Best bang for your buck
Yes escort and valentine detectors are the best. But they are $300 and up. For those not willing to spend so much on a radar detector this is the best bang for your buck. High sensitivity.. lots of features. Spanks any cobra detector out there.

Noise Maker....
I have this detector and a less expensive Cobra; the later seems to be much more accurate... I get a tremendous amount of false alerts, typically laser or the Pop mode...
On the other hand, when there is actually a cop it has incredible range! On a few occasions the detector has picked up signals that have given me more than adequate distance to slow down.
The other thing is that the detector is pretty loud (the volume does not turn down to low) and it's on the big side.
Hope this helps...

Beware of this radar detector - IT IS NOT GOOD.
This unit is NOT worth the money. I was impressed at first, as it gave fewer false alerts than my $400 Cobra. The detector, however, MISSES THE POLICE!!!!! I was sitting at a traffic light today on my way home from work. I noticed that there was a motorcycle cop sitting on the opposite side of the intersection clocking cars that were coming across the overpass. He may have been using a laser - he would raise and lower the gun as cars came at him. Anyway, I watched this for the 3 minutes or so as I sat in traffic at the light. The light changed and I went on and began to enter the freeway. All of the sudden, it hit me - the Whistler Pro 78 radar detector had not even gone off! I checked the detector and it was on, so it just didn't pick up what ever this cop was using. Needless to say, I unplugged the Whistler and powered my remote mounted Cobra back up. I paid $128 for this detector new from Amazon, and now it's gone up to $186. Maybe I got a defective unit, but I won't be getting another one. I am buying a high end unit. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS UNIT. I was really excited when I got it, but I won't buy Whistler again.

Whistler Pro-78 Works Great.
Whistler Pro-78 Works Great. It has saved my wife and I many speeding tickets. The best I have seen.

replacing a pro-73
Works better than the old 73 pro. Catches more from the side.
The only down side is the extra LEDs are a bit bright at night so I leave it in dark mode rather than dim as I used to on the 73.