • Reply

    don’t undersetimate how many people in Europe look to your posts see that allready between my friends who send me the link if I wanted to know more about radar detectors.

    • Mr.HNO3 on June 9, 2019 at 8:25 am
    • Reply

    Thank you, It’s useful.

    • Chad on July 2, 2019 at 5:03 pm
    • Reply

    Great reviews. Impartial and so very thorough. So curious as to your thoughts of upgrading from the R3 to an R7? I’m not a heavy user of it but use it for my GT500 when needed so would you upgrade if you had the R3?

    1. Great timing. I just published this a few min ago. It may help. https://www.vortexradar.com/2019/07/uniden-r7-radar-detector-review/

    • Michael Pinhas on July 16, 2019 at 6:51 am
    • Reply

    Looking to replace my older valentine 1. Trying to figure out between the max360c and R7 which seems to be the best. You call max 360C a beast but it looks like range wise R7 is better..

    False alerts are annoying so I believe before the R7 gets auto lockouts it may have more triggers but after the download (whenever that happens) do you still think Max360c is the better all around and for long term?

    1. Not the windshield mount Max 360c, the custom installed Max Ci 360. They’re different detectors based on different platforms, but their names are confusingly similar, haha.

      Which one is “better” all around I really don’t like saying because that’s really a subjective call based upon the features that are important to each person.

    • Dan Bar Or on July 19, 2019 at 8:21 am
    • Reply

    Hi, I live in Israel and have an old v1 (3864) . I am using only pop and ka alerts the laser and all the other are off (I have also hp 905 4 heads) so the laser alerts are not important for me.
    I have a lot of false alerts on the ka band , (I am with the little u)
    What should I do??
    I like it on highway (I have good range for the B3)
    but also lots of false alerts…
    Should I buy the r7 or the max 360
    Thank you for your answer.

    • Dale Todd on July 24, 2019 at 10:40 am
    • Reply

    What would you like with cost not being a factor but limited to windshield mounts only?

    • neil schenkel on August 6, 2019 at 8:14 pm
    • Reply

    Hey Vortex
    I’m using a Max 360 and tired of not being able to see the screen
    I would switch back to the V1 with apps but of course who knows when they will be back
    So I just watched your videos on the R7 and it looks like a great unit but it seems to shake a bit every time you touch it
    How the build quality and does the case squeak when on bumpy road like the max 360 did when it was first released
    As you can see I’m a bit spoiled by the titanium case of the Valentine
    And wish for $599 they used better materials in their product— does the case feel loose? Do the buttons feel flimsy ? Does it feel like it would last 3 to 5 years

    Thanks for all your informative info

    Neil

    1. The dual suction cup mount is a little wobbly, yeah. The single suction cup mount is much more solid. The newly released Blendmount I just switched to and it’s rock solid. As for the build quality of the R7, it does feel more plasticy than the V1, but I haven’t actually found it to be an issue. The biggest thing is the awkward placement of the mute button on the side of the detector, but having a solid mount really helps with pressing the button.

    • Tzah on November 15, 2019 at 11:42 am
    • Reply

    Hi Vortex
    On your previous red barn tests the results were completely different, the v1 & the max 360 did much worse vs 33.8 & on this test most detectors are not far behind the R3.
    I’m confused here..

    1. Even though it’s the same course and the same gun, you can’t directly compare one test to another there. Depending on the placement and orientation of the radar gun, you’ll see different results. For example, if I angle the radar gun antenna left maybe 10 degrees so it’s aiming into the kill zone and not downrange, you’ll see much less overall range. Angle the antenna downrange and suddenly every detector will magically perform better. This also affects things like how strong a signal is when you crest a hill or round a bend and whether or not the signal becomes strong enough for even more sensitive detectors to alert in that area when they couldn’t when the signal was weaker.

      For this reason, among others, I’d recommend looking at each test individually and then looking at the overall trends across multiple tests. This’ll be far more helpful than trying to correlate the results directly from one test to another.

    • Tzah on November 16, 2019 at 10:26 pm
    • Reply

    Thanx Vortex
    Always a pleasure to ask you a question as each & every time you deliver a very good answer that always sounds reasonable.
    So, I own a V1 a Redline Ex & a Uniden R1
    Under your reach experience would you recommend the R1 as the best way for me to drive on roads with plenty of curves & hills? & what about Highways? Let me just add that the main threat in my area is 33.8 & laser.
    Thanks again Vortex

    1. The R1 will be the best tool against 33.8 in that terrain. Against laser, you need a laser jammer and no radar detector will suffice.

    • Tzah on November 17, 2019 at 10:46 pm
    • Reply

    Hey Vortex
    Thanks again, one last question..some R1 users claim that the 1.50 firmware sims to cut on the detector’s ka range, some users claim they decided to go back to the 1.37 firmware, others say that the 1.50 is just fine,.
    Have you heard something on this issue??
    Thanks

    1. The people saying that are only going by seat of the pants observations. Every controlled test done to see if there’s a difference has shown that they offer the same performance.

    • Tzah on November 22, 2019 at 3:53 am
    • Reply

    Hi Vortex
    Just got my new R7, really excited…
    One of the reasons I bought it was your Red Barn Test.
    For years I was loyal to the V1 & loved the arrows.
    But can’t use it vs laser.
    I really like the Redline Ex too for all around driving with it’s GPS data which I don’t have on the R1, I can use waze instead.
    Anyway i wonder what’s going on with Mr Mike Valentine? & another thing that’s on my mind is do Escort have plans on a new detector or a new more sensitive Redline ? I wonder…
    Thanx a lot Vortex

    1. Oh man, no one knows what’s going on w/ Valentine. The official word is they’re “waiting on parts” and have been for months. Hopefully Escort comes out with something new too.. maybe at CES?

  2. hello,which is it good for my country in europe, romania? K-band detection, laser detection, Strelka, MultaRadar CD, MultaRadarCT, Gatso?

    • Tzah on November 23, 2019 at 10:35 pm
    • Reply

    Hi,
    I think that in your case you should go with the Redline Ex International.

    • Tzah on December 5, 2019 at 5:41 am
    • Reply

    Hi vortex
    Would you consider on testing the latest detectors against Instant on & pop radar shots??

    1. Not really. I need a controlled way to trigger I/O at specific times and specific distances and don’t have the ideal equipment for that. There are others on the forum who have built something for this purpose though and you can check that out. POP isn’t a useful way of differentiating detectors and so I no longer publish POP tests like before.

    • Tzah on December 5, 2019 at 9:14 am
    • Reply

    Ok thank you Vortex, so can one detector be super sensitive but not as good at detecting quick short k/ka bursts?? The R7 is the most sensitive windshield detector, is it faster than the max 360c ??
    Thanks again

    • NEIL on December 5, 2019 at 9:19 am
    • Reply

    THE MAX 360 OR C IS LONG RANGE ENOUGH FOR THE NORMAL RIDE
    IT ALSO HAS MUCH BETTER FILTERING
    THE R7 GOES OF ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU A BIGGER HEADACHE THAN MIKE VALENTINE HAS RIGHT NOW

    • Tzah on December 5, 2019 at 10:47 am
    • Reply

    What is going on with Mike Valentine ?? For too long now that the V1 is “temporarily out of stock”
    I don’t believe the “waiting for some parts” excuse.
    No way!!!

  3. I always enjoy your tests and feel they are more relevant to me as your testing course looks like the type of roads I drive on. I have a V1 and Radenso ProSE (which gives Redline O performance) and I wasn’t surprised by how the V1 or Radenso Pro M did. My SE beats both the V1 and M like a drum on hilly, curvy roads with moderate to heavy foliage I drive on. When you commented you were disappointed with the Pro M’s showing I think you must have been thinking of the Pro SE’s performance. Unfortunately, the Pro M ain’t no SE and I hope Radenso’s next offering will put them at the top of the pack again. I am looking forward to seeing your tests of the new Gen 2 V1 on this challenging course. Thank you again.

    1. The Pro M and Pro SE both offer an LNA and should offer comparable performance. The only difference is an additional chip added for FMCW support for MRCD and MRCT type signals. Testing against normal radar guns like this, the results should be the same between the Pro M and Pro SE.

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