WOW! I love it!

Author's Rating:

Pros: EXCELLENT detection range, good control & display layout, cordless, beautiful.

Cons: Eats batteries fast (about 25 hours of operation per pair of AA)

The Bottom Line: 
If you're looking at buying a radar detector, this is the one to buy. Great detection range, easy to use, pretty to look at, and durable.

Author's Review
My last radar detector was an X-Band only Uniden about 15 years ago. I'm impressed with how far they've come since then.

We just got back from a 3,000 mile road trip through Oregon, California and Nevada including several major cities. The Solo S2 was 100% accurate on it's detection - even when we said "Oh, that must be a door" and then a minute or so later, Whammo - There was the Patrol Car! The range on this thing is almost TOO long! You start thinking it must be a false-alarm and then there's the radar gun.

The Laser detection is also excellent - We had 5 Laser hits and all were detected in time, although the range there is necessarily quite short.

The controls are excellently placed and easy to use - I love the placement of the Mute button (you just grope for the body of the detector and press down on the top and you've got it). The remaining controls and display are quite good. I prefer the 'expert' display mode (shows all active threats, type, and strength vs the 'normal' mode where it only shows the most dangerous threat and strength), but it can be a trifle hard to read in bright sunlight with several active threats. However, the audio cues do a good job of letting you know what's where.

It's easy to program, easy to place, and easy to use. I've only gotten one VG2 hit, but as I have NO intention of using this where they're prohibited, I'm not surprised. I was sad that I didn't get any SWS messages throughout California, Oregon, nor Nevada, but I'm sure those will become more common.

I love this thing. It's wonderful!! I was able to compare it with a friend's Valentine and I'm confident that the Solo does a far better job than the Valentine.

The only 'con' I've got is that it eats batteries like they're going out of style. We were getting about 25 hours of operation (with a lot of alerts) out of a pair of batteries. If you're planning on lots of long trips, you may want to invest in rechargables or the 'smart cord'.

In short - BUY ONE!