Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. Car Reviews

Beltronics GT-7 radar detector review

Glide past speed traps with a smile when you have Beltronic's GT-7 riding shotgun

By
Belltronics GT 7
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Beltronics GT-7 radar detector
MSRP $500.00
Score Details
DT Editors' Choice
“Beltronic’s brilliant GT-7 helps you dodge your next ticket without constantly squawking and distraction.”
Pros
  • Blocks false alarms
  • Clear digital display and smarter vocal alarms
  • Database of speed and red-light cameras, speed traps
  • Excellent range for advanced radar warnings
Cons
  • High price

Take a car made prior to the ’90s up past 55 MPH, and you would half expect the wheels to fall off and the whole car to shake apart. But today, even base-level economy vehicles are peaceful enough for a passenger to needlepoint while cruising upwards of 80 MPH, provided the law doesn’t mind.

Recommended Videos

Thankfully, Beltronics has packed the GT-7 with the latest radar detection to help keep you alert to any red-light cameras, speed traps, or highway patrol headed your way. Because an expensive ticket is a quick way to ruin your long family trip — and could certainly spoil your needlepointing.

Related

Getting radar ready

If you have a lead foot, it may end up paying for itself rather quickly.

Taking the GT-7 out for its first spin is a “plug and play” experience: Simply mount the detector to the windshield, slide the unit onto the detachable magnetic bracket, and connect it to a cigarette lighter with the included SmartCord. A normal Micro USB cord will also power the device, but the SmartCord includes indicator LEDs to alert you of detections, and a mute button to silence the alerts. Add the $99 Escort Live SmartCord, and the GT-7 becomes compatible with the Escort Live App. The cord, mount, and device fit into a very nice carrying case that is included in the package.

Driving modes

The Beltronics GT-7 features three different driving modes: Highway, Auto, and Auto No X. On the “Highway” mode, the detector will look for all radar bands at the maximum distance possible. The “Auto” setting will adjust the alerts based on the type of signals it is receiving as you drive and automatically adjust the sensitivity. “Auto No X” is the same as the automatic mode, but completely blocks out any X-band signal alerts.

To explain the differences in bands, all you really need to know is that X band is the oldest and was replaced by the K band around 1976. The Ka band is the most recent technology, and these type of alerts are almost certainly a police vehicle. The Beltronics literature mentions that you should be absolutely sure your local authorities do not use the older X band before relying on the “Auto No X” mode.

In the city

I initially tested the GT-7 for about 200 miles on my weekly commute into Los Angeles. For the first portion of the tests, I used the “Highway” mode and found that slow traffic and busy cities would give false alerts. Various highway, construction, and even commercial truck sensors would set off the X and K band alerts in traffic. Switching to the “Auto No X” mode seemed to be the best at giving only positive alerts in heavy traffic.

As I continued to use the GT-7 on my morning drive I would find areas that always set off the detector, and begin to block them out by pressing the “Mute” button 3 times on the SmartCord. With it plugged in just below the radio controls, I was easily able to control the device without needing to reach up to the unit in the window each time. After locking a location, I would notice a greyed-out alert the next day when passing by, and the vocal alarms would not sound.

In heavy traffic within the city, I noticed that many times the Highway Patrol would pass by my vehicle without any alert. Your mileage may vary, but in heavy traffic and around town, the red-light camera and speed-trap alerts were the most helpful features. I only saw a few speed signs, and two cops actually using radar to catch speeders, and the unit gave strong Ka band alerts each time.

On The Highway

Breaking away from the city, I was able to get out on open to test the Highway mode for another 200-mile trip out of town. The “Grapevine” portion of California’s Highway 5 is notorious for cops waiting to catch folks speeding down the mountain. They did not disappoint , and neither did the GT-7. It yelped out a nice Ka band alert as we began to swiftly accelerate down the grade. The alert came nearly one mile before we reached the highway patrol, and by then we had slowed enough to roll by unmolested.

Belltronics GT 7
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

The Beltronics GT-7 is also equipped with helpful “Over-Speed” alerts to let you know once you have passed a set speed. The default setting is 70MPH, and I found it perfect to give you a vocal nudge to stay within the posted limits, or keep an eye out when you exceed them.

Conclusion

The $499 for the Beltronics GT-7 is certainly towards the higher end of the price spectrum, but if you have a lead foot, it may end up paying for itself rather quickly. Just over the couple weeks we tested the device, there were a half-dozen instances where I could have received a ticket had I not been alerted of an upcoming radar.

The DT Accessory Pack

Up your game and the get the most out of your gear with the following extras, hand-picked by our editors:

Escort SmartCord Live! Direct Wire ($140)

Bell Automotive Triple Socket ($11)

The reported average increase in car insurance for just one ticket on your record is $900 over three years. I can personally vouch that it is often much more than that amount. After my tickets in the past, I would drive in fear while cruising around 75 to 80 MPH with the flow of traffic on long drives. The GT-7 gives the proper information and alerts to remove most of that highway fear, and let you focus on driving.

Highs

  • Blocks false alarms
  • Clear digital display and smarter vocal alarms
  • Database of speed and red-light cameras, speed traps
  • Excellent range for advanced radar warnings

Lows

  • High price

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Nolan Browning
Nolan Browning
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Nolan grew up in a space balanced between the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles' high-gloss exotics and the Mojave desert's…
Tesla, Warner Bros. dodge some claims in ‘Blade Runner 2049’ lawsuit, copyright battle continues
Tesla Cybercab at night

Tesla and Warner Bros. scored a partial legal victory as a federal judge dismissed several claims in a lawsuit filed by Alcon Entertainment, a production company behind the 2017 sci-fi movie Blade Runner 2049, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit accused the two companies of using imagery from the film to promote Tesla’s autonomous Cybercab vehicle at an event hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Studios in Hollywood in October of last year.
U.S. District Judge George Wu indicated he was inclined to dismiss Alcon’s allegations that Tesla and Warner Bros. violated trademark law, according to Reuters. Specifically, the judge said Musk only referenced the original Blade Runner movie at the event, and noted that Tesla and Alcon are not competitors.
"Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars," Reuters quoted Wu as saying. "Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business."
Wu also dismissed most of Alcon's claims against Warner Bros., the distributor of the Blade Runner franchise.
However, the judge allowed Alcon to continue its copyright infringement claims against Tesla for its alleged use of AI-generated images mimicking scenes from Blade Runner 2049 without permission.
Alcan says that just hours before the Cybercab event, it had turned down a request from Tesla and WBD to use “an icononic still image” from the movie.
In the lawsuit, Alcon explained its decision by saying that “any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
Alcon further said it did not want Blade Runner 2049 “to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
But according to Alcon, Tesla went ahead with feeding images from Blade Runner 2049 into an AI image generator to yield a still image that appeared on screen for 10 seconds during the Cybercab event. With the image featured in the background, Musk directly referenced Blade Runner.
Alcon also said that Musk’s reference to Blade Runner 2049 was not a coincidence as the movie features a “strikingly designed, artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car.”

Read more
Audi halts vehicle deliveries to the U.S. as it mulls impact of tariffs
2021 Audi Q5

If you’d been thinking of buying an Audi, now might be the time.  The German brand, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has announced it would halt shipments to the U.S. in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imported vehicles.
Audi is currently holding cars that arrived after the tariffs took effect, on April 3, in U.S. ports. But it still has around 37,000 vehicles in its U.S. inventory, which should be able to meet demand for about two months, according to Reuters.
Automakers on average hold enough cars to meet U.S. demand for about three months, according to Cox Automotive.
Audi should be particularly affected by the tariffs: The Q5, its best-selling model in the U.S., is produced in Mexico, while other models, such as the A3, A4, and A6 are produced in Germany.
Holding shipments is obviously a temporary measure to buy time for Audi and parent company Volkswagen. If tariffs stay in place, vehicle prices would likely have to go up accordingly, unless some production is shifted to the U.S. Volkswagen already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. That latter plant, however, isn’t expected to be operational until 2027 and is currently dedicated to building electric vehicles for VW’s Scout Motors brand.
Other global automakers have also taken drastic measures in response to Trump’s tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover on April 5 said it is pausing shipments of its its UK-made cars to the United States this month. The British sports-luxury vehicle maker noted that the U.S. market accounts for nearly a quarter of its global sales, led by the likes of Range Rover Sports, Defenders, and Jaguar F-PACE.
And on April 3, Nissan, the biggest Japanese vehicle exporter to the United States, announced it will stop taking new U.S. orders for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs, the QX50 and QX55.

Read more
Waymo faces questions about its use of onboard cameras for AI training, ads targeting
Two people exit a Waymo taxi.

In an iconic scene from the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, on-the-run Agent John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, struggles to walk through a mall as he’s targeted by a multitude of personalized ads from the likes of Lexus, Guinness and American Express, everytime hidden detectors identify his eyes.
It was clearly meant as a warning about a not-so-desirable dystopian future.
Yet, 23 years later that future is at least partlially here in the online world and threatens to spread to other areas of daily life which are increasingly ‘connected’, such as the inside of cars. And the new testing grounds, according to online security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, might very well be automated-driving vehicles, such as Waymo’s robotaxis.
On X, Wong unveiled an unreleased version of Waymo’s privacy policy that suggests the California-based company is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including interior cameras, to train generative AI models and to offer targetted ads.
“Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests,” the Waymo’s unreleased privacy statement reads. “You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless it’s necessary to the functioning of the service.”
Asked for comments about the unreleased app update, Waymo told The Verge that it contained “placeholder text that doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose”.
Waymo’s AI-models “are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads,” spokesperson Julia Ilina said.
Waymo’s robotaxis, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, do contain onboard cameras that monitor riders. But Ilina says these are mainly used to train AI models for safety, finding lost items, check that in-car rules are followed, and to improve the service.
The new feature is still under development and offers riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection, Ilina says.
But as we all get used to ads targeting based on everything that’s somehow connected to the web, it seems a once-distant vision of the future may be just around the corner.

Read more