So earlier this week I went back out to the red barn test course to run a few detectors, including some detectors I don't normally run, as well as to test out different settings / new firmwares. Here's the lineup of detectors I tested:
The main things I wanted to check out were:
Also again hat tip to @ferius and his amazing RD test app! That app is insanely fantastic.
Anyways, you guys know the red barn course and how everything goes so I'm just gonna dive into the results and then add a little commentary.
First up, here's the Bee III on 33.8:
In this case, the R3 smoked the competition. It was consistently able to alert just after the red barn while most every detector required me to get closer to the radar gun. The Max 3 was the only one that was able to once give me a longer detection. I was wondering if maybe the radar gun was getting weaker or something (I ran the R3 first) so just to verify, I gave the R3 a 4th run at the very end after running all the other detectors and sure enough, it still did outstanding.
The Road Scout had one shorter run than everything else, but again most detectors were terrain limited here.
Next up, the DSR 2x on 34.7:
Again, R3 smoked the pack.
I was expecting a little more from the Max 3, but it couldn't keep up.
Oddly enough, the Pro M did better with the Ka Filter on vs. off. I specifically wanted to test this because in a previous test earlier this year, I had accidentally left Ka Filter on by mistake. Because of that, I wanted to go back and see how much that filter impacted things. I don't know why it did better here with the filter on, but there ya go.
I did cut one Pro M Ka Filter Off run where the suction cups started failing and I was quickly trying to remount the detector to my WS mid-run. It did better on that run (2292 ft) than it did on all the others, but because I was fumbling with the detector just before it alerted, I think it was necessary to cut that run and redo it.
I also cut and redid a CR97 run because it started BSM falsing during the run which apparently delayed when it went off to Ka. I'm not sure how the band prioritization works and if it has to wait for one signal to stop with the initial alert before it can sound a second alert, but it didn't start alerting to Ka until 1283 ft, around 300 ft after the other 3 Ka runs. Because of the weird alerting thing, I cut that run too, but I think it's interesting to note about how the CR97 presents alerts and it's worth mentioning.
Finally, let's look at the Genesis II on 35.5.
So fairly terrain limited here again. R3 had two longer runs. Max 3 had one longer run. Pro M's Ka filter didn't affect the results. Road Scout lagged a bit behind everything else.
There was also one Road Scout run that I cut and reran. On run 2, it gave a dismal run of only 838 ft instead of the usual 1300-1400. This happened when I was following a pack of cars. All the other runs without traffic blocking the signal it did better. So again I think it's worth mentioning.
Conclusions:
Starting with the R3, every time I run it, it impresses me. Sometimes I forget and it fades in my mind a bit, especially since I'm usually running the R7, V1 Gen2, RL360c, etc. I don't know what Uniden did with this guy, but it's a beast...
Max 3, I was hoping it'd run closer to the R3 and it didn't this time, but it still managed to edge out everything else.
The Pro M, I intentionally ran a different Pro M this time (an older one with the previous case design) hoping it could do a little better. It wasn't bad, but again it's not an R3 when it comes to range specifically. Speaking of range, I didn't see any evidence of disabling Ka Filter improving the range. If anything, it did better with the Ka Filter on. That's totally unexpected and I don't know why, but hey, those are the results...
CR97, it managed to hold its own. It wasn't able to keep up with the best of the best, but it also still managed to beat out the Road Scout.
Road Scout, well it came in last. I suppose it's to be expected that combining a radar detector and a dashcam in one unit means that you're going to compromise on both somewhat, but hey, there's some results to show exactly that. I was expecting a little more, based on what I've seen previously with the Cobra DSP9200BT, but as other detectors keep improving, it looks like that platform doesn't stack up to the range offered by other (often times cheaper) detectors. I'm gonna use these results for a Road Scout review and I think the conclusion will be you're going for convenience here with sacrificing a bit on the RD and dashcam side to get them integrated. You can get something better by going for individual options (ie. Uniden R3 and Viofo A119 v3), but if you want an integrated option, you're gonna sacrifice some which honestly makes total sense.
- Uniden R3, fw 1.54 (provided by Uniden) $300
- Escort Max 3, fw 1.3 (retail purchase) $400
- Radenso Pro M, fw US22 (Ka filter on and off) (provided by Radenso) $450
- Whistler CR97, fw 2.1A (on loan from @Bossdad71, thank you!!) $200-$250
- Cobra Road Scout, fw RScoutR08 (retail unit) $450
The main things I wanted to check out were:
- How the $450 Road Scout compares to other detectors in a similar pricepoint/class
- How the Pro M's Ka filter affects things (I grabbed a different Pro M this time compared to previous testing to see if it'd perform differently than the one I usually test with)
- Make sure everything's still good with the R3 w/ 1.54
Also again hat tip to @ferius and his amazing RD test app! That app is insanely fantastic.
Anyways, you guys know the red barn course and how everything goes so I'm just gonna dive into the results and then add a little commentary.
First up, here's the Bee III on 33.8:
In this case, the R3 smoked the competition. It was consistently able to alert just after the red barn while most every detector required me to get closer to the radar gun. The Max 3 was the only one that was able to once give me a longer detection. I was wondering if maybe the radar gun was getting weaker or something (I ran the R3 first) so just to verify, I gave the R3 a 4th run at the very end after running all the other detectors and sure enough, it still did outstanding.
The Road Scout had one shorter run than everything else, but again most detectors were terrain limited here.
Next up, the DSR 2x on 34.7:
Again, R3 smoked the pack.
I was expecting a little more from the Max 3, but it couldn't keep up.
Oddly enough, the Pro M did better with the Ka Filter on vs. off. I specifically wanted to test this because in a previous test earlier this year, I had accidentally left Ka Filter on by mistake. Because of that, I wanted to go back and see how much that filter impacted things. I don't know why it did better here with the filter on, but there ya go.
I did cut one Pro M Ka Filter Off run where the suction cups started failing and I was quickly trying to remount the detector to my WS mid-run. It did better on that run (2292 ft) than it did on all the others, but because I was fumbling with the detector just before it alerted, I think it was necessary to cut that run and redo it.
I also cut and redid a CR97 run because it started BSM falsing during the run which apparently delayed when it went off to Ka. I'm not sure how the band prioritization works and if it has to wait for one signal to stop with the initial alert before it can sound a second alert, but it didn't start alerting to Ka until 1283 ft, around 300 ft after the other 3 Ka runs. Because of the weird alerting thing, I cut that run too, but I think it's interesting to note about how the CR97 presents alerts and it's worth mentioning.
Finally, let's look at the Genesis II on 35.5.
So fairly terrain limited here again. R3 had two longer runs. Max 3 had one longer run. Pro M's Ka filter didn't affect the results. Road Scout lagged a bit behind everything else.
There was also one Road Scout run that I cut and reran. On run 2, it gave a dismal run of only 838 ft instead of the usual 1300-1400. This happened when I was following a pack of cars. All the other runs without traffic blocking the signal it did better. So again I think it's worth mentioning.
Conclusions:
Starting with the R3, every time I run it, it impresses me. Sometimes I forget and it fades in my mind a bit, especially since I'm usually running the R7, V1 Gen2, RL360c, etc. I don't know what Uniden did with this guy, but it's a beast...
Max 3, I was hoping it'd run closer to the R3 and it didn't this time, but it still managed to edge out everything else.
The Pro M, I intentionally ran a different Pro M this time (an older one with the previous case design) hoping it could do a little better. It wasn't bad, but again it's not an R3 when it comes to range specifically. Speaking of range, I didn't see any evidence of disabling Ka Filter improving the range. If anything, it did better with the Ka Filter on. That's totally unexpected and I don't know why, but hey, those are the results...
CR97, it managed to hold its own. It wasn't able to keep up with the best of the best, but it also still managed to beat out the Road Scout.
Road Scout, well it came in last. I suppose it's to be expected that combining a radar detector and a dashcam in one unit means that you're going to compromise on both somewhat, but hey, there's some results to show exactly that. I was expecting a little more, based on what I've seen previously with the Cobra DSP9200BT, but as other detectors keep improving, it looks like that platform doesn't stack up to the range offered by other (often times cheaper) detectors. I'm gonna use these results for a Road Scout review and I think the conclusion will be you're going for convenience here with sacrificing a bit on the RD and dashcam side to get them integrated. You can get something better by going for individual options (ie. Uniden R3 and Viofo A119 v3), but if you want an integrated option, you're gonna sacrifice some which honestly makes total sense.