Hey guys. I've been an Escort guy for the past 15 years, but I've just made the switch to the R3. I was very happy with the accuracy and frequent updates of the Escort Defender GPS database. How is the Uniden's GPS database?
Up front, I'm not exactly sure how Defender works If it's a static database that you download and then import to your detector and/or how you get notifications for updates. Understand that Uniden's database is static; it's not cloud based or crowd sourced. Uniden has sent down 3 updates since the unit was released back in June. I know that some speed cameras here were shut down (state court order) last year, and the database update a few weeks later had them removed. One of the local municipalities added a couple of K band speed cameras in their 25mph speed trap and they got added on the next update after that. Overall, I would say that the Uniden database is good, and it's *free*. But overall Waze is going to be your best friend; even better IMO than Defender and Escort Live because the Waze user base is the biggest of all.
I had an Escort 9500ix for almost 8 years, then upgraded to the R3 last October. The last two years I subscribed to the defender database ($50/year IIRC), which looking back on it was a waste of money. I know they update the database every Monday, but realistically, how many updates are actually in there? I mean, how many speed/RLC cameras get added around the country on a weekly basis? Probably not many. I think you will be pleased with Unidens database, in the last 5 months I have not come across any RLCs etc which were not in their DB. In my opinion, updating the database every few months is fine, plus it’s FREE.