Highway Patrol police have issued two men with heavy fines after they were caught with radar detectors in their vehicles.

The devices were found when officers stopped a Singleton man on the Putty Road and a man from Manilla, near Tamworth, on the New England Highway at Muswellbrook.

The Singleton man is alleged to have told police he purchased the radar detector on the internet from the United States.

Northern Region Traffic Coordinator, Acting Senior Sergeant, Glenn Trubody says the offence carries hefty penalties.

“Just not use, it’s even to carry a speed evasion article or a radar detector as most people know them,” he said.

“Particularly country police do have the devices fitted to their vehicles that are capable of detecting these radar detectors.

“$1346 is the current infringement penalty for it and nine demerit points off your licence.”

Obviously the guy wasn’t using a stealth radar detector (one that cannot be detected by the police)

Bel Radar Detectors…

Bel (short for Beltronics) have been making radar detectors for many years and are considered in the industry to make some of the best radar and laser detectors out there.  The top three units would be the RX65, the RX 75 (which is a remote, hidden system) and the new undetectable STi Driver.  Each of these radars perform extremely well in detecting police and traffic speed measuring devices, however each are subtly different.

The RX75 is the oldest technology of the three detectors we’re mentioning, and has a remote antenna that mounts somewhere in the front of the vehicle.  There is also a rear laser antenna that is mounted to provide alerts for laser targeting from behind. Both these are then connected to the control module that sits inside the vehicle.

Whilst the RX75 performs very well, it doesn’t have quite have the same sensitivity as the STi or RX65, as the technology is older.  You can see how the RX75 performed at the Speed Measurement Labs test 2005.

The RX65 is quite common and popular with its Ku band (some European countries) voice alerts and POP radar reporting.  A generation ahead of the RX75 platform it has slightly better sensitivity than the RX75 although, like all the new Bel models, it doesn’t have “Ka-band narrow” sweep which gives a radar a greater warning against low powered Multanova speed cameras.

For dash-mounted K or Ka band radar guns mounted in police cars or the older style radar guns, the RX65 is fine for the job, so long as you don’t have police Radar Detector Detectors (RDD’s) operating as the RX65 and RX75 are NOT invisible to the Stalcar / Spectre RDD’s.

The STi is the latest radar detector from Bel and is currently the only model which is 100% invisible to police RDD’s. In fact tests with the Bel STi sitting right in front of the RDD unit itself prove no RDD on the market can sense it’s presence.  The STi also has two separate radar antennas built in, one for X-band (almost extinct around the world now) and one for K and Ka band. This is one of the reasons the STi has better sensitivity on these highly used radar bands, as it doesn’t have to search down low at the X band (10.5GHz)range simultaneously with K and Ka band.

There are some older Bel units still around that are quite popular including the Bel 990i, 966R and 975. These models DO have the Ka band narrow sweep and thus have better range on the photo radar cameras.

Escort Radar Detectors…

Escort (Escort Passport) are also owned by Beltronics and represent the top end of the market for the company.  Whilst Beltronics releases products aimed for the mid to high-end of the market, Escort products are only high end.  As new technologies are introduced, it is Bel that implements them first, then as the bugs get ironed out (if need be) you will see the new technology being applied to the Escort models.  This is the reason you will see Escort releasing a new detector 6 – 12 months after the Equivalent Bel model.

After being a Bel owner for many years I must admit I was a little hesitant to try the Escort, but after reading up on it’s higher Ka band sensitivity, I started trialling them back around January 2004.  Whilst I liked the earlier Bel 990i and then later the RX65, there were times when the detection range against the Multanova speed cameras weren’t more than a couple of seconds at best.  Sometimes you’d get 5 or 6 seconds warning, other times I’d see the speed camera before the radar went off.  Well the Escort put an end to all that! With a minimum of 5 seconds warning and best I’ve ever done at 29 seconds warning, the Escort X50 definitely performed better than the RX65 at Ka band speed cameras.  Not bad considering the Escort isn’t even a Ka narrow band detector!

There are a few small differences between the Escort X50 and the Bel RX65 worth mentioning.  The Escort doesn’t have the voice alerts (how may people thought my RX65 was saying “cave man”….**sigh**) but is available in a red or blue screen. Both have POP (not used in Australia) but only the Bel has Ku (used in some European countries). Both are detectable by police RDD’s and both these models are the windscreen or dash/visor mounted models.

Excluding their RDD vulnerability for the moment, both detectors are equally as impressive in their performance, although for European customers, the Ku-band is worth investigating (Bel model) or for drivers that experience Ka band photo radar, the Escort is the choice.

You can read more on each individual radar detector by clicking on the blue navigation button above.