Best Radar Detectors For 2023

No matter how well Waze alerts you to police speed traps, a clever app will never outsmart a physical device that detects police radar signals in real-time. Radar detectors have been doing that for decades. Now they’re more powerful, connected to their own crowdsourced apps, and can identify an evolving, complicated mix of police radar through the clutter of signals from other cars, traffic signs, and automatic doors.

Radar detectors alert you to active radar signals, whether it’s from a police car, a handheld radar gun, a speed camera, or other device. But the newest and most sophisticated police radar can easily outsmart older or inexpensive detectors. MultaRadar is growing across the U.S. and is nearly undetectable without the newest and best radar detectors (see FAQ). The proliferation of radar sensors in newer cars, such as for adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitoring, is another obstacle for detectors since they run on similar frequencies as standard police radar. Fortunately, several leading radar detector manufacturers have the processing power and software algorithms to separate real threats from false threats—and with plenty of warning time. Unfortunately, as before, this kind of radar performance is pricey.

Since range and accuracy are the entire reasons to buy a radar detector, we have eliminated any new radar detectors priced below $300 from consideration. Radar detector testers know that cheap detectors have only a fraction of the range, throw too many false alerts, have limited to no connectivity, and deliver inferior performance. Considering how a speeding ticket can cost well over $300 in many jurisdictions—to say nothing of a potential arrest, suspended license, and insurance penalties resulting from a traffic stop—spending more is worth it.