Beltronics RX 65 Radar Detector

*** UPDATE OF RX65 VS X50 VS V1 at the bottom of this review (07/Sep/04) ***

I have tested the RX65 against the Multanova 6F (34.3 KA band frequency), which is a very common and popular brand of radar outside of the USA, and is used extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia, etc. I am personally in Asia.

For these photo radars (photocop), the radar and camera is pointed forwards together with the outgoing traffic (to imagine, it is taking a photo of the rear number plate as you pass it, NOT the front like in the USA). So basically as you pass the radar/camera, it detects your speed and if you are speeding, it takes your photo.

Now, I've tested 2 different radar setups 10 times going back and forth on 2 separate occasions, so there is little chance that my results are a "fluke".

What I found is that if you are on the opposite side of the road (ie. not the side the radar/camera is operating), then the RX65 can detect it almost 8-10 seconds away while going approximately 60-70Kmph.

However, if you are on the same side of the road as the radar again at 60-70Kmph (the side that the camera can shoot your rear number plate!) then the warning is anywhere between 1 to 3 seconds ONLY! In my mind, 1-3 seconds is NOT SUFFICIENT to slow down or react. I was almost next to the radar before it beeped! I was actually watching the radar get closer... closer... waiting for it to beep...waiting.... THEN it beeped as i was almost there with only a second or two to react.

Also note that the radar must be put into "INTL" mode and not "USA" or "DEF" (default) mode. In any mode except International mode, ABSOLUTELY NO response is received. So I am sure that in USA mode, 34.3 KA band frequency is not monitored by the RX65 (if you know what frequencies USA mode monitors, please reveal!). This is not explained in the manual.

Also, I had the detector in "HIGHWAY" mode for maximum range and detection already! I predict that in "AUTOSCAN" and other modes, the performance will be WORSE.

I also tried progressively turning ON/OFF the X band, K band, KU band, and POP band, hoping the results would improve, but it didn't affect anything at all. Finally I turned everything else off except KA band (X band off, K band off, KU band off, POP band off, KA band on) and it still only responded about 1-3 seconds before the camera/radar, so there was basically no difference.

My friends with the Valentine 1 (V1) also tested it against the same radar, and they got about 2-5 seconds warning. This isn't a huge difference, but it is very slightly better.

Personally I would say you need at LEAST 5 seconds warning before the radar to react and slow down.

I even sent my unit back for replacement once, because I thought the perfomance couldn't possibly be this poor, but the same happened again. I purchased from a large authorized seller for Beltronics in the USA.

As a side note, when POP band is enabled it seems there are quite a few false alerts/warnings.

Also, the Escort 8500 X50 has basically the same electronic internals except with voice alerts and KU band disabled (same microprocessor, same antenna), so I cannot imagine it performing any better than the RX65 (I have not personally tested this unit's performance so I am not 100% on this but 99%. Maybe someone else with the 8500 X50 can directly test and comment!)

Overall, I am disappointed that the RX65 performs so poorly outside of the USA. This unit is supposed to be the BEST unit offered by Beltronics, so if this "best" unit performs so poorly, I can't imagine how the lesser units are going to perform.

If you have had different performance against the Multanova 6F 34.3K (or any other KA band photo radar) please leave a comment!!!

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UPDATE:
http://www.epinions.com/content_154623053444

Well, after about 2 weeks of testing the new RX65 and the X50 together, it turns
out that.... surprisingly, the X50 does indeed react faster than the RX65
and warns earlier.

We did not do any of the "simulated" testing that some organizations like
Speedzones do (approach the radar slowly then give the distance between
the car and the radar), in that we took the V1 (version 1., RX65, and
X50, and did actual timing runs going at speeds such as 70Kmph and 100Kmph
with many multiple runs to ensure no result was a "fluke" or out of
statistical boundaries. All tests were done at night against the same
stationary radar unit. The radar units runs at 34.3 KA band.

With our testing, things such as speed of software algorithms can show up
(even with the same hardware, as supposely between the X50 and RX65),
because the "reaction" time of the units would make a difference and not
just raw sensitivity, such as the cycle time for the unit to cycle scan
the entire KA band and make a determination and alert.

In any case, the X50 indeed does react faster than any of the RX65 units
and the V1. Going at 100Kmph on multiple runs against a stationary photo
radar camera unit, the V1 gave 2 seconds warning (all results here are
averaged to the closest second), while the X50 gave 4 seconds. The RX65
gave 3 seconds, HOWEVER out of the 10 runs we did with each of the units,
the RX65 failed to give ANY warning on 2 runs. This failure to give any
warning whatsoever immediately ruled out the RX65 as it gives no
"confidence", and most people said they would rather the detector give a
late warning than no warning at all sometimes. X band was disabled on all
units, K and KA band were on, POP was off, Laser was on. On the BEL the KA
was set to INTL (USA mode gave no detection at all). Most people said they
preferred the "brap" tone of the X50 than the "beep" tone of the RX65,
although we did not take this preference into consideration during the
performance testing.

An interesting thing to note is that when testing against the SAME radar,
the X50 would show a certain frequency in the TECH dispaly mode, and the
RX65 would show a different frequency. Not sure what would cause this.