My Whistler Pro78 Rev C Review

[MEM-TEK]

Hi everyone,

Here is a link to my review of the Pro78. Enjoy!

MEM-TEK's Whistler Pro78 Review

[RadarReviews_Net]

MEM-TEK's Review of the Whistler Pro78 Rev C

MEM-TEK's
Quick Rating
Whistler Pro78 Performance7/10
Performance vs. Price8/10
Features 9/10
Features vs. Price 10/10

Manufacturer Information
AddressThe Whistler Group
13016 North Walton Blvd.
Bentonville, AR 72712
Phone Number 800-531-0004
Web Site www.whistlergroup.com

NOTES: This review of the Whistler Pro78 is my first in depth radar detector (RD) review. Reviews of radar detectors will follow during the next couple of months. Please note that the specific Whistler Pro78 model which I tested features the revision C firmware and hardware. The revision C Pro78 performs considerably better than earlier revisions of this product. Owners of earlier Pro78 models should also note that Whistler can update their earlier version to the current Rev C version for improved performance. All pictures with colored borders are "clickable" and will automatically launch a new browser window to show a much higher resolution version of the picture.

Introduction
I have had a lot of fun testing and reviewing a Whistler Pro78 Revision C radar detector during the past few weeks. Overall it is a rather decently performing radar detector — especially on Ka band and with regards to alerting to quick K band or Ka band trigger pulls which are hallmark instant-on radar techniques used by experienced law enforcement officers when operating their instant-on radar guns. I tested the Pro78's performance against my Bel STi which for me is a known benchmark since I have been using my STi for several months. Testing was performed both individually and with both radar detectors powered on at the same time. Extensive tests using my homemade and precisely tuned X and K band Gunn oscillator transceivers confirmed that the Pro78 was not seeing any local oscillator (LO) emissions from my STi, yet did confirm that the STi would add a bit of signal to the STi's displayed signal strength when the STi alerted while the Pro78 was powered on at the same time. With both radar detectors powered on at the same time, the STi would consistently display the received signal strength as one bar stronger compared to when the Pro78 was turned off. Needless to say, I also performed a lot of additional testing to make sure that my STi would consistently alert to even the weakest radar signal even though the STi was seeing a very weak amount of LO emissions from the Pro78. This generally proved to be true, except that sometimes my STi would alert approximately 1/2 to 1 second later than it would when the Pro78 was turned off.
Both radar detectors were mounted above and on either side of the vertical post supporting my rear view mirror (RVM) as shown. I took great care to assure that both radar detectors were mounted perfectly level and that both were facing straight ahead. Why did I choose the above RVM mounting location? Quite simply, this location has several advantages. First, this location gives both radar detectors an unobstructed view of the road ahead. Second, this location which is well above my car's hood also minimizes the ability of either radar detector to receive additional radar reflections off of my car's hood due to the contour of my car's hood. This is an important consideration which must be taken into account since radar detectors can feature predominately upward, downward, or neutral flared radar horns. A radar detector with a predominately downward flared radar horn is more able to "see" additional reflected radar signals off of a car's hood. Thus the high mounting location minimizes any hood reflection benefits for a particular radar detector horn design.

Product Specifications and Features
Product SpecificationsProduct NameWhistler Pro78 Revision CSize / Weight4.7" x 3" x 1.4" / 6.5 oz.Power12 V, center tip positiveStandard
AccessoriesPower Cord, Direct Wire Cord, Suction Cup Windshield Bracket Mount, Dash Pad, Owners ManualWarranty3 YearsMSRP /

Street Price$229.95 / less than $180**** For those on a a bit more of a budget, the Whistler XTR-690 offers the same performance as the Pro78 but uses a LCD display in place of the Pro78's expensive blue LED display.Product Features

• X, K, Ka, and Super Wideband Ka Detection
• 360° Protection against all types of Laser
• Instant-On (Pulse) Detection
• Detects POP Mode
• Safety Warning System™ (SWS™) Alert
• RDD Low Emission
• Integrated Real Voice™
• Selectable Alert Tones
• Intense Blue Text Display
• Dual Blue Alert Periscope LED's
• Signal Strength Indicator

• Selectable Bands
• City and Highway Modes
• Auto and Manual Muting
• Bright/Dim/Dark Display Settings
• Auto Dim
• Vehicle Battery Saver
• Setting Saver
• Stay Alert Feature
• Volume Control
• Self Test
• Teach/Tutorial Mode

Notable Pro78 Features

• The Pro78's audio voice alerts are very nice and clear. On top of this, the Pro78's larger than average built-in speaker is extremely loud and was very easy to hear even when my car stereo was turned up to a fairly loud volume. The Pro78's alerts are louder than any radar detector which I have ever used.
• The Pro78 features three sets of user selectable alert tones. These sets of alert tones are well chosen to allow the user to pick the set of alert tones which suits his or her tastes.
• Whistler describes its blue LED display as an "intense blue display." Yet the Pro78 uses a blue tinted display cover the color of which, according to Whistler, was carefully tuned to prevent any eye straining glare from the blue LED display. I must say that it works because even when I was driving at night I never found the Pro78's blue LED display to be objectionably intense.
• The Pro78's dual periscope LEDs are a brighter and paler blue compared to the LED display. This is deliberate so that the periscope LEDs will immediately get your attention when they start flashing during a radar or laser alert.
• The Pro78 features a rather unique dark setting for the display. The dark setting will immediately kill all illumination to the LED display the instant an alert is received. When the Pro78 is not receiving an alert and when it also is in dark mode, then the display is dimmed to a very faint yet (for the driver) readable display which shows what operating mode the Pro78 is currently in. My only caveat is that I wish that the Pro78 had a user selectable option to only display the first letter of the current operating mode. For example, there really is no need for the display, while in dark mode, to display "Highway" when simply displaying a single letter "H" would suffice.
• Young adults, older drivers and long haul drivers should note that the Pro78 has a unique Stay Alert feature. This unique Whistler feature has saved lives and can save your life when you get very tired behind the wheel late at night. I tried out this feature while driving home in the late evening after visiting my father who lives nearly 2 hours away from my home. I can say that the Stay Alert feature works very well and that I actually look forward to trying it out further later this summer when I will have to take a very long road trip.
• The Pro78 has a photocell plus circuitry which is used in conjunction with its auto dimming display. This is a very nice feature not found on most economically street priced radar detectors.

Performance Summary
Whistler Pro78 Revision CPerformance RatingKa BandVery GoodK BandGoodX BandFairLaserNot TestedLet's cut to the chase since anyone reading this review will want to immediately know how well the Whistler Pro78 performed during my testing. Here are my observations of the Pro78's performance after testing it for a few weeks:

My "Snapshot" of the Whistler Pro78's Overall Design, Features and Performance

• Overall and with the introduction of the Pro78 revision C model, it seems that Whistler has heavily focused on improving the Pro78's performance on Ka band since Ka band now is the predominant radar threat encountered by motorists.
• Ka band performance is very good since the Pro78 has the uncanny ability to sniff out extremely weak blips of Ka band radar under real world conditions. It seems to me that the Pro78 is very well tuned to sniff out Ka band radar which is the primary radar threat which most drivers encounter nowadays.
• K band performance is good, yet the Pro78 remains relatively quiet with regards to K band door openers when driving around town. Amazingly, the Pro78 alerts only a few to several seconds later compared to my STi. The point which I am trying to make is that the Pro78, while less sensitive on K band compared to higher end radar detectors, has a very good ability to sniff out wisps of K band radar in the real world under average driving conditions.
• X band performance is less than that of the Bel, Escort and Valentine products, yet this is of no concern for most RD users unless you live in NJ which still heavily uses X band radar guns.
• The Whistler Pro78 is very good at alerting to very short and even very weak radar bursts from distant instant-on (IO) radar guns.
• The Pro78's ability to detect POP radar bursts should be above average.
• The Whistler Pro78 filtering algorithms are fairly good at reducing false alerts. See my comments further below.
• If your primary threat is Ka band radar, then you will find the Whistler Pro78 to be a very good if not excellent performer against Ka band threats, and you will find the Pro78 to be a relatively quiet radar detector when used in and around town.
• The Pro78's build quality is superb. Long term reliability should also be superb as well based upon my examination of the Pro78's internal design and components. See my comments further below.

Additional Observations Regarding Radar and Laser Performance
The Pro78 seems to excel at detecting brief wisps of radar on any band which were detected for only 1/4 to 1/3 of a second. My "brief wisp of radar" tests were performed using my X and K band transmitters by toggling the power to either transmitter for roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of a second. I had to put the transmitters on top of my car and point them straight up towards the open sky in order to produce very weakly detected signals on either the Pro78 or my STi. The point is that the Pro78, unlike many competing radar detectors, appears to be very adept at detecting very brief and weak bursts of radar. A Whistler representative claims that the Pro78 can detect POP mode radar roughly 50% of the time even with POP mode turned off. I have no reason to doubt this claim considering how well the Pro78 responded to the very short and weak toggled bursts from my transmitters.
Ka band performance is where the Pro78 really shines. Raw Ka band performance is very consistent for the standard Ka band 33.8, 34.7 and 35.5 Ka band frequencies. In particular, the Pro78 performs very well when detecting the most popular 34.7Ka and second most popular 35.5Ka frequencies. I noted that in the real world the Pro78, even though it has somewhat lower raw Ka band sensitivities, actually excels at detecting Ka band radar. On occasion the Pro78 produced an initial Ka band alert a few seconds before my STi did! Why does this occur on occasion? Quite simply, because the Pro78 uses a rather unique and patented radar detection method such that, whenever any suspect signal is detected, the Pro78 will immediately stop looking for radar on other frequencies and then recheck if the suspect radar signal still present on the detected frequency just a tiny fraction of a second later. This method of operation is derived from a unique Whistler patent. Yet the STi and other premium priced radar detectors such as the 9500i and V1, due to their higher raw Ka band sensitivities, will beat the Pro78 in detecting distant Ka band radar when driving through very flat and open terrain. I rate the Pro78's overall Ka band performance as being "very good" since its performance proved to be quite adequate and at times very surprising.
Raw K band performance is good, but not excellent. On the other hand, the Pro78 is very good in the real world at detecting K band signals which momentarily fluctuate just above the Pro78's noise floor. The result is that the Pro78 has a very good ability to sniff out K band signals while driving in the real world, producing initial alerts which generally were between a few to a half dozen seconds later than the initial alerts produced by my STi when driving through either slightly hilly or slightly winding terrain. I have rated the Pro78's K band performance as "good" since during real world testing the Pro78 was easily up to the task of alerting to approaching police K band radar guns.
X band performance is not as sensitive as my STi. This isn't a concern for RD users unless you live in New Jersey, a state which still heavily uses X band, or if you live in or regularly drive through small towns which are still using old X band radar guns. My approach distance tests towards one of the few remaining X band door openers in my small town suggest, knowing my STi's X band sensitivity and the X band sensitivities of several of my vintage radar detectors, that the Whistler Pro78's X band sensitivity is "fair." The Pro78's X band sensitivity is less sensitive compared to the X band performance of competing products produced by Bel and Escort or by Valentine. Yet, as mentioned, X band is virtually dead except in New Jersey and in a few very small towns nationwide. The Pro78's merely fair X band performance is a non-issue for the vast majority of drivers in the USA and Canada.
Unfortunately, during my testing I encountered zero laser hits with either radar detector. Thus I was unable to make any observations of the Pro78's laser performance.
Filtering

The Pro78's filtering algorithms seem to perform rather well during real world testing. I noted in particular that none of the Pro78's three filter modes or City modes seemed to have any effect regarding the Pro78's Ka band performance. The Pro78's ability to sniff out Ka band radar remained constant regardless of whatever filter and City combinations that I tried. Following are some additional observations regarding the Pro78's filtering algorithms.

• The Pro78 in Highway mode is fairly quiet when driving around town. The Pro78 is very quiet when driving around town using any of its City modes.
• The Pro78 is sneaky at filtering out X band door openers which also happen to be located nearby any newer K band door openers. How Whistler is doing this — I don't have a clue! It may have something to do with the fact that the Pro78 scans both X and K bands using just one signal sweep of its local oscillator rather than using independent signal sweeps to scan each of these bands.
• The Pro78's less sensitive yet still good K band performance results in the Pro78 being rather good at ignoring distant K band door openers — especially way off-axis relative to your driving path. Yet the Pro78 has proved to be quite adequate at alerting to approaching constant-on K band radar threats.
• The Pro78 does have a problem in filtering out some older cheaper cell phone models which produce either continuous or momentary harmonics on X band during operation. Yes, I am using one of these older cell phones which is over 5 years old. I discovered that using the Pro78's Filter 2 mode mostly causes the Pro78 to ignore my antique cell phone except when it is charging or when I am talking on it.

Cosmetics and Ergonomics
Pro78 External Design
The Pro78, cosmetically and ergonomically, is a lovely radar detector which is engineered for both functionality and for ease of use. The fit of all external case components is held to very tight tolerances. One worry which I had was that the Pro78's blue LED display would be too intense for my eyes either during the day or while driving at night. This definitely is not the case. Overall I consider the display intensity to be just perfect — even when driving at night. Take a closer look at the Pro78's external design and cosmetics:
The Pro78 features two very bright blue flashing LEDs which immediately get your attention when the Pro78 produces an alert. The user has the option to use this feature, to turn off the LEDs, or to leave them on all of the time if you want to be "cool" in order to impress your girlfriend.The Pro78's suction cup bracket slides into a slot in the top front of the radar detector's case. Simply slide the Pro78 onto the suction cup bracket and the Pro78 will audibly click into place with no worries about the Pro78 falling off of the bracket The small oval button is the release button for the suction cup bracket. Whistler also uses a unique and very convenient power/volume switch which is easy to operate. Simply push the switch either forward or back to adjust the volume, or push in on the switch to toggle power.The Pro78's power cord plugs into the round jack located near the front right side of the radar detector's case. The DARK and QUIET buttons are conveniently located on the top rear left side of the Pro78's case. The CITY and MENU buttons are located on the top rear right side of the Pro78's case. Once you press the MENU button, then you can use either the MENU or CITY buttons to cycle back and forth between the various user adjustable Pro78 settings. Likewise, simply use either the DARK or QUIET buttons located on the top left side of the Pro78's case to either select ON or OFF for a given feature or to cycle through the various settings for a given feature. The rearward located QUIET button logically serves as the OFF button, and the forward located DARK button logically serves as the ON button. I found that just a couple of minutes of playing around with the buttons was more than enough to familiarize myself regarding how to cycle through all of the user adjustable settings as well as how to quickly change any settings.

The buttons themselves are made of a deep translucent blue plastic which is then nickel plated. Atop this hard nickel plating (chosen since it bonds well to plastic) a durable chrome plating is then applied. A laser then etches through the nickel and chrome plating in order to create the lettering on the buttons. There is no way that the letters can rub off with use since they are not cheaper silk screened lettering. I believe that Escort uses a fairly similar process to create the titanium buttons on their top-of-the-line 9500i radar detector model.The Pro78 features a gorgeous blue woven metal speaker grille which is extremely durable. Just as lovely is the beautiful Black Midnight Metallic flake paint finish applied to the plastic molding insert on the Pro78's top case. Although the above picture doesn't clearly show the colors of the metallic metal flakes since it was very difficult to illuminate these metallic flakes while taking pictures, these flakes actually are composed of red, green and blue metallic flake colors.Internal Electronics Design
Internal Design Features and Reliability
The Pro78 features design implementations which make the Pro78 very reliable, easy to upgrade from earlier versions to the current revision C version, and easy to repair. For example, the Pro78 uses fine thread machine screws to attach the bottom half of the horn to the main circuit board. Likewise, fine thread machine screws are also used to attach the top horn half to the bottom horn half. Two of the fine thread horn half mating screws also serve to fully secure the position of the LO board within the horn's LO chamber. Whistler uses fine thread screws to prevent these screws from working loose due to either vibration or due to differences in the coefficients of expansion between the various components which are secured by these screws. The result is an assembly which is inherently reliable regardless of vibration or temperature extremes which may be experienced by the Pro78 radar detector.

First off, note that the Pro78 features a diode and a choke (circled in yellow, above) to protect against incorrect polarity when power is applied, plus a common mode choke to filter out alternator hum from your car's electrical system.Here I show the Pro78's horn bottom with the local oscillator (LO) board removed. Note that the LO board simply plugs into the main circuit board via two 4 pin connectors located in through-slots in the bottom horn casting. Click on the above photo for a good look at the top side of the Pro78's main circuit board.Click on the above photo for a good look at the bottom side of the Pro78's main circuit board. Here is a view of the opened up horn assembly. The horn design features a vertically neutral flared horn which is fairly similar to Escort's S7 horn used in earlier radar detectors. Of note, the rear end of the horn's ridged wave guide is tightly electrically coupled to the end of the microstrip on the Pro78's LO board. This is similar to the ridge coupling methods used by Bel and Escort, and some earlier Whistler models like the 1490.Note that the Pro78's LO board is precisely positioned via two small pins in the bottom horn casting (circled in yellow) and that the LO board is tightly held in place once the two screws for the top and bottom horn halves are installed in the two positions circled in orange. This assembly method creates a very stable LO chamber volume. Here is a top view of the Pro78's LO board. Note that all traces are solid gold plated copper as is used by competing manufacturers on their LO boards. Why is gold used? Because it is an excellent electrical conductor and will never oxidize or corrode.The Pro78's LO board is fully gold plated on its bottom side in order to maintain an accurately spaced ground plane between the bottom side of the LO board and the electronics on the top side of the LO board. You can also see the two 4 pin headers which connect the LO board to the Pro78's main circuit board. The Pro78 uses an RF absorber inside the top cover of the Pro78's radar horn to reduce harmonics within the LO chamber cavity. The RF absorber also lowers the microwave frequency noise floor thereby improving overall performance. This RF absorber may also partially explain why the Pro78 boasts one of the shortest detection distances against the Spectre radar detector detector which is used by police to identify radar detector users.Whistler carefully tuned the spectral transmission of the LED display's blue display cover to prevent any intense glare from the blue LED display. Also note that the Pro78's top case features two LED display circuit board stabilizers (one of which is circled in yellow) to prevent vibration from producing cracks in the soldered contacts between the display circuit board and the main electronics board.In Conclusion...

• The Pro78's overall performance and plethora of features make this radar detector one of the best "bangs for the buck" of all radar detectors in its price class.
• If your primary threat is Ka band radar, then you will find the Whistler Pro78 to be a very good if not excellent performer against Ka band threats.
• Overall, it seems that Whistler has heavily focused on improving the Pro78's Ka band performance with the introduction of the Pro78 revision C model.
• Ka band performance is very good since the Pro78 has at times an uncanny ability to sniff out extremely weak blips of Ka band radar under real world conditions.
• K band performance is good, yet the Pro78 remains relatively quiet with regards to K band door openers when driving around town.
• X band performance is less than that of the Bel, Escort and Valentine products, yet this is of no concern for most RD users unless you live in NJ which still heavily uses X band radar guns.
• The Pro78 is quite good at sniffing out very brief instant-on radar signals and should be very good at sniffing out POP radar.
• The Whistler Pro78 filtering algorithms are fairly good at reducing false alerts.
• The Pro78 even in Highway mode is a relatively quiet radar detector when used in and around town.
• The Pro78's build quality and ergonomic design is excellent..
• The Whistler Pro78 is inherently designed for reliability.

Copyright ©2008 MEM-TEK. All rights reserved.

[CJR238]

Great review MEM-TEK, i love the detail. Radar detectors features are what really makes it fit the individual, Detection range isn’t the only important factor.

[davekr]

AWESOME Mem-TEK.

[Stealthcb]

Very nice. I'm very happy with mine.

However, I believe Ohio still uses X-band as well, adn I know at least one CO state trooper does.

[RadarReviews_Net]

Originally Posted by Stealthcb

Very nice. I'm very happy with mine.

However, I believe Ohio still uses X-band as well, adn I know at least one CO state trooper does.

ouch...I have NEVER seen a cop use X band except for one time about 8 years ago or so in a small small Colorado town, the police unit was an old pickup truck and he was shooting X band...talk about an old police department....with no funding

[Stealthcb]

At least two of us in CO have spotted a CO state trooper shooting x-band. Once up near Castle Rock and once down near Pueblo. I think there's only one and he does it to catch speeding truckers, since they aren't allowed to have RDs.

[MEM-TEK]

Just two years ago a very rinky-dink small town near mine was still using X band in one of their patrol cars. I haven't encountered this again, but on the other hand I have only driven through this rinky-dink town twice since the last time when I encountered the X band radar.