We test under ideal conditions. We selected El Paso because it’s the best place we found nationally for “propagation of microwave” signals. This means great, pure, radar range for both radar guns and radar detectors. It has high elevation, low humidity, lack of interfering metropolitan competitive signals and is devoid of 
radar absorption like structures or trees. Don’t expect the same range with your radar detector! On Sunday, 29 June 2008 we took participants one hour east of El Paso to a nine mile long range course we’ve used for many years. We first stopped at the county sheriff’s department to let them know what we were doing and then informed the Texas State Police and the Border Patrol of our purpose. We had informed their commanders in writing several month earlier. We positioned our transmission HHR nine miles from test vehicles lined up 
next to a distance cone at nine miles. Temperature was 84˚ F and road conditions clear and dry. Humidity as reported by the National Weather Service was 17%. Each radar detector was exposed three times to “constant on” radar gun transmissions for ten seconds from X, K, and Ka band radar guns. These were the same radar guns as used before. SML staff in the test vehicles recorded the results and then reported to the transmission HHR. If a detector did not report radar at nine miles, it zeroed its odometer and drove toward the transmission HHR at 30 mph until it received an alert. It stopped and looked at the odometer for elapsed miles and 10ths. and reported it to the recorders. This mileage was subtracted from nine miles to get reception range. Testing was suspended when trains passed as some use K band for collision avoidance. Officers normally target vehicles at 1/4 mile and not nine miles. This test measures overall sensitivity to radar under ideal conditions by radar detectors. Y means the detector received and correctly reported the encountered band. Y/9 means the signal was detected a 9 miles. Y/9/2 means a signal strength of 2.
| Model | |||||||||
| Adaptiv TPX | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/5.2/2 | Y/5.2/1 | Y/5.3/2 | Y/7.9/1 | Y/7.9/3 | Y/7.9/2 |
| BeltronicsRX65 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/3 | Y/9/3 | Y/9/2 |
| Beltronics STi* | Y/9/7 | Y/9/7 | Y/9/7 | Y/9/3 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/6 | Y/9/6 | Y/9/6 | Y/9/6 |
| Bel Remote STir | Y/9/5 | Y/9/6 | Y/9/6 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/3 | Y/9/3 | , Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 |
| Cobra XRS R9G | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/8.9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 |
| Cobra XRS 9950 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 | Y/9/1 |
| Passport 9500i | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/5 |
| Passport 9500ci | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/3 | Y/9/3 | Y/9/3 |
| Valentine One* | Y/9/5 | Y/9/4 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 |
| Whistler 695 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/5 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 | Y/9/2 |
*combined with Tiger Lily PRS4STi system, combined with Tiger Lily PRS4v system. Tiger Lily was used as they market Escort, Beltronics, and Valentine One products. Maximum signal strength possible indication of individual detectors: Adaptiv TPX (6), Bel RX 65 (7), Bel STi (7), Bel STi remote (7), Cobra XRS R9G (5), Cobra XRS 9950 (5), Passport 9500i (7), Passport 9500ci (7), Valentine One (8), Whistler XRT 695 (9). ** Bel and Escort models have a maximum of (6) on Ka band and (7) on X and K bands for signal strength. Four Valentine One detectors were available for testing.
During closed course testing as conducted by police of retail sourced models we found no significant differences in performance compared to models provided by manufacturers. Contact us at
speed@speedinglimits.com.
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Summary: Signal strength from a radar gun diminishes with distance. This is called The Law of Least Squares or The Inverse Square Rule. In common language, it means the further you are away from a radar gun the less signal your detector will see and the less signal will be reflected back to the radar gun. It acts like a flashlight at night. The closer the flashlight to your car, the more you can see. As the distance increases, your car becomes invisible to you as no light is reflected back to your eyes. At 800 feet your car will reflect only1/16th of the radar signal it would reflect at 200 feet. Signal strength of radar detectors as indicated by the number of illuminated icons and warning sounds. It should follow the Geiger Principle (1924-Hans Geiger-Germany). The closer a Geiger counter is to radiation, the more repetitious the report and higher the pitch. This means the closer you are to a radar gun the more signal strength your detector should report. The more sensitive your detector is, the higher the signal strength reported. We placed all detectors at nine miles and exposed them to three, ten second transmissions of X, K, and Ka (34.7 GHz) bands. We noted the maximum signal strength of each detector and computed the percentage of reporting to their maximum signal strengths. All radar guns have different output power measured in mW, a thousandth of a Watt (1819-James Watt-Scotland). It is very difficult for radar detectors to see and report police radar at nine miles. We averaged the percentages of all detectors reporting on all bands vs. maximum possible signal strength of each detector. The top reporting detector was the Beltronics STi averaging 89% of maximum signal strength with 100% on X band and 100% on Ka band. It was followed closely by the Passport 9500i and the Valentine One. The purpose of the long range test is to compare the signal strength reporting of the detectors at nine miles compared to their reporting at 1 1/2 miles on the Radar Detection Page. We expect their signal strength at long range to be less than at 1 1/2 miles. It was. However, the more sensitive detectors will have a higher relative reporting of signal strength. They did. To understand this use your car's radio. The further you are away from the transmitting tower, the poorer your reception. But, if you have a superior antenna, your reception is much clearer of your favorite radio station. My old van had a poor antenna. My new HHR has a vastly superior antenna on reception measured in dB gain and pulls in my favorite radio station much better than the van's old low dB gain antenna.