Conclusions

Placing your trust into a radar detector takes time and requires a lot of driving time behind the wheel and a proven historical track-record with a variety of different speed trap encounters.

Low-power pulsed X-band K-55 from rear - 20+ yrs old technology!
Concerned about POP RADAR?  No need.  Plenty of other lethal speedtraps lurking about.

For this test, we drove almost 2300 miles in five states (AZ, NV, PA, NJ, NY), encountered, without incident, all forms of pulsed/steady radar currently utilized in North America and even unexpectedly encroached upon a laser speed trap in which VEIL allowed us to avoid a laser speeding ticket! 

You can read, in detail, about all of our actual driving experiences in the unabridged version of this review.

Until we publish our next comprehensive real-world review, you can continue keep-up with the latest info about our continuing long-term comparisons and driving experiences (frequently updated) by visiting the VeilGuy blog. Be sure to opt-into our mailing list, so you don't miss the action!

Another hapless motorist who has not, as yet, heard of Veil.

Bottom line - all three of these radar detectors are truly stellar performers and we have yet to encounter a real speed trap that any of these detectors weren’t up to the task of providing the maximum level of protection that a detector is capable of providing today.

This is not to say that we didn’t have our preferences.  We did, though, these preferences were more tied to an individual radar detector "personality" than merely performance differences.

Ergonomically, it was superior.  We loved the quick re-programming ability, the volume levels obtainable, band audio clarity, its smaller size, the overall quietness of operation [lack of falsing] even on highway mode, that it can be operated in Dark Mode, provided remote volume adjustment with audio assistance -at a touch of a button [on the lighter plug] and that changes to operation are accompanied by textual/tonal confirmation.  Most importantly, though, it was consistently quick at alerting to approaching ALL radar threats encountered. 

Along with this quickness came a somewhat higher "false" rate -including POP -relative to the Escort and therefore required a modest level of involvement from its owner to properly interpret what the alarms meant.

The fact that is has the added capability to detect Ku radar - which has been in use in Europe for quite some time and may soon be making its appearance stateside, is a nice bonus.

Think of the Bel as a high-performance sports car that can act as daily driver.  Vehicles such as a late model Corvette or Porsche 911 with SMG come to mind.

Escort 8500 X50 (Red), Rev 5

Overall, the Escort 8500 X50 (Red) was the easiest with which to get along.  It was the most quiet in terms falsing, provided exceptional sensitivity to both K and Ka radar, and ease of programming and/or setting changes while driving.

We did not specifically encounter a laser trap with the X50 in operation, but given the nature of the one we did stumble upon, we are certain it would have behaved similarly.  Its X-band performance did appear to diminish*, somewhat, when operating with Ka band enabled.    This fact is purely academic, though, if you don't live or drive in New Jersey or any other area where X-band radar is known to be in operation.

*UPDATE: 19 NOV 05 We have lived with a later model of the 8500 X50 for several months now and have found that its X-band performance appears to be more in-line now with the RX-65. Furthermore the detector appears to be quite a bit more sensative to Laser than its cousin the RX65. Based-upon our updated experiences, we would tend to favor the 8500 X50 [over the RX65] if laser was our primary concern. *More on this subject in the near future.

Think of Escort as a nice Grand Tourer (GT) of the three - an E-class from Mercedes-Benz or a 5 Series from Bayerische Motoren Werke, if you will.

It should be considered when one desires a very high-level of protection without requiring a lot of driver involvement.  In other words, its low maintenance.

Valentine One, v1.8 /w POP2

*UPDATE: 19 NOV 05 We have now lived with an updated version (v3.825) for several months and believe that despite some small glitches in the "J" programming, that this detector has become our new reference.

**UPDATE: 17 DEC 05 VR has recently informed us of an updated model (v3.826) that is now shipping which has had some programming updates to address the aforementioned glitch. Existing owners may contact them for an update/upgrade.

This older model only slightly lagged in Ka-band sensitivity to its younger brother, the V1.8 and appeared just slightly quicker with X & K-band radar, and provides superior laser detection [even compared to the newer models of Bel & Escort] - an incredible accomplishment given that it's on more than a decade old!  No doubt, that's why they continue to fetch a premium on E-bay.  For its time (come to think of it, for all time), it truly is an engineering marvel!

Thinking of this one as a Lamborghini Diablo VT,  Lotus Esprit, or perhaps (it's been suggested) a supercharged Hummer.

Our Overall Preference

Throughout these tests, we found ourselves favoring the comparison of both the RX65 Pro and V1.

And, in fact, although it’s not practical for most, we enjoyed driving with both detectors in operation – they appeared to get along quite nicely.  If one alerted while the other remained silent, we would feel more assured that we could disregard the alert.  If both alerted, we were more inclined to react immediately.

Taking everything into consideration- if we had only to pick one radar detector to take with us on our trip, it would be the Beltronics RX65 Pro.

If laser was our primary concern, then we would opt for either the Valentine V1 or the Escort 8500 X50. 

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