Review on Uniden R7 Advanced Laser/Radar Detector with Built-in GPS, Real-Time Alerts, Dual-Antennas, Directional Arrows, Voice & Visual Alerts, Red Light and Speed Camera Notifications by Anthony Shields

Judging by the reviews, we had high hopes for this radar. Having used the Escort for many years we were looking for something that wasn't insanely expensive but offered a comparable level of performance. So we got our Uniden R7 and put it straight into our car to replace our Escort. It made annoying noises from the moment we turned it on to the moment we turned it off - it couldn't filter out real threats from fake threats like the 7-11 or the blind spot monitor. Not wanting to give up easily, I've watched a lot of videos about it, including Vortex Radar on YouTube. Then I updated the detector on my computer. What a terrible task with this radar! It wasn't user friendly at all. The detector didn't even turn on via USB, which my escort was able to do. So you are literally working in the dark. And unlike Escort where you download software and go to their website to see what updates are there, with Uniden it's a search and search mission to see what has been downloaded to know what has been extracted . and where it is etc. And it was on the PC. Apparently it's much more difficult on a Mac. And if you download the Uniden software, it's so small and difficult to read that I had to take off my reading glasses. I really don't know why the software only occupies an eighth of the screen when fully zoomed in, or why the text is so small. It was as if Uniden wanted to make this process as horrible as possible from a human perspective. You'd think the company would be smart enough to dismiss all false alarms and prevent the radar detector from triggering a cardiac arrest every time you walk past a store or business. Bank. This should lead to many returns and wasted time for customer service representatives. And I'm pretty tech savvy, but I have to say this thing is overly complicated. Settings need to be lowered to avoid false positives, and if people want more sensitivity they should be able to tweak settings for that, not the other way around. And why a million settings? Most of them are fake, like a self? Who wants to hear that thing chirp even more. If that doesn't work, people know how to find a company. And good luck trying to call Uniden: same rep who runs radar also runs CB, scanners and phones. If you've spent an hour or so studying the detector, you probably know more than most reps. We'll try again with updated settings and update them as they get better. Otherwise it will be returned. It's a shame that a detector with so much potential is so poorly thought out. Update: I tried again last night, this time with settings too low, K was set to 40 and then 30% and we still had noise. In a pinch, I set the detector to city mode, and even in city mode, it went off every time we drove past a convenience store, supermarket, or mall. If you can't filter out the simplest noise, the detector is useless to us. Check out the photos above in city mode where this thing went crazy in front of Starbucks. It's like a Ferrari that can't drive through a speed bump without incident.