worth its price
I bought this for $70 on a deal. This is my 1st detector and really worth the money. After my research for 2 months I made up my mind to buy this. I saved a couple of tickets. It works well for regular base user and alerts well before u see the cop. U have enough time to reduce ur seed before beign caught.

Only problem is it detects many 'K' bands used by local stores. So u can see from this that this detector detects even the bands which are not in the line of the car path.

A really great feature is the signal strength it shows when it catches a band. If the cop is hidden far away from the road then the signal strength is less but still u get the alert. Voice prompts are clear. I recommend this for a 'budget' minded buyer.

Works great as long as you're smart
I agree this product works great. The only time I've been close to being pulled over since I got it was the one time I got lasered. There's not much any legal detector can do about this. But it does give you the chance to slow down. The way the laser radar works is that the cops specifically are aiming at your car and may not have radared previous cars so there is nothing for the detector to pick up until you're screwed. Other than that it's great especially if you have a car that likes to go fast.

Early days but!
I haven't quite got to trusting this detector yet, its the first one I've owned. Seems OK for Ka open road cruising.

It was easy to setup, basically "plug and play", the compass calibration was easy and seemed to point me in the correct direction.

The voice prompts are good, as well as tones for different bands. The CITY 2 mode is great around town and definitely eliminates X band.

Open road performance - well its definitely saved me once in town, on Ka band, enough time to scrub some speed off. It seems to be good at picking up Ka when the cop has it on all the time, about 300 metres with a crest in the way! Still don't know about instant on, haven't picked up any scatter.

Haven't had a beep out of it for Laser yet.

Speed cameras - I don't think it works with the NZ speed camera (mobiles). Did a test with one parked on a street, no beeps until beside the van!

I think it is going to be good for open road driving and Ka radar in NZ,esepcially if the cop has his radar on all the time, just need to see how it goes on some of my favourite roads that are fast and curvey!

Definitely good value for money, as I didn't want to spend too much on a detector...

If you use a radar detector, this is the bare minimum
For the past couple of years I've used a Beltronics 906 which was, up until mid 2003, a reliable tool. However, since then it has failed to respond or responded far too slowly multiple times.

What's happening? It appears that the arms race has just escalated. There is at least one new technology being used that older radar detectors can't adequately pick up or fail to pick up at all. One of these new tools being used by the police is called POP. And most radar dectectors made prior to 2002, and perhaps all before 2001, cannot detect it. Some sources argue that POP isn't that wide spread. My experience indicates that it is.

If you use a radar dectector and it was made prior to 2003 you have to purchase a new one, especially if you travel on inter-state highways.

For the price the Whistler 1783 is the best value for those on a budget. Test results at speedzones dot com indicate that it performed extremely well and arguably the best in its price range. Don't even think of getting a Cobra or a Rocky Mountain. Both are practically worthless in comparison. As for other Whistler models, the 1793 has a few more bells and whistles, but it doesn't appear to be much stronger. If you have the money for the 1793 you're better off purchasing a more expensive brand such as a Beltronics or Passport. The cheaper Whistler models don't have full text displays which is really mandatory. In the case of POP, you really need a clear indication that it's being used and the 1783 provides that.

If you have a somewhat larger budget then you'll want to look at perhaps a Beltronics 965 or 995. Both were introduced this past year and both are newer than the 985 which appears to have been discontinued. In this arms race with new and evolving technologies the more recent the model the more likely it will work effectively.

Best radar under 200 dollars
I've heard that the Traveler II and this are quite the same (performance, etc.).

It does what any detector would do. compare to that RMR250, this whistler can detect 3 times better. I've also heard that the 1783 is better then all the Cobra radars.

LIST OF PERFORMANCE FROM MY EXPERIENCES:

-As I said it is absolutely better then the RMR250. I have both radars and tested them. WHISTLER IS BETTER.

-what i noticed is that when 1783 detects mutliple X bands, it seperates each store(building) saying X BAND detected for each. unlike other detectors they will first say X BAND detected and keep beeping intill you are clearly away from it (clearly away from all the stores, building etc.).

-when it detects bands it will beep and display the signal strength first before the voice alert comes. this can be a good thing because if the voice alert comes first than you wouldnt know if the K or Ka bands are shootin right at you....

-the features are great, many selections to choose from. It would've been nice if the 1783 was like 1793 with the X BAND OFF feature. all the rest of the features like Safety Alert, POP,VOICE, MUTE, TEST MODE, VG2, COMPASS,etc. can be turned off. 1983 does not let you turn off the LASER, X,K,Ka bands only... there are also 3 city selections and 3 RING ALERTS.

Not so sure effects or stuff that can be a problem:

- The 1783 is a great performance but im not sure if it can filter out flase alerts as much as it suppose to be. there are times when K bands pop up in a split second, and youll be suprised many times. plus there is no cops radaring in your way in the first place.

-the mute alert feature is not great. when it detects an X band and beeps for a few seconds then it will mute the beeping intill its over. the problem is that when it is muted a K band can pop out all the sudden and the 1783 will continue to stay on mute without notifying you. its better to shut it off. the mute feature is suppose to be the filter for the alert detector. the sound does not actually mute, it will just put down its volume to the lowest. you will somewhat hear it..

-the compass is quite useless, im not sure how its actually used. 80% of the time it will keep pointing north. i shut that off too. put the compass on would make the 1783 look "COOLER", if you turn it off you would see the word HIGHWAY intill something is detected (the word HIGHWAY will pop back after words). <<--- when you first buy it you gotta caliborate it so it would work... its a nice feature... when drive down highway 80 the compass would point out E 80.... pretty nice

I gave it 4 because its not the best at what it does. 1793 gots a couple more extras, eventho they have the exact same performance. i believe escort 8500 and Bel 985 are top radars for now...