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"The UK SpeedTrap Guide"2008 - All you want to know..... |
| Defensive Equipment Tests. This Page covers equipment that I have been sent and with the help of a few friends (inc. Police) we put under test, and we will give you our views on the products, not the salesman's views. Not all manufactures of equipment want us to test their equipment, wonder why...? So all not all the equipment on the market may be tested. If you have any equipment you have bought and you want to send us your views on how well it works or doesn't for that, let us know. Send your review or comments  All Contents are ©Copyright 2005 Steve Warren. Tests may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved |
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Bel 990 International Radar/Laser Detector.
 Bel 990 International in Highway mode
When I went to collect this unit from
Comtech, I was told about the relationship with Comtech and Beltronics. Comtech told me to switch off all X and Ka bands leave the K and Ku on. Set the unit for quick start and always keep it in Highway mode, so that's what I did. In use it is superb, it sits there doing nothing till a Gatso or speedtrap is in range, now with most of the other units I have tried you can usually see a Gatso before the warning goes off, but this unit has told me of a Gatso round a corner when the radar scatter is good. The audio is clear and can be quite loud if you want, the display is easy to read and bright enough to deal with the sun on it. It sits on its suckers and bracket well with little vibration. When you approach a Gatso it goes from saying "HIGHWAY" in the display to giving the frequency of the Gatso with a beep then it turns into a field strength meter a male voice tells you which band it has detected then still making the beeps which speed up as you approach the Gatso.
  Frequency mode. Field Strength mode. So what tests did we do? The Bel 990 was subjected to three passes using a stopwatch to time the unit from the first beep to the point of passing the Gatso to establish an average warning time . Speed was 60mph. Please note warning times can vary subject to conditions.
Important Note: The Gatso Used
was a solo Gantry Gatso on the M25 Motorway. Speed was 80mph Laser Gun Test. In our opinion you could get a warning or you could get nicked when it come to the Laser alert mode. False Alarm Test.
This is done over a six mile selection of roads taking in two Gatso's and a town centre with Banks, Supermarkets and DIY stores. We had three alarms on the K band and none on the X band (X band can be turned off on the 990) The amount of false alarms is important, if it spends all its life beeping at you, you will soon start to ignore it. The amount we got was much lower than the other units tested. Can we recommend it, YES, we can, it is the best so far.
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