Home > Consumer Reviews > Beltronics Express 946 Cordless Radar / Laser Detector

I carefully read all the reviews and decided on one of the more expensive radar detectors. (Valentine One) I installed that detector and it works well.
I also decided to purchase a detector for the wifes car, but did not wish to spend the $ again. So after reading more reviews, I decided to go with the Bel 936 ($ at local Circuit City.) I thought I would do a comparision of the two, so I installed the two in one vehicle. (Seperated enough to not give off false signals.) I found that they both did an excellent job. They would each pick up the radar signals at almost the exact same moment. There were just a few times where one would pick up the signal a few seconds before the other. (Sometimes the Bel and sometimes the Valentine One.) I have used them in the same vehicle for over a month now. I believe that the Bel 936 is every bit as good as the Valentine One. And is priced at almost half the cost. (I do however like the direction finder of the Valentine One.) But if you do not want to shell out the $. The Bel 936 is money spent well.

I purchased a Bel 936 for a trip from Colorado to California recently. Driving one of the "usual suspects," a Corvette, I figured a little extra protection couldn't hurt.

I was not disappointed in the unit's performance other than it "faults" often when passing other radar detectors or microwave towers. It gave me ample warning over a hill on I-80 in Nevada when a state trooper appeared going in the opposite direction. He had used his "instant on" radar on another vehicle which gave me plenty of time to slow down.

I like a digital voice warning rather than trying to figure out various tones to differentiate between X, K, and Ka and this unit has voice plus plenty of volume to hear it with.

The windshield mount was a little tricky to get just right but not bad and adjusting the volume level by holding down the button took some time. The levels change rapidly and I found it took a few passes to hit the volume level I wanted.

If you don't want to pony up the money for a Passport 8500 or a Bel 980, try the 936 Express. But don't expect miracles and it always helps to use a little common since when pushing the envelope on speed limits.

I do a lot of highway driving everyday, so I wanted to make sure that I got a radar detector that would detect radar from behind overpasses and over hills. This one has definitely done a good job so far. In the last week that I have used it, I got a radar warning when a police car was coming from the other direction over a small hill and in between a barrier and the radar detector picked him up from about a half mile away. I was driving along wondering where the officer was, and then realized that the detector just picked him up from so far away. My last radar detector would not have been able to do it that fast. I also like how the radar detector talks to you, instead of just beeping and the fact that it uses actual text writing. It is good to be able to be driving along and not even have to look at the detector because it tells you exactly what it is detecting. That is definitely a bonus from the last detector that I owned. I plan on buying another one of these in the near future for my husband's car. It is definitely worth it for the price!

I've used my 936 express for just under 2 yrs in my Subaru WRX and I can say it has saved my bacon on a few occasions. Now while I would say that I don't drive like a maniac, I'm no saint either when it comes to obeying speed limits on the highway, but I have, so-far, NEVER had a speeding ticket -touch wood.

The unit did fail (stopped detecting radar altogether) after a couple of months. Bel repaired the unit quickly (I was without it for about 10 days) and it has been problem free since.

This detector is fairly basic, it has no 'bogey counters' or 'direction indicators'. I personally believe that a direction indicator is of dubious value anyway -owing to the radar energy's potential for being reflected off other vehicles / roadsigns / buildings etc. A 'bogey counter' feature on the other hand might be useful, but as I mentioned, the 936 doesn't have one. What the unit does offer though is excellent detection ability of X, K and Ka band radar. I've taken it on trips to California and in the flat expanses of Death Valley, the detector would pick up approaching police vehicles sometimes 2-3 minutes before we passed each other, that means they were over 4 or 5 MILES away when 1st detected. Naturally this range decreases in urban environments.

Because of the highly directional nature of Laser (it's a pencil thin beam) I'm personally of the opinion that if a genuine Laser alert is received, it's probably too late, if you were speeding, the ticket is as good as in the mail. The unit does sometimes give false Laser alerts (a particular overhead dot-matrix sign in my area sets it off about 75% of the time I pass under it). From what I understand, many laser detectors are susceptible to this type of thing.

False alerts on X band are common too (automatic door openers, fast food microwave ovens etc. are touted as the reason for this). It sometimes also chirps when passing other vehicles, I guess they are equipped with radar detectors - some of them leak a bit. By running it in CityX mode it is possible to reduce false alarms significantly by turning down the sensitivity to X band radar. I always run mine this way.

I give the 936 Express 4 stars since it offers solid performance at a budget price. I'd give it 5 if the volume was easier to adjust and the signal strength meter didn't go away in the nighttime use DARK mode (I see no reason why it can't be made dimmer)

What this thing isn't though is a licence to speed recklessly. It may alert you to the presence of police radar in a timely manner, but it does nothing to reduce the odds of an accident. In busy urban environments, the reduced range plus the false alarms from shop door openers etc., limit the effectiveness of any radar detector, not to mention the danger of inappropriate speed in these environments. If you drive like a maniac you will eventually get caught -or worse. It is perhaps best viewed as a useful indicator when to ease off if you're prone to doing a few miles over on the highway. Speed Safely.

Unit has very useable features and is simple to use. Tones are a little annoying, but maybe this is a good thing. Memory function and volume control are very useful. Detection seems to be good. Lot's of false alarms due to sensitvity being so high. This is a given trade off. Voice is easy to understand. Automute is a very nice feature in congested areas.