Sturdy construction. Ease of operation. Two year warranty (over Passport one year warranty/deciding factor). Visibility of text. Clearness of voice/audio. Visor mount (second deciding factor).
Reputation.
Defeat of bands. Upgrade of software.

Poor support from maker of unit. Email does not get answered in timely manner.
Cheap mounting hardware. Extreme signal strength for some known extraneous signals (cheap radar detectors in passing cars, etc.). Straight cord, too short for routing.

After reading product reviews and consumer's opinions on this unit, I opted for objectivity. I checked consumer comments on the Bel 980 as well as the Passport 8500. The approval ratings were close to the same for both products. Each series of reviews tended to favor the product in question. Nothing of any significance was learned by reading comsumer opinions. I did not want to write a review on the performance of the Bel 980 without observing the behavior of the unit, across environments. I am very pleased with the purchase of this unit. As indicated, the unit's ability to detect Ka band was truly amazing. I noticed I was now picking up Ka readings over two miles in advance. Initially, I thought the unit was falsing; however, I was very surprised to see Texas DPS coming towards me. I live in Waco, Texas. The isolation of the area, in comparison to larger metropolitan areas, makes for fewer false signals. Within the city limits of Austin and Dallas, I observed the unit to be fairly quiet. It certainly did not false as much as my Bel 645 Sti. I am very pleased with this unit. At times, falsing seemed to occur; however, increased hypervigilance of the area revealed the presence of a patrol unit almost every time.
With increased sensitivity, one must expect increased detection of extraneous signals. It would be like watching a fireworks display with infrared equipment. You have to expect some falsing from cheap radar detectors, etc. The infrequency of falsing was acceptable.

Similar Products Used:

BEL 645 STI, very irritating falsing on this unit. Whistler 1080 had better false signal rejection; however, it had significantly less warning of approaching target vehicles.