- Radar/Laser detector provides 360-degree alerts for all radar and laser signals
- Patented VG-2 cloaking technology makes you invisible to radar detector detectors
- Brilliant icon display indicates power, city mode, radar band identification, and signal strength
- 3 City Modes and Highway Mode for reducing false alerts
- One-year warranty
- Total Band Protection
- Icon Display
- Exclusive Low Profile Periscopes
- 360° Maxx Coverage
- Alert Priority
PROS: no frills, solid detector with decent sensitivity/range, only modest false-alarming
CONS: unless on sale, better value can be found elsewhere in the Whistler lineup
This XTR-145 is a no-frills, good quality detector. As someone who goes only 5-10 MPH at most over the speed limit, I wanted something that would give me a heads-up about speed traps -and thus far, this detector has met my expectations.
Over the Labor Day weekend, it snuffed out a couple of local cops hiding out. In both cases, I got a short one or two bar warning in the K/Ka band. The first instance was over the crest of a small hill in a residential section (virtually no false alarms here), and the advance warning was no more than a a few hundred feet. I suspect the hill decreased the range significantly; fortunately, my speed up the hill was well below the limit, so no problem there. The second case occurred on a busier local thoroughfare, flanked by stores on both sides. There were scattered false alarms from the automatic doors (switching to City II mode, which doesn't detect X-band -more on that later -helps cut these false alarms), but a quick burst of the K/Ka alert gave me a 1/2 mile warning about a cop car tucked away in a speed trap. That was enough time for me to slow down to the limit.
I just had two highway alerts tonight -in the first case, it warned me 1/2 mile in advance of a cop driving in the opposite lanes while tailing and pulling over a car. The warning illustrated the XTR-145's 360-degree detection, i.e. not necessarily your course of traffic. The second case was also a 1/2 mile in advance, this time a cop who had already pulled over a car to the shoulder in my course of traffic.
As noted earlier, the City modes can cut down detection of X band, but this is problematic in states like NJ and OH, where cops still use X band radar (sticking to Highway mode is likely the best bet there). And this unit, like most of its peers across the price range, will detect laser, but this feature comes with a catch: any laser warning likely indicates your car has just been tagged, so hope for their laser gun to malfunction as you hit the brakes. This gaping hole in laser "detection" is why radar detectors in general are not a free pass for speeding.
But the XTR-145 does provide a little more cushion and advance warning about many imminent speed traps. Higher priced detectors seem to have far better sensitivity and may be more useful for the leadfooted folks. But for those who speed 5-10 MPH over the limit and like useful gadgets, this fits the bill.
FYI, I found the Handstands Jelly Sticky Pad to be perfectly sized and capable of holding it on the dashboard. This allows you to avoid using the more obvious suction cup mount. And the power cord for this unit is a thin, straight cable. At first, I thought this would be a disadvantage (more expensive units use a coiled cord), but I've found the thinness of the cable to be less obstructive to the center console controls.
If you shop around, the XTR-145 can be an excellent value. I found it for $25 at another electronics/computer site (with vowels removed, N-w-gg). But at the current price of around $40, definitely get the XTR-265, which is around $10 more. It seems to have the same detection circuitry, but with a much better feature set.
Buy Whistler XTR-145 Easy To Read Display Radar Detector Now
First, I bought one Whistler Xtr-265 and one Xtr-145, just to compare these two models. I put both on at the same time, going to work and driving a family member to school. Xtr-265 was being too sensitive to every single, mostly are false alarms. Xtr-145 model only alerted you when there was real police radar guns or strong electronic wireless traffic cameras.
Both models are easy to operate and do not cost much money to buy. Like many previous reviews, I don't speed but just want to get warnings ahead. Just because state or city politicians could not get their budget balanced, they are now trying to overwork the police force to get every penny they could from the local residents.
At the end, I returned the Xtr-265 and bought another Xtr-145 for my family. My colleague just got a speeding ticket this morning: $165.00. Every one can afford to buy a Xtr-145 around $40 just to slow down and save yourself a fine and a traffic course. Keep driving and keep yourself safe.
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The laser has never worked and I use it every day to travel to/from work on the freeway. I've seen plenty of motorcycle police with laser on and it has never made a single sound. There is also one point on this freeway that, every single time for about two miles this thing gives a high pitch/low pitch (high-low-high-low-high-low-pause-high-low-high-low-high-low-pause) that is not listed as a feature. While it is doing this, it doesn't notify of radar (as I can tell).
It does work for detecting radar quite well, but I just don't feel confident using it. If this is all you can afford, it'll probably work for you, but if you can get something better, go with that instead.
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A well-rounded device...I Recently owned the Xtr-105 and it stopped working. This one is a great upgrade. Much louder alerts, lights will definetly get your attention at night time, not much justice during the day, but the alert sound still gets your attention if you're riding with the windows down or moderate radio volume. This is definetly a good product. Note: State troopers speed radars aren't detectable by mostly any radar or laser detector we can purchase.
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Does not recognize any radars!
I travelled more than 500 miles saw at least 5 pointing at me by the side road and NOTHING!
And keeps beeping for everything that are not radars!
Do not recommend
