Review on Uniden R3 - Ultra High Performance Radar Detector with GPS, Mute Memory, Voice Alerts, Red Light & Speed Camera Alerts, OLED Display (Black) by Eddie Gordon

So I've had a Passport 9500ix for as long as I can remember and it's the first non-escort speed camera detector I've owned. First, the build quality. It's good but doesn't feel as solid and sturdy as my 9500ix. It's lighter and the detector feels a bit "cheaper" than my old 9500ix. Even the power cord looks a little less premium. Time will tell how it holds up. I still have original parts for my 9500ix and it is over 7 years old. The controls have a very simple and intuitive layout with many of the same operating concepts as the 9500ix. For example, to automatically mute the GPS and flag it as a false alarm for future reference, Double-click the mute button on the metal detector or power cord. This is identical to the 9500ix. Navigating the menu and making changes is pretty easy. Particularities. This metal detector has many features and customization options. I'd say if you're looking for something that you can just plug and play, this isn't a detector - at least not on the factory default settings. I would look at the Escort range of detectors like the Max 360 if you need a plug and go/auto learn detector. But if you're willing to take the time to learn how to adjust the settings, I think this detector is the best option in the long run. Performance - this detector has insane sensitivity! First good, KA's performance is off the charts. I recently picked up a KA band radar over 5 miles away. Sure, I was on a bridge over water, in a straight line, but this detector is beyond my 9500ix's KA performance. no Even. Close. I also find that the rear detection sensitivity is better on the Uniden R3. Running this detector with Waze gives me great confidence to detect the KA range in any environment. The same goes for the K and X bands, although the gap on those two bands isn't as big compared to the 9500ix, but still better. And therein lies the weakness of R3 The Bad and the Ugly. In the factory settings, this display always works incorrectly in the K-band in city/combined traffic. It's about as bad as V1 (I have a good friend who has one and it reminds me of V1). You'll constantly use the Auto-Off/GPS feature to block annoying false alarms around town until you've driven most of your daily routes. Be ready to constantly teach him to automatically turn off pesky K-band false alarms. Same with the X-Band, it catches EVERYTHING. I ended up disabling the X-Band entirely because where I live there are no local or state law enforcement agencies that use X-Band radar for traffic control. I also ran the detector in extended mode with the K-band sensitivity reset to 80%. I changed another setting to run in narrow K-band mode for additional noise filtering. This made the detector much quieter against false alarms while still providing a larger K-band detection area. Now it's a lot easier to automatically mute those automatic doors than the constant double tapping I used to do. Most law enforcement agencies operate KA in my area. There are a few local agencies that use K, but I can confirm that even with these filtered settings, my R3 still outperforms my 9500ix in the K range. Blind Zone Filtering. I came up with this in hopes of getting much better performance than my old 9500ix. It's better than the 9500ix in BSF, but not by much. My old 9500ix mainly built GM cars, and Honda made cars with BSF K-band signals. When this happened, it would usually set off an alarm, scaring the living Jesus for a moment, thinking I'd just set off an instant-on radar. While the R3 isn't as extreme, it's still talkative on the freeway. Warnings are usually issued within a few seconds and the alarm gauge remains low. It's more like "Hey, I've got something here," but not like the sky is falling like it was on my 9500ix. I would also say that the weakest link for BSF is that it's wrong every time you're near a Honda/Acura vehicle. Uniden needs to work better with BSF as both Radenso and Escort seem to have fixed the Honday/Acura issue with their latest firmware updates. Here it is, my true opinion. I've had detectors for decades and have traveled a lot. The R3 is the most sensitive metal detector I have ever seen. Easily outperforms my 9500ix and even my buddy's Valentine V1. But this sensitivity comes at a price. You'll have to adjust the settings to avoid false alerts in K-band, otherwise it keeps cutting out in mixed-mode city driving. That being said, it's still not as talkative as my mate's V1 with factory settings. There are other things you could do with the R3 to limit K-band sensitivity more, but there's a fine line between performance and silence. I'd also recommend going with the X-Range disabled if you're sure it won't be used to control traffic where you live. KA is great, wouldn't trade it for anything. I cannot comment on Laser as I have not yet experienced the situation I am living in. Although that matters less to me, because to defeat the laser and get legal protection, you really need a silencer. May I recommend it? Absolutely, but you know you need to make adjustments to tame detector chatter in K-band. There are so many ways to customize the R3. I hope that with the next firmware version with BSF, Uniden will catch up with other manufacturers, especially Honda! TO UPDATE! So, I've had this detector for almost two years now, and here are some additional thoughts. I had to replace the suction cups and power cord because, as mentioned in my original review, they are not as durable as my old Escort 9500ix. Not critical, but Uniden could work better. Second, thanks to the K-Block feature, BSM filtering is better in the latest firmware. That said, it's still not as quiet as the Escort's detector, but perfectly adequate for interstate driving. The few false positives I get are instantaneous and easy to calculate. The R-3 is no longer the long range king, it would be up to the R-7, Valentine 1 Gen 2 or Escort Redline and if I had to choose one of them I would choose the R-7. Why? Thanks to the value for money and the fact that you do not need to run any additional applications on your phone in order to use all the functions of the metal detector. You still have to train it like R-3, but once you do that's it. With V1, your windshield will look like a science project as you have to run applications (V1 Gen2) to use all of the detector's features. Also, someone has to tell escorts that the price of their new redline is just plain stupid. Absolutely not worth comparing to R-7 or V1 Gen2. But back to R-3 because for the money this is still an insanely good deal for the price and still has insanely good range. Yes it doesn't have the range of the new big three or similar shooters but it will still perform like a champ when you need it and is still the best single antenna detector in my opinion. With V1, your windshield will look like a science project because you need to run applications (V1 Gen2) to use all the features of the detector. Also, someone has to tell escorts that the price of their new redline is just plain stupid. Absolutely not worth comparing to R-7 or V1 Gen2. But back to R-3 because for the money this is still an insanely good deal for the price and still has insanely good range. Yes it doesn't have the range of the new big three or similar shooters but it will still perform like a champ when you need it and is still the best single antenna detector in my opinion. With V1, your windshield will look like a science project because you need to run applications (V1 Gen2) to use all the features of the detector. Also, someone has to tell escorts that the price of their new redline is just plain stupid. Absolutely not worth comparing to R-7 or V1 Gen2. But back to R-3 because for the money this is still an insanely good deal for the price and still has insanely good range. Yes it doesn't have the range of the new big three or similar shooters but it will still perform like a champ when you need it and is still the best single antenna detector in my opinion. that the price of their new Redline is just plain stupid. Absolutely not worth comparing to R-7 or V1 Gen2. But back to R-3 because for the money this is still an insanely good deal for the price and still has insanely good range. Yes it doesn't have the range of the new big three or similar shooters but it will still perform like a champ when you need it and is still the best single antenna detector in my opinion. that the price of their new Redline is just plain stupid. Absolutely not worth comparing to R-7 or V1 Gen2. But back to R-3 because for the money this is still an insanely good deal for the price and still has insanely good range. Yes it doesn't have the range of the new big three or similar shooters but it will still perform like a champ when you need it and is still the best single antenna detector in my opinion.