Imported Radar detectors

[Digitdion]

Gidday Fella's
Wanting to get some feedback from people who have experience with imported radar detectors.EG you bought one from the states, but use it here in NZ. What I really want to get a feel for is there performance compared to a detector that is sold here, and supposedly set up for our conditions.
One example I use is the bel sti driver(usa model) as compared to the bel XR( NZ model).
A while back I was in ingear, (radar direct) in CHCH, with my mate. My mate has a Bel xr and he loves it. Mind you he rides a gsx 1000 and rides alot faster than me. I was curious as to its performance as to compared to the USA model(the bel sti driver). Basically the salesman jumped thru the roof when I asked this. The fact that he was so defensive tells me that they are basically the same when it comes to band width etc etc. Of course he went on about the band width being designed for NZ conditions with the Bel xr.......etc etc
I am particularly keen to hear from Bel sti driver owners.
I have done quite abit of research into this, on websites and searching on kiwibiker, but would love to hear from the people who actually have one. I am well aware of the ins and outs of buying from oversea's.Warranty issues or not supporting local business's etc.So not interested in peoples opinions of that.
Thanks for any experience and advice you have on this matter.
Cheers Dion

[Jantar]

There is no difference between radar detectors bought in NewZealand and ones bought in USA. The New Zealand retailers disable the X and K bands, but the manual tells you how to do this yourself.

i have a Bell STi in the truck and an Escort 9500i on the bike, both imported from USA.

Oh, the Escort saved me from a possible ticket on the way home from work last night.

[steve_t]

^ Yup. They're the same. The box mine came in says Bel STi XR. It's pretty hit and miss picking up speed camera vans early... probably more miss than hit

http://www.delonixradar.com.au/radar-detectors/comparisons/beltronics-sti-driver-versus-bel-sti-xr.php

[Digitdion]

Thanks Jantar, thats just the feedback I am after.
Cheers!

[HQfiend]

US and NZ are the same model just different settings. Better detector than the XR on sensitivity and range and also can't be detected by a detector detector (not used in NZ .....YET!)
Neither model is good against the pulsed low power K band that the camera vans use.
The new Escort 9800 or Bel 940 will pick up the pulsed K band.

[Chooky]

Yea.. like they said, they're all the same... Little old NZ with a population of 4 mil does not have a different system to the rest of the world.

And as for warranty, I've had 2. 8500's replaced after they failed.
Just returned to the USA, and replaced with a new one......:cool:

[bsasuper]

I think there needs to be another leap in radar detector technology, there are some very smart coppers coming through the pig school.My bel went off the other day in the tintop and I was all set to zap his radar when he turned his radar off.

[davereid]

Yup. They're the same.

Yes the radar detectors are the same. However, the NZ police stalker is slightly different to overseas models. The Stalker overseas can lock both strongest target and fastest target. Of course this means there were two vehicles in the beam, and the reading is therefore not reliable.

On NZ models the stalker can only lock the strongest target, in an effort to reduce defences of multiple vehicles in beam.

Of course it doesn't mean there were not multiple vehicles.. it just means its not recorded.