Radar Detectors
Radar detectors remain an essential driving tool in helping keeping you free from the high cost of speeding tickets and subsequent insurance premium hikes.
RadarBusters' best radar detector reviews of 2024 will quickly point you to the radar detector best suited to your particular needs.
Below are the summary reviews of the Best Radar Detectors of 2024.
Best Radar Detectors of 2024
Radar Detector Reviews
Best Detector Overall (tied): Uniden R8
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Top
Seller!
Review Summary
The all new Uniden R8 is the new king of radar detectors and is the most sensitive
windshield-mount radar detector currently available, bar none.
Coupled with extreme levels of
sensitivity, the Uniden R8's class-leading reactivity and responsiveness, makes it one of the best radar detectors of all-time.
The Uniden R8 has dual LNA (low-noise amplifiers), which add about 4dB of sensitivity to radar over the already extremely sensitive Uniden R7, yielding an impressive improvement of a
whopping 60% in potential radar detection range. LNAs also serve to reduce detectability by the SPECTRE radar detector detector.
The Uniden R8 provides full 360 degree protection with colored directional arrows and the
largest OLED display available.
The Uniden R8's advanced ability to filter out most of the false radar and laser alerts caused by the anti-
collision sensors installed on new cars today while still being able to alert to hard to detect
radars such as MultaRadar, Redflex, and now Gatso makes it a clear winner.
Pros:
- Uniden's best radar detector
- Most extreme long-distance radar detections ever
- Use of dual low noise amplifiers (LNA) for increased radar sensitivity and stealthness
- Super fast detections of all police radar bands, including the most important Ka
and K radar bands
- High performance digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range
performance
- Anti-collision radar sensor rejection filtering
- MultaRadar, Redflex, and Gatso photo radar and other FMCW speed/photo radar
detection capable
- Identification of police laser guns
- GPS enabled
- Built-in bluetooth for future smartphone application integration
- Firmware and photo radar enforcement database are both user upgradable
Cons:
- Would like to see a magnesium case instead of plastic
- Rear laser sensor obstructed by front of casing
- Laser detection capabilities not up to the same level of performance of police radar
- Quickness to alert to genuine police radar comes as the expense of slightly increased falsing to non-genuine police radar sources
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Retail Price: $699.99
Review Summary
The new Escort MAXcam 360c is Escort's first integrated dashcam and extreme performance radar detector, providing full 360 degree protection with colored directional arrows along with the advanced ability to filter out most of the false radar alerts caused by the anti-collision sensors installed on new cars today.
The Escort MAXcam 360c radar detector is also a GPS enabled radar detector and rated as being both a city and highway detector like most GPS based radar detectors.
What we really like about this radar detector is that its behavior reminds us of the great Escort 8500 X50 introduced nearly 20 years ago.
The Escort MAXcam 360c, we believe, is Escort's best radar detector ever offered which has the bonus of including a built-in high quality dash cam.
The laser detection capabilities of the MAXcam 360c are absolutely fabulous and are by far the best radar detector ever produced by Escort.
Having a radar detector with superior laser sensitivity is essential as it enables you to avoid police lidar speeding tickets especially when paired with Veil G6.
When on the highway it is not uncommon to get targeted by police laser from well over a quarter of a mile (1250 feet) and good laser detection can help in avoiding a speeding ticket when you can't even see the targeting officer.
While the dash cam and its WIFI have room for improvement, the overall combined capabilities of this radar detector dash cam combo is most compelling.
The MAXcam 360c is currently our favorite radar detector from Escort and is our go to detector when we go on long multi-state trips in a vehicle that doesn't have a built-in laser jammer installed.
While certainly not cheap, this underrated gem is Escort’s best radar detector value, especially when it goes on sale and having a high quality dash cam built-in makes it even more so.
Pros:
- Escort's best radar detector
- Dual antenna and directional arrows
- Extreme radar sensitivity
- Consistent & reliable performance
- Integrated high resolution QHD dashcam
- All-digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range radar detection performance
- Exceptional at detecting instant-on police radar
- Excellent police laser detection
- Detects MultaRadar & Redflex photo radar
- Among the best anti-collision radar sensor rejection filtering in the industry
- Escort Live!/Drive Smarter app ready
- GPS enabled
- Built in Bluetooth for wireless pairing to your smartphone
- WIFI capable to directly communicate with the Internet
- Bi-Lingual Voice Alerts - English & Spanish
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradable
Cons:
- Dash cam video quality has room for improvement with its contrast and dynamic range
- Drive Smarter app extremely buggy and difficult to use with the dashcam
- No directional information provided to police laser, MultaRadar and Gatso
- Sticky cup mount can occasionally lose adhesion to windshield
- OTA firmware updates can be escruciatingly slow
Price: $849.95 (often on sale)
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Best Undetectable Detector: Escort Redline 360c – Top Seller!
Review Summary
The Escort Redline 360c is Escort's most sensitive detector ever produced. It combines the performance of the once revered Escort Redline and the Escort Max 360c while offering significant increases in sensitivity across all radar bands.
This is Escort's third generation of a completely undetectable radar detector and the first ever to incorporate three antennas, two facing forward each tuned to specific radar frequencies and a rear facing one to provide directional information.
Like the original Redline and Redline EX radar detectors, all antennas incorporate an LNA to maximize sensitivity and add to its stealth capabilities.
Escort claims a 6dB increase which translates to a potential increase of about 200% over the Escort Max 360c. This puts it in the realm of the Uniden R8--the current long distance champ.
The advanced ability to filter out most of the false alerts caused by the anti-collision sensors installed on new cars today allows the Escort Redline 360c to alert to radar from extremely long distances while minimizing falsing from non police-radar sources, but in the case of the Escort Redline 360c, like some other Escort detectors, K-band performance can sometimes be erratic.
Recent firmware updates have solidified the performance of the Redline 360c and we are pleased to see that the improvements, but even though the Redline 360c is billed as being able to detect MRCD/MRTC speed radars, we have not found this to be the case.
It is also a GPS enabled detector and is rated as being both a city and highway detector like most GPS based detectors.
The Redline 360c also has built-in bluetooth and WIFI for connecting either to a mobile phone or directly to the internet to get firmware updates or access in real-time Escort Live!, Escort's version of WAZE.
One downside to all of these capabilities and features is its price. At a whopping $799, the Escort Redline 360c is the penultimate most expensive radar detector on the market but the asking price doesn't appear to have affected its popularity among enthusiasts.
While popular online, we hesitate recommending this detector for anyone concerned about encountering K-band police radar. The Redline 360c like the Max 360c Mk II/Max 360 Mk II offers errative alerting behavior, so much so that it doesn't create a level of confidence.
The real strengths of the Redline 360c are its Ka-band and X-band detections as well as its invisibility to SPECTRE.
If and when Escort finally addresses the Redline 360’s erratic K-band alerting, we would rank it in our top three.
If you are absolutely convinced you won’t encounter K-band then its detection to this band can be disabled and the matter rendered moot.
However, we see enough K-band throughout the states we drive, that we would never think of disabling it.
Pros:
- Extreme long-distance radar detections
- Recent firmware update raises performance over previous version (but is still flawed)
- Undetectable by SPECTRE (radar detector detectors) RDDs
- Unique three antenna design with directional arrows
- Use of Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) circuitry throughout
- High performance digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range performance
- Anti-collision sensor rejection filtering
- GPS enabled
- Firmware and photo enforcement database are both user upgradeable
- Solidly built
- Quick release magnetic windshield mounting bracket
- Builtin WIFI & Bluetooth
- Subsequent firmware updates should improve performance further
Cons:
- Erratic and slow responsiveness to initial constant-on, instant-on, and quick trigger K-band radar
- Constant-on K-band can first appear as strong I/O
- No directional information provided to police laser, MultaRadar and Gatso
- Small OLED display can be very hard to read in during the day
- Sticky cup mount can lose adhesion to windshield
Best Suited for: Areas where radar detectors are banned
Price: $799.95
Best Detector under $500: Uniden R7
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Top Seller!
Review Summary
The Uniden R7 had been the most sensitive
windshield-mount radar detector available until the release of the Uniden R8.
Though on an absolute basis, this is still a top-performing radar detector and one
we wouldn't hesitate to take with us on our long cross country road trips particularly at its reduced price point.
The
Uniden R7 provides full 360 degree protection to police radar with colored directional arrows and the
largest OLED display available.
The Uniden R7's advanced ability to filter out
most of the false alerts caused by the anti-collision radar sensors installed on new cars today
while still being able to alert to hard to detect radars such as MultaRadar and Redflex make it an extremely good value for a dual-antenna directional radar detector.
It is also a GPS enabled detector and rated as such is suited to both city
and highway driving like most GPS based radar detectors.
We used to rank the Uniden R7 as
our number one radar detector, but even though there now are some slightly more
sensitive models are available from Uniden, (Uniden R8 & Uniden R4) the R7 should still
be at or near the top of your short list of the best radar detectors to consider using, especially if you would like to save some money.
Pros:
- One of the most sensitive dual antenna radar detectors available on the market
- Dual antenna and directional arrows
- High performance digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range radar detection performance
- Best at detecting MultaRadar and Redflex photo radars
- Very good anti-collision sensor rejection filtering
- GPS enabled
- Firmware and photo enforcement database are both user upgradable
- Nearly undetectable by SPECTRE RDDs (radar detector detectors)
Cons:
- Would like to see a magnesium case instead of plastic
- Some buttons hidden on left side
- Laser detection capabilities not up to the same level of performance of police radar detection
- Better filtering can be found on the Uniden R8
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Retail Price:
$499.99 (often on sale)
Best Detector under $400 (tied): Escort MAX 4
Review Summary
The recently introduced Escort MAX 4 replaces the Escort MAX 3 which was getting long in the tooth and is designed to take the Uniden R4 head on in terms of radar detection performance.
Escort is marketing this as an "entry level" radar detector and while we would agree it is quite reasonably priced for what you get, we would not consider this an entry level detector as its performance, filtering capability, and customization make it a value prived high-end radar detector.
Instead we would consider the Cobra RAD 700i the entry level radar detector in this review.
The Escort MAX 4 incorporates dual LNA (low noise amplifiers), a first for an Escort conventional single antenna radar detector, which contributes to its extreme radar detection range and a noticeable improvement over Escort MAX 3 radar detectors.
Like the Uniden R4 can alert to MRCD/MRCT photo radar although Gatso detection is not supported.
The Escort MAX 4 is refreshingly quiet and resistent to falses, but this may come at the expense of reactivity to brief detections of instant-on police radar.
The Uniden R4 is quicker, but it falses at a somewhay higher rate. So choosing one over the other comes down to your personal priorities.
If you prefer a super quiet false-resistant radar detector, we would suggest you consider the Escort MAX 4.
Pros:
- Radar detection performance essentially equal to the Uniden R4
- Dual LNAs for even more extreme radar detection performance
- Advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) for extreme range performance and improved filtering
- Exceptional at detecting instant-on police radar
- Excellent Traffic Safety Rejection (TSR) filtering
- Detection of MRCD/MRCT and Gatso RT3/RT4 speed radars
- K narrow and Ka narrow sweeps for improved performance with less falsing
- GPS enabled with auto-lockouts
- Full multi-color OLED display
- Small size
- Comes with two windshield-mounts, one conventional dual suction cup mount and one large "sticky-cup" mount
- Comes with USB smartcord with push-button muting
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradeable
- Better value than Escort's top-of-the-line detectors
- Nearly undetectable by SPECTRE RDD
Cons:
- Would like to see a magnesium case instead of plastic
- Laser detection capabilities not up to the same level of performance of police radar detection
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Retail Price: $399.95
Best Detector under $400 (tied): Uniden R4
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Top Seller!
Review Summary
The Uniden R4 provides the greatest range
of any single antenna
radar detector by taking the already extreme performance of the
Uniden R3 and adding two LNAs for a 3-4dB improvement in sensitivity and the R4 is currently Uniden's best radar detector with a single antenna.
The
Uniden R4 is nearly undetectable by the Spectre RDD and provides excellent K-band
rejection from today's collision avoidance systems.
Like the Uniden R8, the
Uniden R4 can reliably alert to MRCD/MRCT and is quite good at alerting to Gatso, as
well. Currently, no other manufacturer can consistently do this..
At only $379, this detector
offers an exceptional value, making it one of the very best values available today. Uniden
comes with a 1 year manufacturers' warranty.
Pros:
- Currently the most sensitive single antenna detector currently available on
the market
- Dual LNAs for even more extreme radar detection performance
- Advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) for extreme range
performance
 - Excellent Traffic Safety Rejection (TSR) filtering
- Detection of MRCD/MRCT and Gatso RT3/RT4 speed radars
- K narrow and Ka narrow sweeps for improved performance with less
falsing
- GPS enabled with auto-lockouts
- Full multi-color OLED display
- Small size
- Comes with two windshield-mounts, one conventional dual suction cup mount
and one large "sticky-cup" mount
- Comes with USB smartcord with push-button muting
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradeable
- Better value than Escort's top-of-the-line detectors
- Nearly undetectable by SPECTRE RDD
Cons:
- Would like to see a magnesium case instead of plastic
- Laser detection capabilities not up to the same level of performance of police radar
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Retail Price:
$379.99 (often on sale)
Best Detector Under $300: Uniden R3 – Top Seller!
Review Summary
The Uniden R3 was Uniden's first GPS radar detector that reset the expections of what a radar detector was capable of and even though it's nearly seven years old, it remains a great choice for someone on a budget.
Even though its sensitivity to police radar has been eclipsed by newer radar detectors, the Uniden R3 still provides exceptional police radar detection range
and includes GPS capability coupled with a photo enforcement database.
The Uniden R3
is nearly undetectable by the Spectre RDD (radar detector detectors used in Viginia) and provides very good K-band radar rejection from
today's collision avoidance systems.
At a newly reduced price, the Uniden R3
detector offers an exceptional value and remains one of the best values in radar detectors available today.
Uniden's detectors come with a 1 year manufacturers'
warranty.
Pros:
- Remains one of the most sensitive single antenna radar detectors available on the
market
- Advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) for extreme radar detection range
- Exceptional at detecting instant-on police radar
- Excellent radar-based traffic safety rejection (TSR) filtering
- K narrow radar and Ka narrow radar sweeps for improved performance with less
falsing
- GPS enabled
- Full Color OLED display
- Small size
- Comes with two windshield-mounts, one conventional dual suction cup mount
and one large "sticky-cup" mount
- Comes with USB smartcord with push-button muting
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradeable
- Nearly undetectable by SPECTRE RDD
Cons:
- Laser detection capabilities not up to the same level of performance of police radar
- Better filtering can be found on the Uniden R4 & Escort MAX 4
- Does not detect Gatso photo radar like the Uniden R4 does
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Retail Price:
$299.99 (often on sale)
Best Detector under $250: Cobra RAD 700i – Top Seller!
Review Summary
The newly Cobra RAD 700i is Cobra's best radar detector ever produced as well as its greatest value priced detector.
We were simply amazed at how well the Cobra RAD 700i performed in its detection of police radar and police laser.
The radar sensitivity of the Cobra RAD 700i is right up there with the best radar detectors and its filtering capabilities don't disappoint either.
Pros:
- Cobra's best radar detector
- Most sensitive radar detectors at this price point
- Speed based varying sensitivity
- High performance digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range radar detection performance
- Detects MultaRadar and Redflex photo radar
- Exceptional anti-collision sensor rejection filtering
- GPS enabled
- Firmware and photo enforcement database are both user upgradable
- Autolearn false lockouts
- Integrates with Escort DriveSmarter app
- Quick-release magnetic mount
Cons:
- Display is difficult to read in most lighting conditions
- Would prefer different alert tones
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Retail Price: $249.95
Best Detector at CAS Filtering: Whistler Titan
Review Summary:
The Whistler Titan is Whistler's best radar detector ever offered. The Titan's radar detection performance is right up there
with the very best radar detectors on our list and its filtering is superior to many of
them.
The Whistler Titan is an absolute pleasure to drive with and should be at
the top of your list if you insist on driving with an effective quiet radar detector.
When the Titan
alerts to radar, you can be pretty sure its a genuine police radar
detection.
Pros:
- The Whistler Titan is Whistler's best radar detector released to date
and competes with the best of them
- First Whistler to incorporate DSP (digital signal processing)
- First Whistler to incorporate PLL for frequency precision
- High degree of false resistance to BSM (collision avoidance radar systems)
- Firmware updatable via a USB cable
- Can detect MRCD/MRCT photo radar
- Extended range K-band radar to 23.9 GHz
- Excellent highway radar detector
- Exclusive 3-year warranty
Cons:
- Would prefer an updated casing and
a multi-color display
- Latch times (signal strength decay)
could be a bit longer
- Missing LNA circuitry (maybe next Whistler radar detector will have it)
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Price: $349.95
Review Summary
The Escort Max 360c MkII provides full
360 degree protection with colored directional arrows along with the advanced ability to
filter out most of the false radar alerts caused by the anti-collision radar sensors installed on new cars
today.
The Mk II is an improved version of the previous Max 360 series of radar detectors
with even greater performance and better filtering.
The Escort Max 360c MkII & Max 360 MkII offer
equal performance but the Max 360 MkII comes without WIFI connectivity (which we
regard as not an essential feature anyway) at $100 less.
It is also a GPS
enabled detector and rated as being both a city and highway detector like most GPS based radar detectors.
Unfortunately, like the Escort Redline 360c, their detection performance to K-band radar is erratic and not confidence inspiring and can not be relied upon, in our opinion.
If and when Escort addresses this serious issue, we would rank these detectors higher.
Pros:
- Dual antenna and directional arrows
- Recent firmware updates significantly increased performance & filtering
- All-digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range radar detection
performance
- Exceptional at detecting instant-on police radar
- Best anti-collision sensor rejection filtering in the industry
- Escort Live! ready
- GPS enabled
- Builtin Bluetooth for wireless pairing to your smartphone
- WIFI capable to directly communicate with the Internet (Max 360c MkII)
- Bi-Lingual Voice Alerts - English & Spanish
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradeable
Cons:
- Erratic and slow responsiveness to initial constant-on, instant-on, and quick
trigger radar
- No directional information provided to police laser, MultaRadar and Gatso
- Small OLED display can be hard to read during daylight hours
- Sticky cup mount can lose adhesion to windshield
Price: $699.95/$599.95
(Max 360c MkII) (Max 360 MkII)
Review Summary
The Adaptiv TPX Pro is rated as having 4 times the capture distance of a police radar gun
and is specifically designed for motorcycle use however it can be accessorized as a
windshield mounted detector.
The TPX Pro is designed to be exposed to the outside elements, sports very large buttons for riders who use gloves, and mounts nicely on most bikes.
If you ride a motorcycle, the TPX Pro is our top pick for
you.
Pros:
- Very good range
- Good false alert filtering
- Designed specifically for motorcycle use
- Integrates with Adaptiv's H.A.R.D. in-helmet alerting system
- GPS photo enforcement database
Cons:
- Push button cord only available as option
- Performance not as high as detectors built for in-car use
Best Suited for: Motorcycle Use
Price: $399.95
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