That's why the saying is over 9 you're mine. In other words 10. It's a rhyme.

 

I run a Uniden R3 along with Waze on the phone. The Uniden has been impressive as to how far out I've picked up radar. Sure it does pick up some vehicle's BSM but you can pretty much learn what's a real alert and what's not by paying attention to those around you. My vette is not a daily driver so this set up works for me in Okie Land.

 

I have an Escort 9500 in the DD and the Valentine in the Corvette since it seems to me it has a slightly longer range.

Both work very well- the V1 is a bit more expensive.

 

Valentine is back-ordered, apparently due to circuit board deliveries.

 

Uniden R7 here, the range is nuts. The other day I picked up a state trooper from what must have been 6+ miles away on Ka band. I was doing 80 (PSL was 60), and the cops usually run 75 plus or minus 5. I counted just over 3 minutes from first alert to when we passed. I slowed down to 70 mph at first alert, if he was also doing 70 then that's a closing speed of 140 miles per hour which is over 2 miles per minute...He never had a chance against the R7. The first alert was pretty short and it was 30+ seconds before I got the 2nd so conditions were "perfect" for me to get that first alert but still. Good radar detectors are amazing and if you have a lead foot like I do and need to keep a clean driving record for your job they are mandatory.
Running a (good) detector and Waze is like "god mode" for the road.

Uniden R7, Valentine 1 gen 2, Escort Redline 360c are the top dogs. The Uniden R7 is basically two R3s back to back with arrows which are awesome now with the latest firmware update. Before the latest firmware they worked but not very well.
Arrows can never be perfect because radar waves themselves get reflected all over the place and anytime both ends of the detector detect the same signal there is gonna be some level of confusion.

The V1g2 really needs the JBV1 app on your phone to get the most out of it but otherwise is a nice unit.

The Escort is the most expensive option but...
I honestly don't think the price/performance is there for the Escort, if it was also $500 I think it would be a better value and more closely aligned with reality.

 

I have the cobra road scout, radar detector plus dash cam all in one. I just got it a few days ago, I can’t comment on how well the radar works yet. Dash cam is great, it’s on a recording loop to a micro SD card, if you want video, you can get the clip to your cell phone via Bluetooth. Still trying to figure it out.

 

I really really hate to break it to you but you need to know because thinking you are protected and not actually being protected is bad...

Cobra detectors can be unreliable but it will function unlike say a Rocky Mountain Radar product (friends don't let friends buy RMR junk) which flat out don't do what they are supposed to, like it's cheaper to just flip a coin every time you drive and that will work just as well as an RMR "detector" because that's how bad they are. They have been tested extensively and their "scrambling technology" simply doesn't exist. While Cobra isn't at their level I would still hesitate before trusting my license to one at any rate.

We're at the point where it's not really hardware that separates the good and bad detectors but the software. Owning a detector that alerts you to every single threat out there is not fun. K band is absolutely littered with junk signals. Hell the police have all but abandoned X band to the point it is almost universal advice to turn off X band alerting on your new detector. This is because X band is so polluted that it's almost impossible to tell a real return from junk. New cars with new BSM (blind spot monitoring) and advanced brake assisting technology will drive you insane because your detector will never shut up. Good filtering that comes from solid software support is what separates the good from the bad now and some companies just don't do as good of a job.

My advice is to run the detector for a while and learn how it works really well before you uhhh "test it" if you know what I mean. This is true for anybody new to detectors, learn before you go crazy.