- Can disable any of X, K, or Ka-band - Different ways you can program the detector to alert you. - Great detection - a "quiet" button (in case you are stuck in traffic next to a false radar source)

- getting to the programming menu was not intuitive... until you read the manual (I thought I had a defective product)

I have had my Bel 980 since the start of the summer... just in time for all the traps to come out and start collecting money from the public. Where I live, the majority of speed traps are photo radar vans, using K-band (24.125 GHz) to catch speeders. It saved me on one of the very first times I used it. I was heading towards the city centre, and it had started beeping "k-band". At first I thought it was a false alarm, but I decided to slow down just in case. Then, I spotted the van with plenty of time to slow down. I went through this trap many times to test out the detector. From my experience, I can tell you that the Bel 980 is a very good detector. It will warn you of k-band photo radar vans with enough time to slow down as_long_as_you_are_not_going_too_fast! This is critical! If you are going 110 Km/h, you probably won't have enough time to slow down. There are photo radar vans that operate on Ka-band, they don't operate in my city. If I can test it out, I'll just add another review. Luckily, photo radar vans don't operate on the highways where I live. Only freeways (80 km/h limit)or regular streets (50 or 60 km/h). The detection of the radar depends on traffic as well. The best is when you have some traffic ahead of you so that the radar beam can reflect off the back of those cars towards you and your detector. Remember to mount your detector relatively high atleast the middle of your windshield or higher. The detector has also caught radar from police vehicles and those signs that tell you how fast you are going. Once again, in my city, they are all K-band. Since the radar is pointed AT you, you will have a lot more time to slow down, and just about any reasonable speed should be ample time to adjust your speed. I think the best features of the detector is that you can disable bands. Anyone who owns a Bel 980 or 985 should not be complaining about X-bands going off all the time because they can disable it! For me, I also disable Ka-band since I don't know of any instances of use in my city. As for laser (LIDAR) detection, the Bel 980 works, but don't count on it to save you. LIDAR obtains your speed in 0.3 seconds, so essentially, you have 0.3 seconds to adjust your speed, which is impossible. Buy a laser jammer if you want to protect yourself from laser traps. No radar detector (eg. Bel 980, Valentine 1, or Escort 8500) will save you from laser traps. If a radar detector manufacturer boasts it has the best laser detection, it's better to laugh it off, because unless you jam it, the police will already have your speed and will be issuing you a ticket. By the way, for those new to radar detection, don't bother buying a cheap detector if you have photo radar in your city. Photo radar is the most difficult radar system to detect and cheap detectors won't give you enough time to slow down. They will be a waste of money and you can't trust them. With the Bel 980, you develop a trust with your detector, so you don't have to drive looking for photo radar vans on the side of the road (which is potentially dangerous). Now, let's talk about the Bel 980's falsing. Yes, the Bel 980 does false occasionally. I have driven with all bands on, and sometimes with some bands off. In general, if you are beside a megamall, hospital, or bank, you can expect your detector to alert you. Usually, it only goes to only a 1 or 2 strength alert (out of 9), but it can go to a 9 if you drive in the parking lot! Of course, there won't be any speed traps in a parking lot, so don't let this bother you. If you are a normal driver, you usuaully drive certain roads here and there. Trust me, you WILL know if its a false or really police radar with time. I drive a lot of the same places throughout the city, and I know where it will false, so I ignore any alerts I get there. If I am driving somewhere new and I get an alert, I monitor how the strength goes up. If it goes up constantly, I will start to slow down.

Similar Products Used:

Uniden 6599 (which was junk), Bel 985 (the newer model). Remember: Escort 8500: Not as good detection, but better at reducing falsing Valentine 1: Better detection, but more falsing. Bel 980: ri

it does get a lot of falses, but in the UK you can turn off X-Band and KA-Band turn off X and KA and then you'll have almost NO falses, K band (GATSO) detection is generally very good, id recomend it as its great for the price (Bel 980 or a Cobra??) good selective features

it will false a lot in the UK if you have X and KA bands on... turn them OFF! K detection isnt amazing, but at the price you cant get better... you can pay twice as much for a V1, it will be better, but can your wallet take it??

thought i had lost my licence, so decided i needed an RD. read LOADS of reviews, the Bel 980 seemed a very good all-round RD, up there with the best really in range and features, but at a better price. it does get a lot of falses, but in the UK you can turn off X-Band and KA-Band as they are not used over here anymore. this cuts out almost ALL falses now. this thing TOTALLY saved my licence at about 9pm a couple nights ago. a hidden police mobile trap was detected by this thing, i was doing about twice the limit, but had plenty of time to slow down, i even thought it was a FALSE, until i saw the cop's van hidden in the bushes

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experianced V1s, Unidens and Snooper 815. V1 is god-like but has a price tag to match. the others were rubbish. either buy a Bel or a Valentine.

Class leading Ka Band range, several miles on the highway. One of the few detectors to pick up cops around corners and over hills. Very clear voice warnings.

Occasionally goes nuts around "hot" alarm systems. X and K band alarms are annoying when autosilence isnt used.

This is one great radar detector! Sure it isnt cheap like those Cobra detectors you can get in Best Buy, but you get what you pay for. It is one of the top rated detectors and is beat by only one detector the Escort Passport 9500. Even beats the so called god of detectors the Valentine One and it is hundreds cheaper than the V-1.

Similar Products Used:

Uniden and Cobra detectors (junk). The cobra even froze and left me un-protected against radar. Save yourself money and buy a Bel or Escort not a cheap ass Cobra.

Volume, features.

Sensitive to heat, terrible windshield mount.

Let me start by saying I am somewhat of a radar detector fanatic. I have used about everything under the sun (see below). The Bel 980 is a fair detector. But there is a problem people don't like to talk about concerning this detector. It is extremely sensitive to heat. I left it under my seat one day at work, and when I left it failed it's startup loop. That makes it about as good as a snowshovel that breaks when it's cold. On the positive side, it has alot of features, and the volume is definitely loud enough. Detection range is fair, but not as good as the Passport 8500 and nowhere near the Valentine. The windshield mount is absolutely atrocious. It looks homemade, and works homemade. Considering you can get one on Ebay for $130-$150, it's a fair deal. But the heat factor has to be considered. For me, that was enough to make me never use it again (it happened twice, then I realized it has a problem, so I quit using it altogether). For detection, it outclasses everything except the 8500 and Valentine. You get what you pay for.

Similar Products Used:

Original Escort, Escort DSP, Original Passport, Original Solo, Solo 4, Solo 5, Newest Solo, Passport 4500, Passport 4600, Passport 5000, Passport 7500, Passport 8500, Bel 530i, Bel 745STi, bunch of Un

Good range

Beeps too much, sounds like a bird chirping,

I owned this model and a Passport 8500. Both are good, however the Passport 8500 does a better job filtering out false alarms. This thing beeped way too much,to the point that I finally took it out of my car. The programming was also confusing, and the constant chirping and beeping drove me crazy. I would recommend the Passport 8500 over this Bel product.

Similar Products Used:

Cobra, V1, Passport's

#1 sensitivity & range, clear bright easy to read display, clarity of voice alerts, ease of use, windsheild mount, auto mute and city all mode are great, upgradable

If I find one I''ll let you know

The results are in. My wife and I took a road trip that we just returned from three days ago. We drove from Boston, MA to Miami Fl (over 3000 miles of travel). I purchased the Bel 980 about a month prior to my trip and it had already saved me from 2 tickets before we even went away. Through out the three week trip that we took this awesome product saved me a total of 8 times and a grand total of 10 times since I purchased it. There seems to be alot of bashing of other radar detectors on this website and thats not what I''m here to do I''m just giving my opinion. I have owned three other detectors before this one and I had almost given up on them all together. All the other units I had owned just didn''t perform well. Let me tell you that both myself and my wife were completely amazed at the range in which the Bel 980 was picking up the radar signals on all bands X/K/Ka and through out my trip all of those bands were being used in the speed traps. I was surprised that people are still useing X band, but there out there. I think what impressed me the most was the ability to pick up the signals so early on very curvy/hilly roads, it was just incredible. Let me tell all people whom are traveling to Florida by car, the state troopers are EVERYWHERE, more so than any state I''ve ever driven through. But if you got a Bel 980 I wouldn''t worry to much. My suggestion to the folks looking to buy a GREAT detector with exceptional range, then this is your product. Yeah you can get a V1 for about $300 more or a passport Escort 8500 for about $100 more, but I say save your money, you won''t be disappointed. I don''t see how the V1 or the Escort 8500 could perform any better than this Unit and what would justify the higher cost. I hop this helps some consumers out to make a good buying decision. As for the people who have said that the functions are hard to operate and that the windsheild mount was hard to put up! well it took me all of about 30 seconds to figure out how to use the functions, and about 30 seconds to secure my mount. So I don''t what the problems that people are saying that there having, I just don''t get it. Good luck in your decision

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Uniden, Whistler, Cobra

outstanding performance long range even though i have had problems i would recommend it

wont stay working sick of shiping it back getting an escort 8500

ive used it 3 months. i have also goten 3 new ones each month "sweep t" displays and its a common error if you have this return it. the other problem i had is ka alerts off the wall on my second unit like every 7 secs to 5 min i would get a false it was way too often to be real dont get me wrong i love the range its great when its working by the way sweep t is a known error.

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cobra bell escort

Incredible sensitivity...miles, not feet. VG2 invisible, software upgradable, 2 year warranty, good service.

Falsing more than would like, but if you want the sensitivity, falsing will happen.

Wow !!!!! I am a techno junkie and enjoy using and purchasing any kind of electronics. I recently went on vacation, and drove from New Jersey to Florida down the I-95 corridor. This is the 20 th time I have mad this 1,000 mile trip. I''ll tell you, I am completely impressed with the Bel 980 detector. I have used the Passport 4600, Passport solo (with the cord, not batteries), cobra, uniden and snooper. Yes, the Escort units were very good, but when it comes to Ka and K bands, the Bel 980 blows the doors off the competition. I was surprised to see that I picked up K-band in florida over 2-miles away. Also, picked up Ka (1-beep) drove for several minutes, thought it was a false alarm, and next thing I noticed a Maryland cop. My old detectors would not even come close on the Ka and K bands. Yes, this unit falses more often than my other units, but there is alway a trade off....sensitivity with some more falses or less sensitive with less falses. My buddy has the Passport 8500, and falses at the same locations that the Bel 980 falses. I am very, very pleased with this detector. I used to think Escort was the only quality detector, but the Bel 980 has changed my mind. I think Escort has excellent service and product, but for $100 less, I will sick with the Bel...at least for now.

Similar Products Used:

Escort 4600, Escort solo (corded), cobra, uniden, snooper

incredible X,K,Ka range from coming up over a hill to around curves to a straight HWY. Laser works very well. You can eliminate X band altogether, just read your manual. Just make sure there are no cops in your town using the old X band.

To many false alarms on X. Other than that it rocks!!

Well here''s what i have to say; I currently owned a bel 890 model which i paid $238.00 for back about a year ago. I loved it so i kept it. The reason i got the 980 was the price. Beltronics will charge you $340 if you order from them so amazon gave it to me for $220. Anyway the radar detector is awesome on laser as much as it is on radar. I got hit going through the city of duluth by a bike cop. I was probably about 800-1000 feet from him and i got "LASER ALERT". I had just enough time to slow down. Remember laser is twice as fast as radar and is only 18''inches wide at 1000 feet where radar is 150 inches wide at 1/2 mile. the 980 will give you 2 miles range on most radar bands X,K,Ka. Its rear radar protection is off the charts!!! This model, is one i think every american who drives alittle fast should own. Here''s a little trick to test your 980''s sensetivity. Put your 980 as high on your windshield as you can. Take a big screen TV remote and point it at your bel detector. Stand exactly 10 feet from the window of your car and fire it at your detector. You should hear LASER ALERT!!!! neat huh!

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Bel 890

obey all alerts

obeying all alerts

It''s amazing on how much trashing goes on at this site. you would think they all have stock in these companies. My story is as follows. I never owned a V1. I have used uniden in the past. From my experience driving for 27 years, a radar detector is as good as the driver. after much research I purchased both the bel 980 and the pass 8500. knowing that I had 30 days to return the 8500. I never did any side by side testing. I did find the Bel to have a few more false alarms. I could live with that. What I didn''t like about the 8500, was the fact that it mounted on the window, no visor grip. I gotta tell you, that silver shiny thing hanging on your windshield is looking for trouble. This will really piss off a NY state trooper. I have had the 980 for a year after returning the 8500. Just recently the bel 980 will not power up. It is dead. (tried different power cords that still power up my old uniden)I am sending it back under warranty. Should take two-three weeks to repair. In the meantime, I will purchase another pass 8500 for thirty days. The one thing that worries me with Bel is their financial stability. May keep the 8500 and make my own visor clip. bottom line, any detector is as good as the guy/gal behind the wheel. DRIVE SMART.

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Uniden, cobra,