Radar Detector Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need a radar detector?

Are radar detectors legal?

Should I be concerned about radar detector detectors?

Do you ship detectors outside the United States?

Does your factory warranty apply if I do not purchase directly from Beltronics?

In my regular driving area the police no longer use X-band radar, and all I seem to pick up on that band any more are things like the automatic door openers used by many grocery stores. I own one of your detectors that has the option to turn off the X-band, does it make sense to do that?

Why do I need a radar detector?

Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket? It's embarrassing and it's expensive! In addition to the high cost of the traffic fine, you also have court costs, inconvenience and the impact on your insurance rates. Since the mid 1970's, radar has served as the tool of choice for traffic speed enforcement.

More than 100,000 active Traffic Radar guns are deployed across the USA. More than 100,000 radar units are in use by police agencies in the United States, and they account for more than 30 million speeding tickets each year. In fact, there are so many radar guns on the road, your speed may be monitored when you least expect it!

More than 15,000 active Traffic Laser guns are deployed across the USA. City police on urban, multi-lane roadways use the most laser guns, and the use of laser guns for speed monitoring is continuing to increase. In fact, your risk of encountering traffic laser is escalating every day.

Are radar detectors legal?

Yes! Radar detectors are completely legal to use in non-commercial vehicles in 49 states. Virginia and Washington DC are the only places in the United States that currently ban radar detectors. Radar detector use in commercial vehicles has been prohibited in the U.S. since 1995 and radar detectors are also illegal in most Canadian provinces. We do not track detector regulations in other countries.

Should I be concerned about radar detector detectors?

U.S. non-commercial drivers should not be concerned at all unless you drive in Virginia or Washington DC. If you do drive in either of those places, are a commercial driver, or drive in Canada, please note that while all of our current detectors are immune to the VG-2 radar detector detector (RDD), there is a newer RDD named Spectre that was able to detect all detectors except our STi Driver in a recent speedzones.com test.

Do you ship detectors outside the United States?

We can ship directly to Puerto Rico and the Canadian provinces Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, but we do not accept those orders online due to special shipping considerations. If you require shipment to any of those four locations, please call us at 877-438-1235 to place your order.

We also have distributors in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Beltronics USA does not monitor radar or laser frequencies outside North America. Please contact the distributors below for information on international speed measuring laws and frequencies:

Does your factory warranty apply if I do not purchase directly from Beltronics?

The Beltronics warranty is honored on all of our products for purchases direct from Beltronics, and we maintain direct purchase records during the warranty period as a convenience for our customers.

If you purchase a Beltronics product from an authorized reseller, the Beltronics warranty will be honored only if you can provide us with a copy of the original invoice. We cannot honor any third party invoices that you may receive from an individual, auction, internet site or other unauthorized reseller.

Risks of Purchasing from an Unauthorized Reseller

In my regular driving area the police no longer use X-band radar, and all I seem to pick up on that band any more are things like the automatic door openers used by many grocery stores. I own one of your detectors that has the option to turn off the X-band, does it make sense to do that?

In many areas it does make sense, of course it depends on your own location. The X-band has become the least important police radar band over the last few years according to a couple of sources.

Speedzones.com indicates that 65 percent of recent radar gun purchases have been Ka-band guns, and that 42 state police agencies have standardized on Ka-band. RadarTest.com estimates that only about 15 percent of the radar guns in service are X-band.