Radar Detector Ratings

Some visitors to our radar detector website are surprised we do not have ratings assigned for each radar detector. Our reason is rather simple, if the ratings are not from an independent source or if they are not very, very detailed they mean nothing.

Be wary of any website that has some arbitrary number next to the radar detector. Instead look for reviews by independent sources. Two of our favorites are the Veil Guy and Guys of Lidar. Now one thing you can do for fun is use radar detector ratings to see if the website has a bias. If every detector for a certain brand ranks high, ask yourself why? The detectors made vary a great bit, and some are much better performers than others, even within the same brand.

Someday we may implement a rating system, but not until we are satisfied it provides people with an honest evaluation of a radar detector, and not some subjective rating. There is a substantial amount of effort involved in rating a radar detector accurately. Anyone can sit around and say "This is a four star radar detector". It is a lot harder to provide a real quantitative measure using consistent testing, and show how you came up with the numbers.

We tell people all the time, you are your own best purchasing assistant. Go out and find reviews from people like yourself, not from people selling or manufacturing radar detectors. Get some real world opinions. We want to help you find the best radar detector based on how and where you drive and what your budget is.

When you call us, we like to find out about the type of driving you do, and where you live. Do you need long range detection on the highway, or the ability to lock out false alerts around town? There are a lot of personal variables, and this is the reason we carry so many radar detector models. A website with some simple numerical rating is often just passing along what the manufacturers told them.

If you have any questions, give us a call (1-800-584-1445), send an email, or check out our radar detector buyer's guide.