RadarBuster's radar detector reviews & rankings of
the best radar detectors on the market as of July, 2023
When selecting the best radar detector for you, your first
choice is to determine if you want a radar detector to mount to your windshield or a radar
detector that is built into your car.
Some of the advantages of choosing a windshield-mount radar detectors:
- The best radar detectors that are windshield-mount are easy to install and
move from car to car
- A windshield-mounted radar detector is much more affordable than a custom
installed radar detector
- Radar detection performance tends to improve as the radar detector's
antenna is mounted higher
The main reason you may choose investing into a concealed radar detector is that such it's
is hidden from view, reducing the chance of theft or discovery by a traffic enforcement
officer but they often come at higher costs relative to windshield-mounted radar
detectors.
Yes, they are legal in the USA with the exception of Virginia, the District of Columbia, on all
military bases, and nationally in all commercial vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds.
Over the years, however, the cost of any fines for operating one are small (relative to a
typical speeding ticket).
To enforce radar detector usage laws in Virginia and by commercial truck inspection
officers, police use a device called the Spectre RDD radar detector detector (or RDD) that
is able to sniff out many of the radar detectors made.
The best radar detectors are undetectable or nearly undetectable by Spectre RDDs,
making driving with a radar detector a much less risky proposition that it's been of past
years.
Because of this if you do drive in Virginia, Washington D.C., or are commercial vehicle
operator you will want to be sure to
select a radar detector that is stealth or nearly undetectable to the Spectre RDD.
Now if you live and/or drive where police laser enforcement is commonly used, you may
also want to scroll down to the bottom of this page to our Laser Jamming Reviews section to
check out those rankings and reviews.
In terms of police laser, we always recommend pairing your detector with Laser Veil to give you the
best chance at beating a speeding ticket.
We also provide a complete list of all of the
radar detectors
that we offer.
Models included in the first five positions
of our rankings provide
extreme levels of sensitivity and ability to alert quickly to radar
detections.
July, 2023 Update:
In collaboration with
RadarBusters, Veil performed an
informal speed radar reactivity detection test of some of the top regarded radar detectors
which included the new Uniden R9 custom installed radar detector, the Uniden R8, the
Whistler Titan, the Valentine One Gen2, and the Escort Redline 360c.
Ever since 2008, when the "Veil Guy" showed the radar detector industry his discovery of the benefits of Ka-band segmentation and its effects on a radar detector's ability to quickly react to instant-on police radar, that's been a priority in their detector ratings.
While his results were slow to be recognized by the manufacturers or drivers alike, today every radar detector manufacturer now includes Ka-band segmentation in their top radar detectors and the most advanced radar detector users now implement band segmentation to squeeze out the maximum detection performance possible from their radar detectors.
It looks like, Veil's latest test results are set to shake the industry up once again.
The results
were quite surprising, encouraging, and disappointing all at the same time.
On K-band, in particular, the Escort Redline 360c consistently
failed to alert, in a reasonable amount of time, to K-band radar transmissions.
The Valentine
One Gen2, while better than the Escort Redline 360c, did not fair as well as expected.
All the Uniden radar detectors tested performed exceptionally well and performed consistently the best in these radar detector reactivity
tests.
The Whistler Titan, as expected also did very well, as the company has developed their radar detectors over the years to be quick at alerting.
The Veil Guy's emphasis has always been on a radar detectors ability to alert quickly to detected police
radar for the simple reason that If a radar detector has high levels of sensitivity but doesn't react quickly, all of that
extra sensitivity is wasted as if it didn't have it to being with.
The bottom line is that all the current Uniden radar
detectors
as well as the Whistler Titan are best suited to highway driving where the
most lethal forms are radar routinely used, which is instant-on radar.
This is why
those radar detectors are now ranked the highest in our ratings and why we would choose
them to drive with them over the other models.
When it comes to radar detectors, remember, Speed over Sensitivity.
So that being said, here
are our current top radar detector rankings as of July, 2023:
Best Radar Detector Reviews of 2023 - Summary with
Rankings
GPS Enabled Windshield Mounted Radar
Detectors
Ranked #1 Best: Uniden R8
–
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 top levels of
sensitivity is class-leading reactivity or responsiveness.
The Uniden R8 has dual LNA (low-noise amplifiers) which add about 4dB of sensitivity
over the already extremely sensitive Uniden R7, yielding an impressive improvement of a
whopping 60% in potential detection range.
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 alerts caused by the anti-
collision sensors installed on new cars today while still be able to alert to hard to detect
radars such as MultaRadar, Redflex, and now Gatso makes it the clear winner.
Pros:
- Most extreme long-distance radar detections ever
- Use of dual low noise amplifiers (LNA) for increased sensitivity
- Super fast detectors of all police radar bands, including the most important Ka
and K-bands
- High performance digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range
performance
- Anti-collision sensor rejection filtering
- MultaRadar, Redflex, and Gatso 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 enforcement database are both user upgradable
Cons:
- Would like to see a magnesium case instead of plastic
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Price: $699.99
Ranked #2 Best: Uniden R7
–
Top Seller!
Review Summary
The Uniden R7 had been the most sensitive
windshield-mount detector currently available until the new Uniden R8 came
out.
But on an absolute basis, this is still top-performing radar detector and one
we don't hesitate to take with us on our long cross country road trips.
The
Uniden R7 provides full 360 degree protection 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 sensors installed on new cars today
while still be able to alert to hard to detect radars such as MultaRadar and Redflex and its
reduced pricing makes it an extremely good value for a dual-antenna directional
detector.
It is also a GPS enabled detector and rated as such is suited to both city
and highway driving like most GPS based detectors.
Last year we ranked it as
our number one ranked 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, especially if you would like to save some additional
money.
Pros:
- One of the most sensitive dual antenna detectors available on the market
- Dual antenna and directional arrows
- High performance digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range
performance
- Best at detecting MultaRadar and Redflex radars
- Very good anti-collision sensor rejection filtering
- GPS enabled
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradable
- Nearly undetectable by SPECTRE RDDs
Cons:
- Would like to see a magnesium case instead of plastic
- Some buttons hidden on left side
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
RadarBusters' Price:
$499.95
Ranked #3 Best: Uniden R4
–
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.
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 do this..
At only $449, 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
- 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
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Retail Price:
$449.95
Ranked #4 Best: Uniden R3 – Top Seller!
Review Summary
The Uniden R3 provides extreme range
and includes GPS capability and a photo enforcement database.
The Uniden R3
is nearly undetectable by the Spectre RDD and provides excellent K-band rejection from
today's collision avoidance systems.
At a newly reduced price, the Uniden R3
detector offers an exceptional value at a savings and remains one of the best values
available today.
Uniden's detectors come with a 1 year manufacturers'
warranty.
Pros:
- Remains one of the most sensitive single antenna detector available on the
market
- Advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) for extreme range
performance
- Exceptional at detecting instant-on police radar
- Excellent Traffic Safety Rejection (TSR) filtering
- K narrow and Ka narrow 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
- Better value than Escort's top-of-the-line detectors
- Nearly undetectable by SPECTRE RDD
Cons:
- Does not come with USB to mini-D cable
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Retail Price:
$299.95
Review Summary:
The new Whistler Titan is Whistler's highest
performing radar detector ever offered. The Titan's detection performance is right up there
with the very best radar detectors on our list and its filtering is superior to just about all 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 a quiet 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 highest performing 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 systems)
- Firmware updatable via a USB cable
- Can detect MRCD/MRCT
- Extended range K-band to 23.9 GHz
- Excellent highway radar detector
- Limited 50th anniversary production run
- 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
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Price: $349.95
Review Summary
The new 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 first completely undetectable directional 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 can rapidly, 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 $749, 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.
Pros:
- Extreme long-distance radar detections
- Recent firmware update raises performance over previous version
- 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
- Completely undetectable by SPECTRE RDDs
- 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 radar
- OLED display can be hard to read in bright sunlight conditions
Best Suited for: Areas where radar detectors are banned
Price: $799.95
Review Summary
The Escort Max 360c MII provides full
360 degree protection with colored directional arrows along with the advanced ability to
filter out most of the false alerts caused by the anti-collision 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.
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
detectors.
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
- OLED display can be hard to read in bright sunlight conditions
Price: $699.95/$599.95
(Max 360c MkII) / (Max 360 MkII)
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 alerts caused by the
anti-collision sensors installed on new cars today.
The MAXcam 360c is also a
GPS enabled detector and rated as being both a city and highway detector like most GPS
based detectors.
Pros:
- Dual antenna and directional arrows
- Extreme radar sensitivity
- Integrated high resolution dashcam
- All-digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range radar detection
performance
- Exceptional at detecting instant-on police radar
- Among the 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
- Bi-Lingual Voice Alerts - English & Spanish
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradable
Cons:
- Most expensive windshield-mount detector
Price: $749.95 (ON SALE)
Review Summary
The new Escort Max 3 is Escort's third generation Max detector and in our opinion is the
best iteration of the Max single antenna series both in terms of overall performance and in
packaging.
We were never fans of the case designs of the previous Max and Max 2 detectors as they
deviated from highly regarded designs of prior Escorts.
We are pleased that the
new Max 3 now sports a proper housing which includes the magnetic quick-release
windshield mount that is found on other top Escort detectors and unlike the previous
Escorts, this magnetic mount is interchangeable with other Escort magnetic mount brackets.
Performance on Ka-band is exceptional and can hang with the best of them.
Like other digital Escorts, K-band performance can sometimes be inconsistent
and lethargic.
We attribute this to the heavy-handed (and less sophisticated)
signal processing to filter out K-band collision avoidance systems.
The software
doesn't always guess right and sometimes genuine K-band detections can be adversely
impacted.
Priced at $50 less than the older Escort iXc, the Max 3 the better
value.
Pros:
- Currently the best iteration of the Max series
- Overall the highest performing single antenna detector from Escort
- Much improved packaging relative to the Max and Max2
- All-digital signal processing (DSP) for extreme long range radar detection
performance
- Exceptional at detecting instant-on police radar
- Exceptional K-band anti-collision sensor rejection filtering (but comes at a
price)
- GPS enabled
- Builtin Bluetooth for wireless pairing to your smartphone
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradeable
- Bi-Lingual Voice Alerts - English & Spanish
Cons:
- Firmware updates needed to improve consistency of some of its radar
performance
Price: $399.99
Review Summary
Several years ago we regarded the Cobra DualPro 360 as the best detector on the
market for the money.
The reason was simple. The Cobra DualPro 360 is based
upon the same platform as Escort's Max 360c radar detector.
The Cobra
DualPro 360 doesn't have as many features as the Escort Max 360c but those missing
features have no impact on detection performance and for that the DualPro 360 is $200
less.
But with the significant drop in price of the Uniden R7 now at the same
price, we now regard the Escort DP 360 as merely a good value, if somewhat
dated.
It's performance hasn't changed, but it's no longer the great value champ
it once was.
Pros:
- Dual antenna and directional
arrows
- All-digital signal processing (DSP) for very long range radar detection
- Exceptional at detecting instant-on police radar
- Good anti-collision sensor rejection filtering in the industry
- GPS enabled
- Builtin bluetooth for wireless pairing to your smartphone
- Cobra iRadar ready
- Firmware and Photo Enforcement database are both user upgradable
- Bi-Lingual Voice Alerts - English & Spanish
Cons:
- Cobra brand not historically regarded as high-end
- Somewhat dated design
Best Suited for: Highway and City Use
Price: $449.99
Review Summary
The new Whistler CR97 is Whistler's highest performing radar ever offered and has
performance significantly exceeding the outgoing Whistler CR93.
It's detection
performance is on par with detectors costing twice as much. Beyond performance
increases, the Whistler CR97 is the only detector available that can identify and alert to
FMCW photo enforcement radar that is used for ticketing and is being used in greater
frequency in the United States.
The Whistler CR97 is the best value in detectors
today and is our top choice for those looking for a high performance and very affordable
detector. A recent price drop to below $200 makes this the best performance GPS-enabled
detector in the $200 and less category.
Pros:
- Best value GPS radar detector under $200
- Up to 6dB in increased sensitivity to Ka-band
- Up to 3dB in increased sensitivity to K-band
- Unique ability to identify and alert to FMCW photo enforcement
- Quick detections to instant-on police radar and police laser
- Adjustable responsiveness (performance versus filtering)
- Very good sensitivity to police laser
- Traffic Safety Rejection (TSR) filtering
- GPS photo enforcement database
- Bright OLED display
- Very user customizable
- Speed sensitive filtering and muting
Cons:
- Push button cord only available as option
Best Suited for: Highway & City Use
Retail Price: $199.95
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. 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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About RadarBusters
 Unique to our review website, RadarBusters was founded by Radar Roy, a retired cop and certified traffic radar instructor with over 40 years of experience. Luxury Automotive was so impressed with Roy’s high standards and qualifications that they dubbed him the “General Schwarzkopf" of the countermeasure industry.
RadarBusters is one of the longest operating and most experienced countermeasure dedicated company in the industry. We are not a big box electronics store that offers everything under the sun. You will find no other company that offers the same level of pre- and post-sales expertise, than us.
To learn more about Roy, read our detector reviews and learn about ticket avoidance tactics, or download our countermeasure eBook (a $39.95 value) yours free as our gift.
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