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Review by Big Running Guy for Beltronics V955 Vector High Performance Radar Detector (Black/Silver)
Rating:
The 955 is a great detector that has only less features, not less range, than its more expensive stablemates. But if you are upgrading from a detector that’s a few years or more older, you’ll still find the features on the 955 to be great. More importantly, the range on the 955 is spectacular. Now, Bel has had some quality control issues as of late, but unless your unit pops up the dreaded “service required” message, chances are your detector is finding each threat the best it can. What some people don’t realize about police radar is that police can use “instant on” radar which can be flicked on at practically point blank range. Using radar in such a fashion limits or completely prevents radar from being detected. It’s not the detector’s fault, police and radar manufacturers have just become savvy to the downside of leaving their radar units constantly on. Being popped by “instant on” radar has led many an inexperienced radar detector owner to throw their detector in the trash because they figured it just didn’t work…. My advice would be for anyone contemplating the purchase of a detector to do a little online research into how police radar is used and what roll a detector can play in avoiding costly tickets….

Back to this unit, as I said previously, it’s great. It has excellent sensitivity on all bands. If you can get by without the latest non-essential features (more conveniences than anything) then the 955 is the best your going to find in its price range.

Review by Happy Consumer for Beltronics V955 Vector High Performance Radar Detector (Black/Silver)
Rating:
Just bought the Bel 955 to replace my Bel 980. From what I have read the 955 gives all the advanced detection of more expensive Bel products, with some lacking features that you may not miss.

Compared to my old 980, the 955 has much, much less false alerts and seems to pick up K and Ka radar much sooner. It is also very easy to program, but to be honest the factory settings are great and not much needs to be changed.

The new auto-quiet feature is very nice. With this you get the alert at the sound level you picked, then it automatically goes softer after a few seconds.

What I didn’t like is that they do not supply a straight cord (only a short coiled one), they changed the shape of the power plug (now its a telephone type jack), and moved the jack on the detector to the detector’s right side.

I had my old detector hard-wired to the car and was unable to use the existing wire/plug without buying an adapter direct from Beltronics.

One last bit of information. It has been posted that Beltronics won’t honor the 1 year warrantee if purchased from a “non-authorized” reseller like Amazon. There is even mention of this on Bel’s web site. Before buying from Amazon, I sent an E-mail to Bel asking if this policy included purchase direct from Amazon or if they were refering to Amazon re-sellers. This is Bel’s response:

Thank you for your interest in Beltronics! Amazon is authorized. But often you are directed to the reseller site they host. You may not see this unless you look closely at the page you are directed to. We do not have any authorized resellers on their re-seller site.

Regards,

Customer Service Department

In conclusion, the 955 is a nice upgrade from my old Bel detector with some new features, less false alerts, and what seems to be better K & Ka detection.

2/9/08

Addendum:

Unit just died after 6 weeks of use. Suddenly will not pick up any radar! Shipping it back to Bel for repair. Very disappointed in the quality of this unit. Therefore, rating for me has just dropped to one star!

3/29/08 update:

Received the unit back from Bel in less that two weeks. Repair was done free of charge under warrantee. So fears of Bel not honoring the warrantee if purchased from Amazon directly seem to be unfounded. Unit works better than ever now. Lets hope it stays that way!