In this video I have sought to provide a comparative review of the best top-end radar detectors available at this time in New Zealand.

This includes: Uniden R7; Valentine V1Gen2; Uniden R4; Escort redline 360c; Radenso DS1; Uniden DFR9; and Uniden DFR7.

Although the focus here is on New Zealand, much of what is shown here would apply equally in other countries such as in the USA / Canada, Iceland, Finland etc.

In the video, I have also sought to evaluate the Uniden R7 original and new hardware versions to check for consistency. I have also included the R7forNZ 145 firmware R7 version and the earlier 138 International version.

This is the first time I have evaluated the Escort redline 360c and the Valentine V1Gen2. I have therefore given these detectors some extra attention.

I would also like to add some comments here about the Uniden R4: The R4 is showing a lot of pros and cons, and has great potential. However, I consider the Uniden R4 needs a lot of future refinement by Uniden to make it a practical radar detector. The R4 currently can only be used against redflex with the K filter OFF. The K filter needs redevelopment as currently this completely filters out redflex detection. Without the K filter, this makes the R4 unpractically noisy on K band in general use. The laser sensitivity on the R4 ranked bottom of all the detectors I have ever tested. Therefore, practically speaking, I only see the Uniden R4 as being useful in its present form when Ka band is the only threat that you have to face.

00:00 Introduction
00:14 Part i) - Simulated redflex setup demonstration and testing - Test setup
00:53 List of detectors tested
01:06 First up: Uniden R7 - new and original hardware versions & firmware versions 138 International & R7forNZ 145 (which shares the same DSP as US firmware v140 and v141)
05:20 Escort redline 360c
06:28 Valentine V1Gen2
07:44 Radenso DS1
08:55 Uniden R4
10:35 Uniden DFR7 NZ
11:38 Things don’t quite go to plan!
12:58 Uniden DFR9forNZ (v1.05)
14:40 Uniden DFR7 (retest)
16:01 Summary of simulated redflex testing results
16:26 Part ii) - Comparative testing of Redline 360C and Valentine V1Gen2 against a live mobile redflex camera...
16:43 Direction 1: Valentine V1Gen2
18:12 Direction 1: Escort redline 360c
19:37 Direction 2: Valentine V1Gen2
21:26 Direction 2: Escort redline 360c
22:40 Orientation testing of V1Gen2 and Redline 360c against radar polarisation.
26:57 Final conclusions.