Uniden R7 Announced: An R3 With Arrows!

Uniden will soon be releasing a brand new radar detector that is potentially slated to instantly become the best radar detector on the market. It’s the answer to the question that thousands of you guys have been asking:

“When will Uniden make an R3 with arrows?”

They finally did it. Meet the Uniden R7.

Pre-order the R7 here.

Uniden R7 Arrows

The Uniden R7 is a brand new radar detector, built upon the same platform as the R3, but it now adds a second rear-facing antenna to give it arrows.

The arrows point front, side, and rear to indicate the location of the threat. The arrows show up on the new larger OLED display that sits next to the rear antenna.

The detector is able to show up to 4 signals simultaneously and can also show the direction, band, and signal strength for the additional signals too.

The arrows change color according to the signal strength. Weak signals are green, medium signals are yellow, and strong signals are red.

Uniden R7’s color coded arrows

As a bonus, in the first firmware update that will be released after the detector is released, we’ll also have the option to have the arrow colors vary by band.

The signal strength right now is shown with 8 bars across the bottom of the display (up from 5 bars with the R3) like you can see above. The next firmware update will also include an additional display style with rounded strength bars that look like this:

So there’s a lot going into the new arrows and display of the R7. 🙂

Uniden R7 Performance and Features

Because the R7 is built on the same platform as the R3, it shares the same level of performance and features.

Uniden R7 Performance

The R7 should have the same long range performance as the R3.

Uniden has redesigned and improved the plastic condenser lens in front of the primary horn which should give the R7 an extra 1 dB of sensitivity over the R3 so the R7 should offer slightly better sensitivity and thus range. It’s still early in the process and the detector is still in development so none of the beta testers have had a chance to test it yet. (This unit is a prototype and is the only R7 currently around.)

Uniden R7’s redesigned condenser lens

Uniden R7 Features

The BSM filtering, MRCD detection, and GPS features all carry over from the R3.

The R7 should also be RDD immune as well like the R3. I’ll test this out to verify, but assuming it’s true, it means the R7 will be the only stealth windshield mount detector with arrows.

There is no Bluetooth built in to the R7 like the Escort detectors.

The R7 will also add an ambient light sensor, like the DFR8 and DFR9, so its autodimming display will work based on the actual light levels around you and we won’t have to rely on GPS the way we do with the R3.

Another change is that the R7 is now able to sweep on K band down to 23.950, so for those of you who need lower end K band or MRCD detection, the R7 will be able to sweep a wider range of K band frequencies than the R1 and R3 which could go down as far as 24.050.

Uniden R7 Autolockouts

Another big new change is that the GPS lockouts will now also feature autolearn meaning that automatic GPS lockouts will be available on the R7! It will be similar to the Escort Max360 and Max360c in this regard. The R7 will ship with manual lockouts like the R3 at launch, and autolockouts will be added in the first firmware update.

Note: Unfortunately the R3 will not be getting autolockouts as well. It doesn’t have enough memory to support this feature so it won’t be able to get them just with a simple firmware update.

Autolearn will be an R7-exclusive feature. Once the feature is added, we’ll have the ability to turn autolearn on and off which is helpful for those who’d prefer to stick to manual lockouts only.

(The R7 will support a total of 2,000 lockouts and manually marked locations in total. You’ll be able to store a max of 1,750 of either lockouts or manual marks, giving you 250 of the other.)

Uniden R7 Design and Buttons

Taking a closer look at the R7’s design, a number of things have changed with the new detector.

For example, like the V1 and Max360-series detectors, the rear antenna is on the right side of the display. The display itself is tilted towards the driver just like the V1. I like that design choice as it really focuses on the driver.

Uniden R3 and Uniden R7

Note: The R7 shown here is a prototype. This is the design of the production version though so it’s pretty representative of what our final R7’s will look like. The only difference is that the plastic on the front is a little more translucent here. The final version will have darker plastic up front.

Now compared to the R3, the button placement has been modified as well.

The menu, volume, and power buttons all remain on top of the detector. The mark and mute buttons have been moved though. Instead of being on the face of the detector, they’ve been moved over to the left side of the unit, in front of the headphone jack. I don’t think I’ve seen a detector with buttons on the side like this, so we’ll have to see how well that works in practice.

Uniden R7 Mark and Mute buttons

The RJ11 power cable port has been moved over to the right side of the detector which I’m very glad to see. That’s the standard side used for radar detectors and so now it matches most other detectors on the market.

The USB port has been changed from MiniUSB to the more common MicroUSB port. Plus, Uniden is now including a USB cable in the packaging so now you’ll have one for updating the detector if you don’t have an extra cable laying around already.

Uniden R7 Power and USB port

Uniden R7 Accessories

There are a few changes to the accessories that ship with the R7.

Because the mount for the detector is a little farther away from the windshield, the mount itself will be a little longer than the R3’s to ensure the detector doesn’t hit the windshield. The mount is the same one used with the DFR7. When I get an R7 in, I’ll also check Blendmount compatibility with both the DFR7 and R3 clips.

The single suction cup is being redesigned as well. With the R1/R3’s version, its adjustability was limited so you couldn’t mount the detector straight and level if you have a very steeply raked windshield. The R7’s new mount will allow you to do this.

The R7 will also include a neoprene sleeve.

Finally, the cig. lighter smart power cord is being slightly updated too. It will have improved build quality, plus the face of the power cord (where you’ll find the alert LED, remote mute button, and USB port) will be slightly angled towards the driver.

Non-GPS version of the Uniden R7

I asked Uniden if they plan on releasing a non-GPS version of the R7, similar to how we have the R1 and R3. They said that they don’t have any plans to release a non-GPS model. So for those of you who want Uniden’s new radar detector with arrows, the fully loaded version is going to be the way to go.

Uniden R7 Price and Release Date

The R7 is expected to ship between April 5 – 15th and will retail for $599.

You can now pre-order the R7 here.

Given that this is quite likely to instantly be considered the very best windshield mount radar detector on the market, I’m sure Uniden will sell TONS of them.

This is gonna be a good one…

Summary

Article Name

Uniden R7: An R3 with Arrows!

Description

Uniden is releasing their new Uniden R7! It is a Uniden R3 with arrows! Take a look at the upcoming new R7 and all the new features and changes it offers.

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Vortex Radar

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Vortex Radar

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