Bel STi Price Increase

[RadarNutt]

Originally Posted by fire65

Must be my glasses. I read the X50 is a joke, spend 50-100 dollars more and get a real detector.

The Christmas light story is real. LOL, I just like seeing V1 owners go nuts defending the Valentine. Its like they are the only ones that can bash ANY and EVERY other detector.

No... no... I did not intend to come across that way. Perhaps I'm better off posting before a few beers versus after.

What I'm saying is In My Opinion, the X50 is a disappointment and IMO someone's money is better spent on a better detector. Yes, I do use a V1, but I am NOT advocating that everyone should. The V1 suits me fine, but my next choice would be the Bel STi, which is an outstanding detector.

I use the V1 because of the arrows, the bogey counter, and it's fantastic sensitivity. I put up with the chatter in exchange for the other stuff. [Note: I've been using it with a Cheetah GPS Mirror for a few weeks now which has made it much more livable and much less "chatty." I'll write up a review on the site when I have time.]

There is a lot of Ka band where I drive most often (bucho laser too). From my experience, the STi and V1 are the best at Ka detection and all-around function.

[fire65]

LOL,, I see the problem here. We were BOTH drinking last night.

[samq45]

Just had to say I like the Gimmicks.

My Favorite "Gimmick" - Not being able to be detected by the Spectre.

After I paid $500 to get my V1 back from the QPP it became a $900 detector. I do not think you can even get them back now. If you live in NY you have to pay it or it goes on your license here as an unpaid fine from Quebec. Thats why I do not feel to bad after dropping about that much on an STi-r. Keep the Gimmmicks up.

[CJR238]

Originally Posted by The STIG

Why would I say that? Well maybe I have owned Passports in the past and even some X50's and they dont even touch the V1. Belscort just reminds me of Cobra marketing...like the *GPS Lock Out Feature*...well we all know that is a false sense of security because people have already recieved tickets thinking since the 9500i was quite because of the lock out and they speed anyways. Escort did not test it long enough and just wanted to throw more detectors in major retails stores. They are just too gimikey for my driving style.

The 9500I TrueLock always worked fine, not 1 person has ever shown me that a ticket has been given because of it, ever...
The reason people perceive that TrueLock doesn’t work was people didn’t take the time to understand what it was doing, they just assumed it was magic. The excessive videos that were done under the most unrealistic scenario to show the 1% chance of locking out a real threat also gave the perception of it not working all the time.
The V1 "J'd" out real alerts, so what’s so different? That is a false sense of security because people have received tickets because of the V1 junking a real alert.
See what im saying?

These are the things that need to take place to have a problem with TrueLock:

1) Local radar is running in X or K
2) You lock out a location with X or K
3) the location you lock out with X or K happens to be the same 30MHz block the local LEO's are running
4) A LEO is running radar in that same locked out area.
5) His signal is of about the same strength of the false so it doesn’t alert out side the locked out area.
6) and lastly you are speeding in that "High Risk" area.

That’s more variables than what it takes to get a ticket with a RD that has no TrueLock. and at least with the 9500I you have the choice of locking out a source or not.

These are the things that need to take place to have a problem the V1's Junk feature:
1) LEO running real radar
2) V1 junking it
3) ticket

Hmmm, that looks like V1 didn’t test the "J" feature long enough?

Yes the 8500 and 9500I are not a V1 but that’s what some people want, and that’s the point. Don’t get me wrong im not trying to bash the V1, we all know its a beast in detection range, but to make a blanket statement saying it doesn’t work or is a bad RD is not fair and completely false in both cases.

[The STIG]

The only way I would own a Bel STi if I lived where RD's where illegal but I dont. I would never be caught with anything else on my windshield other then my V1 wand no one can see my christmas lights since I use a concealed display and even my passengers dont even see it nor does anyone else. Dont get me wrong I do like Bel since I have owned alot of them from old school to a RX65 which I really hated...alot.

[RadarNutt]

Originally Posted by fire65

LOL,, I see the problem here. We were BOTH drinking last night.

Ha ha... good point!

[RadarNutt]

Originally Posted by CJR238

See what im saying?

These are the things that need to take place to have a problem with TrueLock:

1) Local radar is running in X or K
2) You lock out a location with X or K
3) the location you lock out with X or K happens to be the same 30MHz block the local LEO's are running
4) A LEO is running radar in that same locked out area.
5) His signal is of about the same strength of the false so it doesn’t alert out side the locked out area.
6) and lastly you are speeding in that "High Risk" area.

That’s more variables than what it takes to get a ticket with a RD that has no TrueLock. and at least with the 9500I you have the choice of locking out a source or not.

I believe that for many people there's much more than a 1% chance that is possible. I do agree that some thought needs to go into how one utilizes the TrueLock feature. It IS a nice idea. The problem is I'm not convinced that it can be implemented to full effectiveness in every situation. In fact I'm convinced that it cannot be. And as I see it, how does the user know?

Example: there's a certain intersection that I drive by regularly. Since a couple of new buildings went up last year, I now count 8 or 9 K band alerts from my V1. Now, you mentioned the signal strength sensitivity of the 9500i's TrueLock. Well, those signals go across the board from 1 LED on the V1 indicator to full alert. As I drive by on the main road or coming up from a side road, the same thing happens. There are 3 stop lights within 200-300 feet of each other, and that makes it likely you will be annoyed with the your RD going berserk problem nearly every time you drive thru there.

On the other hand, in that same spot on both sides of the road you have access lanes - easy spots to setup a speed trap. And the PSL goes from 35 to 40 to 45 and vice versa on this road, with the part I'm talking about I think is 40. However, I'm not sure (I don't doubt the LEO's know either), as since it has built up you can't really figure out what the PSL is supposed to be. I think there's one sign going one direction and none in the other. But point is if you catch the lights right you can easily blow thru this area doing way over PSL (it's 3 lanes either side).

Anyhow... now, before you say, "See the V1 sucks because it's going to drive you crazy with all those K-band alerts," let me tell you that EVERY detector worth a crud goes ballistic here.

With my V1, I could set the K-band mute delay for longer than the factory default 10 seconds, but now instead I am using the GPS Mirror - which is a god-send.... Set the speed indicator to mute below a certain speed an voila! no more annoying K-band alerts in that area I'm talking about. If I'm zipping thru the area at a decent pace, the 10 second timer on the V1 will mute it. If I'm putzing along, the Cheetah Mirror mutes it.

These are the things that need to take place to have a problem the V1's Junk feature:
1) LEO running real radar
2) V1 junking it
3) ticket

Hmmm, that looks like V1 didn’t test the "J" feature long enough?

Agreed, though that is very rare. I have never had that problem personally, and I've owned/used a V1 for about 5 years now. I did recently turn off the J feature though just in case. I think the J out feature is a bad idea if even 1 in a 1,000,000 times it J's out a real threat. I'd rather get spooked by the Ka bleeding Cobras, etc. on the road versus miss a real threat no matter how low the chance it will J it out. However, that's my choice. I like having all the input around me and letting me decide how to react versus my RD remaining silent because it thought something was bogus.

I think the main problem here are the bad Cobras, etc. setting off everyone else's Ka band alerts around them.

[CJR238]

Originally Posted by RadarNutt

Agreed, though that is very rare. I have never had that problem personally, and I've owned/used a V1 for about 5 years now. I did recently turn off the J feature though just in case. I think the J out feature is a bad idea if even 1 in a 1,000,000 times it J's out a real threat. I'd rather get spooked by the Ka bleeding Cobras, etc. on the road versus miss a real threat no matter how low the chance it will J it out. However, that's my choice. I like having all the input around me and letting me decide how to react versus my RD remaining silent because it thought something was bogus.

X2, that’s exactly my point about TrueLock, its very rare for it to lock out a real threat just like its very rare for the V1 to J out a real threat. Its not like im suggesting TrueLock everything, there should be some thought when locking things out.
TrueLock would be a useless feature for someone who doesn’t mind the falses, or prefers to get the most amount of information at all times, including 9 K falses at once. There are plenty of other useful features like Auto speed sensitivity but those are also preference too.

Originally Posted by RadarNutt

Anyhow... now, before you say, "See the V1 sucks because it's going to drive you crazy with all those K-band alerts," let me tell you that EVERY detector worth a crud goes ballistic here.

I wouldn’t say that V1 sucks, no way, just a bit chatty. However its physically imposable for a 9500I to get 9 K band alerts at once and show them all, probably isn’t really 9 anyway.
The first question for that scenario is do they use K band in that area, if not no big deal. If so, your comments below with the GPS Mirror are very similar with the 9500I. Or you could just TrueLock the falses if they aren’t around the 24.150MHz of real LEO radar.

Originally Posted by RadarNutt

With my V1, I could set the K-band mute delay for longer than the factory default 10 seconds, but now instead I am using the GPS Mirror - which is a god-send.... Set the speed indicator to mute below a certain speed an voila! no more annoying K-band alerts in that area I'm talking about. If I'm zipping thru the area at a decent pace, the 10 second timer on the V1 will mute it. If I'm putzing along, the Cheetah Mirror mutes it.

That’s what i love about the V1 & GPS Mirror, it gives you the speed sensitive features of the 9500I and the sensitivity of the V1.

Ideally a V1 and the GPS Mirror would be all end all if it was in one package like the 9500I. Maybe a few hundred dollars cheaper too.

[RadarNutt]

Hmm.... now you've got me thinking... it would be great if someone would try that scenario in a test. I'll have to ponder that one... maybe I'll try out a "30 day test drive" and find out... would be interesting.

Question is do I have time to do it atm? But perhaps someone ought to do this and see how well it works.

What I mean is combo of the TrueLock blocking falses + how sensitive is it to a real threat? Because granted, with my V1 I would probably get nailed there because of all the false bogeys. I haven't seen K-band used in that particular area in years, so it's probably a non-issue. It's just that the whole situation got me thinking... what if I was in an area with K-band?

Anyway, definitely a test-worthy exercise IMHO.

[CJR238]

Originally Posted by RadarNutt

Hmm.... now you've got me thinking... it would be great if someone would try that scenario in a test. I'll have to ponder that one... maybe I'll try out a "30 day test drive" and find out... would be interesting.

Question is do I have time to do it atm? But perhaps someone ought to do this and see how well it works.

What I mean is combo of the TrueLock blocking falses + how sensitive is it to a real threat? Because granted, with my V1 I would probably get nailed there because of all the false bogeys. I haven't seen K-band used in that particular area in years, so it's probably a non-issue. It's just that the whole situation got me thinking... what if I was in an area with K-band?

Anyway, definitely a test-worthy exercise IMHO.

X2, i don't have a location where there was 9 falses, but i locked out 2 in a location and way before i got there my 9500I alerted to a LEO running K band. So even if by small chance it somehow locked it out i was still alerted and i reacted quickly because i was use to no noise at that area.

Worth a real test though.

The 9500I always gets me thinking, it has so much stuff that interacts differently with different settings.