doning2's Full Review: Beltronics Vector 940 Radar Detector
I bought the Beltronics Vector 940 mail order for $150 and had
hoped it will save me from another radar speeding ticket. The
route I take to work has really low speed limits and are posted
for radar enforcement. My primary vehicle is a BMW R80, which
is unfaired. Learning to use the Vector 940 was easy since one
would change the settings when unit is new to match the user's
individual tastes, then leave it alone. There are only four
buttons on the unit so it's not complicated to use. I bought
this detector because it has a laser detector facing the rear
as well as to the front, and because it's powered by the
vehicle's 12V system, allowing it to be louder than a detector
powered by batteries.
When used in my Honda Civic, clipped to the passenger sun
visor, the detector is quite loud and sensitive. I can pinpoint
where automatic door openers and motion detector lights are
by the intensity of the detector's warning. When the detector
detects a radar signal, it beeps then says which band it is,
K Band or such. Then as the signal gets stronger, the beeping
will increase in frequency from beep......beep......beep to
beep..beep..beep. There are 4 settings to choose from,
Autoscan, Highway, City, City All. I don't know what the
advantage of autoscan is so I never use it. I use Highway,
which has the highest sensitivity. The City setting increases
the threshold for X-band so you will not hear an alarm when
you pass by automatic door openers at Kmart or Target. The
display will show the detector has detected a weak X-band
signal, though. The City All setting increases the alarm
threshold for all bands. Anyway, I use only the Highway and
City modes and they suit me fine. Since I go to work on the
same road every day, I have found where the false alarms are
and know when the detector is giving a false alarm and when
a real police radar is being detected. The funny thing is
that the detector detects weak K signals when I'm traveling
on a residential road with no police within miles. I don't
know if motion sensing patio lights and outdoor lights
now operate in K band, but I suspect the Vector is just
prone to false alarms in K bands as well as X band.
I have tried the Vector 940 on my motorcycle and it's
useless. The Vector 940 comes with a power plug that plugs
into a cigarette lighter of a car, so I had to run some wires
with a fuse to the battery of my BMW R80. Then I found out
that the detector is not loud enough to hear even when set
at the loudest volume at speeds where the detector is really needed.
There's no earphone jack so an in-helmet earphone is not
possible. To use the Vector on a motorcycle, I would have to
continually watch the front display to see if a radar signal
is detected. Also, the four little buttons on the unit are too small and too closely spaced to be used by a gloved hand. I accidentally dimmed the display when I was trying to switch
from Highway to City mode. The unit doesn't seem to be very
sturdy for motorcycle use where it will be exposed to direct
sun, water, wind, and dirt. I can still use the Vector 940
for my car, but it's useless for my original intended
application, on my motorcycle.
The Bel Vector 940 radar detector offers great Bel performance at a value price. The Vector 940 offers a text display, voice alerts, and detects POP ...More at Buy Radar Detectors
Full X, K, SuperWide Ka, Ku, and laser alert, plus Safety Warning System message display in an easy-to-use laser/radar detector Digital signal process...More at Amazon
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