Relatively new in the market, the Uniden R3 has impressed a lot of reviews out there. The device performs exceptionally well along with its equally impressive GPS which comes built into the device. The device also boasts of great detection range along with a number of other great features. The R3 also supposedly makes far less noise, is very quiet and very will very rarely alert you of any false signal.
Features Overview
- Uniden has an advanced digital signal processing (DSP)
- Extreme sensitivity, highest ever from Uniden
- GPS with red light and speed camera alerts
- Free GPS database updates which can be download from Uniden website.
- Quiet Ride – User set speed auto mute
- Updatable via USB connection to PC
- Uniden offers the brightest and most readable full-color OLED display available
- Multi-function display includes voltage, compass, altimeter, time of day
- K false filter
- KA false filter
- Ka Narrow/Wide
- Nearly SPECTRE undetectable
- Unique to Uniden, two different suction cup style mounting brackets included
- Cigarette adapter with MUTE KEY and USB JACK
Hardware
The Uniden R3 looks very well made and comes with a very sleek design. Their outer casings have good tight seams and are nice to hold in your hand. The menu buttons are large, with proper space, and have a terrific tactile feel to them. The device comes along with a windshield mount to attach the mount the radar detector. Uniden also provides a nice coiled cigarette light power adapter which is terminated with a proper RJ-11 jack. It also includes a push-button for muting alerts and locations as well as a built-in USB port to power your smartphone. All in all the R3 has the ideal weight and size for a radar detector.
Features
Display
The display of the Uniden R3 is an OLED one and can get so bright even in the sunlight that you might sometimes need to reduce the brightness a little bit. Uniden R3 has a number of useful display brightness settings including Bright, dim, dimmer, dark and off. While the first three modes do exactly what the name suggest, in dark mode, however, the screen stays off, except for a little flashing dot on the lower left of the screen, until a detection occurs, and after it alerts, the screen turns back on, displaying everything you need to know about your encounter. And finally the off display mode turns the screen completely off, and it remains so even during detections, providing only audio alerts.
The R3 also provides a number of useful information on its display, including your current speed and direction of travel, the sensitivity setting of the detector, the current time of day–courtesy of GPS satellites and also the band of police radar and frequency of the primary detection. The two font buttons, dim and dark on the Uniden R3 can be backlit for easy identification after the sun goes down. You can also disable them if you are someone who is interested in a more stealth less attention garnering appearance.
Voice Quality
The voice qualities and alert volumes of the Uniden R3 are also very loud, crisp and clear. Crisp as in even after increasing the volume of the R3 considerably the alert tones are easily recognizable and distortion-free.
Modes
The Uniden R3 provide three sensitivity modes including Highway, City, and City 2. Highway mode puts the detectors in maximum sensitivity for all radar bands–X, K, and Ka. City mode reduces K band sensitivity that not only helps in reducing falsing to stationery K-band door openers that you might encounter but also reduces the range that your detector may alert to the K-band collision avoidance systems that can still make it through the filtering. And then finally, we have City 2 that not only reduces K-band sensitivity but also disables X-band if the band is not already disabled in the menu configuration. You can also change the sensitivity on the R3 by pressing and holding the button for a short amount of time and for marking by quick depression.
Detection
The Uniden R3 does a great job at alerting users of radar detections. When a radar is detected the R3 displays all the information on the screen. The information includes the primary detected radar band itself, its frequency, and its signal strength with five bars of varying colors indicating the levels and relative proximity. You can also enable voice annotations which are clear and distinct. The R3 performs exceptionally well when approaching quickly triggered instant-on police radar traps. Its very effective in conveying the alert text needed to really help you recognize the most lethal form of police radar operation when you are approaching it. Then there is also Dynamic range which gives you an idea of how close you actually are to the radar source.
GPS
The Uniden R3 also has an inbuilt GPS which provides lots of additional features. It provides quick signal acquisition, accuracy in geo-location, good reactivity to changing speeds, and the ability to display the time of day. It also has the ability to manually lock-out a stationery radar source by its geolocation. The R3 also has the ability to mute alerts to detections when you are driving below a set speed threshold.
RLC Quiet-Ride
RLC Quiet-Ride is another feature which the R3 comes with. It allows setting up a speed that if you drive below it, the detector will not provide an audio alert to red light cameras that may be located just off of a highway at the end of an off-ramp. The R3 has great Filtering & Signal Rejection and does an excellent job at keeping quiet when they need to.
The R3 has these two modes called the K Filter and the K Narrow. They help the Unidens reject the K-band collision avoidance systems that are found in many vehicles today. The K Filter mode excises many of the systems from alerting. And, the K Narrow mode the frequency range swept in the K-band region is reduced and more centered around a properly tuned police radar gun. Uniden also offers a KA NARROW mode, which focuses the detectors on the three primary Ka-band police radars used in North America: 33.8 GHz, 34.7 GHz, and 35.5 GHz.
Sensitivity
The R3 also has amazing sensitivity. The range at which it can detect radar signals is almost twice as that of other high-end radar detectors like the Escort iX and Escort Max 360 and advanced detections by nearly 50% more range than the other “extreme” performing Escort Redline. Another thing which stands out about the R3 is that it offers consistently stunning levels of performance across all of the radar bands in use. The device also does a great job in detecting lasers. The R3 can detect (at least some) Dragon Eye police lidars, which is no small feat.
Verdict
The Uniden R3 is one of the best radar detectors you can get at this price range hands down. With great design and mind-blowing sensitivity and such great filtering, you can not go wrong with this device. If you are someone looking for a detector that does everything, it is asked for without complicating things, and without causing too many problems, the Uniden R3 is the radar detecor you should buy.
