Uniden R9: Long Range Test Results

Today and I went out to the red barn test course to see how the upcoming Uniden R9 fares against other custom installed (CI) detectors. I was mainly just wanting to confirm that it can perform on par with other high end detectors since even there’s a lot of important things to compare between them, obviously the range has to be good too. I gotta say that overall, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the R9 did.

It’s just one test on one course with one set of detectors, but it’s good to start getting some data points.

For testing I mounted the R9 down in my grill on the same level as the other CI detectors. The R8 was mounted up high on my WS by my RVM which is obviously different, but that’s where I’d run it in the realworld so that’s what I wanted to test. 🙂

 Here’s a look at the R9 antenna down alongside the other detectors:

It looks a little toed out in the photo, but I ensured it was straight for testing. The other detectors were either roughly flush or just a bit back in my grill while the R9 was a bit forward since it was a temporary mount, but every head had a clear view of the road and looking over the results, I don’t think it had a huge impact on things, but it’s worth mentioning either way. It’s also so nice testing installed detectors since unlike windshield mount detectors, it’s a snap to switch between detectors without having to swap mounts, power cables, etc.

I’m still working on getting a Redline Ci 360c and a Stinger S8-50 on hand, but that’s still a work in progress so I tested with what I have. 🙂

Every detector was configured similar with X off, K on, Ka segged 2/4/5/6/8 (except the RC M which allows for just 2/5/8), photo radar off, and Ka filters off. Cruise control set to 40 mph. Traffic was light. It was cloudy in the first half of the day, sunny in the second half. Temps in the upper 60’s and low 70’s.

33.8 Test Results

Anyways, let’s start with the MPH Bee III on 33.8:

Everything alerted pretty similarly here, just after the red barn. The RC M did have one shorter range detection once I got to a closer section of the course. Overall everything did well here on 33.8 and given that that’s the main Ka frequency in my area, I’m glad to see that, lol.

34.7 Test Results

Next, 34.7 with the Stalker DSR 2X:

The results here were pretty similar to 33.8, though the RC M had two shorter range detections instead of just one. The other detectors had a variance of only 300 ft. or so, so within about 5 seconds of each other.

35.5 Test Results

Next up, here’s 35.5 with the Decatur Genesis II:

This one was kinda weird. The Uniden’s managed to consistently alert just after the red barn, but the other detectors generally took noticeably longer to alert. I was starting to question things so I drove up to the radar car to see if the radar antenna fell over or something, but it was still set up properly. I also ran a 4th run with the R9 as a sanity check after running the other detectors and again it alerted with yet another long range pickup yet again. Maybe the Uniden’s are just particularly strong on 35.5? I dunno.

Overall Test Results

To summarize things overall, here’s a look at the averaged results for all 3 Ka frequency ranges:

Based on this test, it looks like Uniden’s detectors are strong across the board.

For even more comparisons, check out @DC Fluid’s Uniden R9 radar detector test results too.

A few notes about the different detectors

Radenso RC M: I was originally planning on testing it with both Ka Filter Off and High since I normally run it set to High to help address some Ka falsing I get with that platform, but after seeing how it was performing with the filter disabled, I decided to skip the High test.

Escort Max Ci 360: I haven’t been able to confirm that I’m running fw 1.10. The “Mark” & “Mute” trick at startup isn’t working and I’m unable to connect to it via Detector Tools Pro. However that firmware came out a few years ago and I don’t think there’s anything been released since and so I should be on 1.10.

Net Radar DSP: I was impressed by how well that one did. It’s based on the R3 and so it doesn’t have an LNA like the R8 and R9 do so I was expecting it to lag behind a bit, but it did excellent in this test.

Uniden R8 & R9: These were strong across the board. They didn’t hit the very top of the leaderboard in every frequency, but they were strong regardless of frequency and I like seeing that level of consistency. I didn’t see a dramatic difference between the R8 higher up behind the WS or the R9 mounted lower without any glass in front. On 33.8 the R8 did do a smidge better, but no real difference on 34.7 or 35.5.

Final Thoughts about the R9

So overall, yeah the R9 did great. Against your standard constant on radar, it can hang right up there with the other high end custom installed detectors. While some detectors did do better than others at times, the Uniden R9 (like the R8 it’s based on) is a strong performer on all three Ka band frequencies.

There’s a lot more to say about the R9 of course which I’ll be covering in my upcoming full review, but overall I do think it should be a good choice for people looking for a CI detector.

You can order a Uniden R9 here.