The Best Radar Detectors of 2024

The most curious thing we noticed with this detector was that the laser headlights in some cars put it in a constant state of alert. In a car with regular old incandescents, this detector displayed very good range. It’s versatile, with front and rear-facing antennas, which help the unit point to the location of the threat. Its display uses directional arrows to let you know where you’re getting lit up from. Voice alerts and different alert tones for each band help you keep your eyes on the road, instead of peering at the detector to see which frequency it has detected.

This detector performed quite well, but its large physical size means that it blocks some of your windshield view. On-board GPS and phone-enabled features such as the Defender Database and Escort Live app work together with Bluetooth connectivity. These enhancements may not be useful to you unless your phone is compatible with the app, which may be an issue with some older models. Additionally, the Defender Database is a subscription service. Getting live alerts may be valuable enough to you that it’s worth it. The GPS helps the Max 360 keep false alarms to a minimum, and you can add your own marked locations. Because it’s large, the controls on top are easy to manipulate. This is a nice detector with good performance, but its high price and ongoing subscription costs are downsides.

This premium detector is small but mighty. In fact, all of the Radenso units we tried provided outstanding false alarm filtering and excellent detection with plenty of warning. This unit was so effective at ignoring false alarms that we sometimes questioned whether it was working at all. It was, but it’s just great at ignoring those stray signals and other radar sources that freak out other units, and it does it without having to play with buttons all the time. Just stick it on the windshield and go. AutoCity mode knowns when you’re in-town and keeps quiet. You can manually select Highway or City modes, as well.

Detection was just about as early and reliable as the longest-range standouts in the test, and it also has smart GPS features. You’d expect to be able to mark locations that set off false alerts, and you can, but the Pro M also keeps quiet if it detects you’re traveling below the speed limit. Voice alerts and multiple threat tracking provide important information in an easy fashion, and this detector turned out to be the strong, mostly-silent type. It’s great right out of the box, and there are lots of fine-tuning you can do to make it perform most effectively for you. We did miss the directional arrows and more graphical displays of some of the other units, at least at first, but you’ll spend hundreds more to get the eye candy without any attendant increase in performance. The Radenso Pro M works like a charm when it’s important, and stays out of the way with its small size and outstanding filtering.

This detector was the angriest to test. Blindspot detection, cruise control, and stray K-band triggered the X80 often. It’s good that the unit provided alerts, but it made for a busy time behind the wheel, muting warnings in stop-and-go traffic and around town. The OLED display is attractive. With Bluetooth connectivity onboard and the Escort Live app, you get the benefit of GPS and crowd-sourced alerts. Again, though, the app may not work with all phones, but it’s a nice way to extend the capabilities of what is Escort’s lowest-priced detector.

The buttons to operate volume, sensitivity, and dimming are small and on the top of the unit, so you have to operate them by feel when it’s installed. It takes some fumbling to get the function you want. The display will show you a voltmeter readout unless you’re connected to Escort Live. Then it displays your speed and the current speed limit at your location, which is much more useful information. The X80 does have voice announcements and four independently switchable segments of the KA band, so you can switch off the ones that aren’t used in your area and reduce false alarms. That’s not as many segments and you’ll get from other brands we tried, either. It’s disappointing that you really need to pair the X80 with a phone to get the most out of it, and its false alarm filtering isn’t as good as the others, so it may quickly wear out its welcome.

This is the middle of the Radenso windshield-mount detector line. Like the SP, the detection is very sensitive, and the XP adds GPS with location memory. In keeping with the “quiet detector” theme, the XP will automatically mute itself based on your speed. It knows what roads you’re on and what the speed limit is thanks to GPS and a built-in database of locations including red light and speed cameras.

Radenso offers free firmware and database updates forever, too. That’s a feature that other brands charge for. With the raw detection charms of its SP brother, plus GPS, the XP makes quite the case for itself, especially given its performance, which was equal in practice to the most expensive and sensitive units we tried.

Not as sensitive as other detectors, though it still found the threats. The question is whether it found them with enough time to react, or not. While this unit is a lower-priced detector, it has a lot of features. There’s built-in GPS and an internal location database of speed and red-light cameras that can be user-updated. The CR93 also includes Field Disturbance Sensor Rejection and Traffic Flow Sensor Rejection, two features that help ignore the driver assistance systems that may be in nearby cars.

In our testing, the CR 93 alerted later than other detectors we tried, meaning you’ve got less time to make adjustments. Sometimes a lot less, depending on the situation. With a clear road and a radar or laser gun pointed directly at you, the CR 93 is probably fairly reliable at detecting and warning. Other independent testing, however, found that it has considerable blind spots, including situations where vehicles are being clocked stealthily from behind or when exiting a curve. Given the amount of performance for the dollar we found from other detectors, you’re better off skipping the Whistler CR93. The built-in GPS database is a nice feature for the price, but in terms of raw detection capability, it comes up short.