The police have begun stepping up their efforts to catch speeders with newer, high-tech equipment lately. They weapons of choice include radar guns, laser guns, aerial monitoring from a plane or helicopter, and the dreaded MultaRadar speed camera (police in one large metropolitan city wrote more than 47,000 speeding tickets in a three month period using MultaRadar speed cameras).
The radar detectors of yesteryear just won’t cut it against the types of radars being used by today’s police departments. In this review we will look at two of the best radar detectors on the market, the Radenso Pro M vs the Uniden R7, in an effort to determine which one may be best suited to your driving conditions and needs.
Radenso Pro M vs Uniden R7 side by side:
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Radenso Pro M | Uniden R7 | |
| Range | Extreme Radar Detection Range | Insane Long Range |
| Built-in GPS | Yes | No |
| Display | Amber OLED | Multi-color OLED |
| False Filter | False Filter For Traffic Sensors | Advanced K /KA Band Filter |
| Red Light & Speed Camera Alerts | Yes | No |
| Speed-based Auto Mute | Yes | Yes |
| Bluetooth connectivity | No | No |
| Price | Find on Amazon | Find on Uniden.com Find on Amazon |
Must-Have Features for Effective Radar Detectors
Investing in a high-quality radar detector can be a wise investment. The best radar detectors have the features that will protect you against radars and lasers commonly used by police departments in an effort to catch speeders. These features include:
Long range detection – the ability of the detector to deliver accurate warnings at a distance that allows you to take appropriate action is extremely important. It does you no good for the detector to alert you as you pass by the radar source. If the device can’t detect radar beyond a mile away, it will not give you ample warning time to react.
Better Detector for Long Range Detection: Uniden R7
GPS navigation – GPS enables the detector to provide warnings and possibly the actual location of a radar threat. It also allows you to lockout, or tag, stationary radars the you normally drive by on your daily commutes, like drugstore and grocery store automatic door opening systems. With newer GPS technology, the detector is able to measure speed, direction, and location of a threat source down to within a few feet.
Better Detector for GPS Capability: Radenso Pro M
Alerts: Voice and Visual – visual alerting is great, but if this is the only way the detector posts a warning, you have to take your eyes off the road to see it. At 65 mph, in just 5 seconds of looking at you radar detector you will have traveled approximately 500 feet. A lot of bad things can happen in traveling 500 feet at that speed. That is why the best radar detectors have voice as well as visual alerting.
Better Detector for Voice and Visual Alerting: Uniden R7
RDD invisibility – Many states and cities are making the use of radar detectors illegal. Radar detector detectors (RDD) are being used by police agencies to determine whether or not you have an operating radar detector in your vehicle. Today, the better radar detectors have the ability to “hide” from a RDD.
Better Detector for RDD Invisibility: Uniden R7
POP Protection – commonly called “instant-on”, police have radar guns that they can turn on at the last second and still get an accurate reading on a speeding vehicle. New detectors have sensitive K-band reception that will warn you if the car ahead of you is targeted and give you time to react and slow down.
Better Detector for POP Protection: Radenso Pro M
MultaRadar Detection – this is a new technology in red light and speed cameras. Many cities have begun installing and using these cameras to catch traffic offenders. MultaRadar uses more than one frequency, making in hard for many radar detectors to pick it up. There are two types of MultaRadar, MRCD, and its newer version MRCT.
Better Detector for MRCD/MRCT: Radenso Pro M
Radenso Pro M Radar Detector
The Pro M is an old-school detector with modern amenities. As for range of detection, the Pro M can detect radar sources several miles in advance. It can detect all radar bands, including MultaRadar, which is a photo radar system.
The Pro M has great GPS capability. It is preloaded with a database of 6,000 red light and speed camera locations. With a built-in USB port, the detector can be updated with new locations any time you choose. You can also add common stationary radar locations commonly passed by simply pushing and holding a single button. The detector also will allow automatic alert muting at a user-selectable speed and will automatically adjust band sensitivity as you drive at increased speeds.
The display is OLED with four brightness levels but only one color. Bright sunlight can make the display difficult to see. As a radar signal strength increases, so do the alerts from the detector. Find our full review of the Radenso Pro M.
Pros
- GPS lockouts
- MRCD and MRCT detection
- Speed and red light camera alerting
- Small size doesn’t block sight lines
- Nearly undetectable by RDDs
Cons
- Quality of construction
- Display can be hard to read
- Cannot be updated with IOS operating system
- No Bluetooth integration
Uniden R7
The R7 is equipped with dual antennas to offer 360° threat protection. The display has directional arrows to indicate where the radar source is emanating from and shows band and signal strength.
GPS technology is built into this detector and it can remember and mute common stationary radar alerts so that you will not be alerted by these radars again. It will mute alerting when driving at slower speeds and can store 1,750 lockouts.
False alert filtering is a strong point for the R7. It does an excellent job of blocking out false alerts from the Blind Spot Monitoring systems of newer vehicles. The multi-color display is easy to read and the voice alerting allows for you to keep your eyes on the road ahead. Click here if you want to read our full review of the Uniden R7
Pros
- Extreme range of detection and sensitivity
- MRCD and MRCT speed camera detection
- Directional arrows
- Nearly undetectable by RDDs
Cons
- Won’t allow updates from Chromebook
- GPS lockouts must be manually set
- Not as sensitive to laser
- No Bluetooth integration
Conclusion
Both of these radar detectors are outstanding at protecting drivers from police radar guns and photo cameras. The price difference between the two units is negligible. For us, it all comes down to sensitivity and range of detection, as all other features are extremely similar. For that reason, we give the Uniden R7 a slight edge and make it the better detector to own. (>>> Check current price on Amazon)