Take from a person who has tried a few radar detectors in his day, this may not be the best one on the market but it's the best value going. Look at the features you get for 40 bucks...Audible alerts with separate tones for each band of radar plus laser, visual alerts with separate LED lights for each band plus laser, simple on off volume control, city modes that mutes all signals to 2 quick beeps but continues with all visual alerts unless the signal becomes very strong, auto-mute mode that silences all alerts after 5 beeps but keeps the visuals (also with a 20 second reset so if you're driving in a heavy false signal area where the same false signal pops you intermittently or several are very close together the unit stays silent until you're well away from the falsing without it constantly resetting itself, a nice idea), VG-2 protection if you need it...most don't, Safety Radar (for emergency vehicles) detection if you need it...most don't, Pulse Protection to detect pulsed radar if you need it...most don't, auto power off feature turns the unit off if you forget, overall compact and very easy to use and understand. The only drawbacks are it could be a tinge louder and the LED's a tinge brighter, but these are minor negatives...the alerts overall are quite sufficient. In actual use you'll find this unit picks up radar very well for the casual speeder, maybe even a little better than that. Tip: Using the City mode together with the automute works very well in very urban environments.