Beltronics Express 935 Owner's Manual

BELTRONICS

5442 West Chester Road

West Chester OH

45069 USA

USA 800-341-2288

Canada 800-268-3994

www.beltronics.com

©2004 Beltronics

Designed and Manufactured In Canada

Features, specifications and prices subject to change without notice.

Model E935

RADAR

•

LASER

•

SAFETY DETECTOR

Owner’s Manual

Thank you for purchasing an EXPRESS 935
Radar/Laser/Safety detector. EXPRESS 935 offers the most
advanced technology available for detecting all Radar and
Laser speed monitoring devices. In addition, EXPRESS 935
features Digital Voice, Text Message Display and the Safety
Warning System®with 60 Digital Voice messages.

To ensure maximum benefit from your new unit, please

read all instructions before operating your unit.

Remember, owning a Radar detector does not give you a
license to speed. Alerts from a Radar detector serve as an
effective reminder to check your speed. Laws vary
throughout North America governing the use of a Radar
detector. It is your responsibility to follow these laws.

Safety Warning System®(sws™)

EXPRESS 935 detects encoded signals from sws™transmitters
and provides 60 messages for:
Highway Construction/Maintenance, Highway Hazard Zones,
Weather Related Hazards, Travel Information/Convenience
and Emergency/Slow Moving Vehicles. For a complete
description of sws™audio and visual alerts, see page 18.

VG-2 Guard®Alert

EXPRESS 935 features VG-2 Guard®to detect signals from the
Interceptor VG-2 (Radar Detector Detector).

For a complete description of the VG-2 Guard®audio/visual

alert, see page 17.

Safety Warning System®with Digital Voice Messages

Choose between Digital Voice Messages with a unique sws

™

tone or sws™tone only (see page 9).

Radar/Laser Digital Voice Prompts

Choose between Radar/Laser Digital Voice prompts followed
by “beeps” or “beeps” only (see page 9).

INTRODUCTION

SELECTABLE FEATURES

2

3

Profile of Features ➤ page 4
Description of Features ➤ page 5

Power Up Test Sequence ➤ page 5
Tutorial Mode ➤ page 5
Memory Retention of Feature Selections ➤ page 6
Adjusting the Audio Level ➤ page 6
DARK (Bright/Dim/Dark) Button ➤ page 6
AUDIO (Audio Mute) Button ➤ page 7
CITY (City/Highway) Button ➤ page 8
Reset to Factory Settings ➤ page 9

Selectable Features ➤ page 9

Entering Selectable Features Mode ➤ page 10

Installation ➤ page 10

General Guidelines ➤ page 10

Understanding Radar, Laser and sws™➤ page 13
Interpretation of Alerts ➤ page 14

Radar Alerts ➤ page 14
Instant-On/Pulsed Radar Alert ➤ page 16
Typical False Alert (Radar) ➤ page 16
Laser Alerts ➤ page 17

VG-2 Guard®Alert ➤ page 17

Safety Warning System®(sws™) Alerts ➤ page 17

Performance Verification ➤ page 19

Conditions That Affect Radar Alerts ➤ page 19
Conditions That Affect Laser Alerts ➤ page 19

Troubleshooting ➤ page 20
Consumer Warranty ➤ page 21
Service ➤ page 22

Warranty Service ➤ page 22
Post-Warranty Service ➤ page 22

Specifications ➤ page 23
Accessories ➤ page 23

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PWR/VOL (Power/Volume) Button: pressing PWR/VOL briefly will
turn the unit ON. Pressing PWR/VOL a second time will bypass the

power up test sequence. Pressing PWR/VOL and holding will change
the audio level.

2. Text Message Display: communicates all mode selections (i.e.

DIM, DARK, CITY, HIGHWAY, and AUTOMUTE) and confirms
Radar band and signal strength, presence of Laser and sws

™

messages received.

3. DARK (Bright/Dim/Dark) Button: provides dim or dark settings of

the Text Display for discreet night travel. Audio alerts are not
affected.

4. AUDIO (Audio Mute) Button: provides automatic and manual

muting of X, K, Super Wideband Ka Radar and manual
muting of sws™alerts.

5. CITY (City/Highway) Button: minimizes unwanted X band

alerts without reducing sensitivity.

6. Antenna Opening: Radar and sws™signals are received by a

patented diecast antenna with integrated transition to
microstrip mixer.

PROFILE OF FEATURES

4

1

7

6

8

5

4

3

2

9

7. Laser Optical Sensors: collect Laser signals from in front and

behind.

8. Audio Alert Speaker: all audible alerts and Digital Voice

Messages are emitted from this location.

9. Power Jack: using the enclosed power cord, EXPRESS 935

operates in any vehicle with a 12 volt DC negative ground
system.

Power-Up Test Sequence

Each time your detector is turned ON, audio and Text Messages
for Laser, Ka, K, X and Safety Warning System®(sws™) are
presented. After this sequence, the status of Selectable
Features is displayed: “SWS o n ”, “SWS o f f ”, “VG-2 o n ”,
“VG-2 o f f ”, “SWSv o i c e ”, “SWSc l i c k ”, “VOICEo n ”,
“VOICEo FF” (see page 9). If your unit displays information
other than this standard power-up test sequence, return it to
BELTRONICS for servicing. To bypass the power-up test
sequence, press the PWR/VOL button during the Power up test
sequence.

Tutorial Mode

The tutorial mode allows you to become more familiar with
all audible and visual alerts. To engage this mode, press and
hold CITY, then press AUDIO while the unit is OFF. The message
“TUTORIAL” appears in the display followed by the audio and
corresponding Text Message for “LASER”, “Ka AUDIO”, “K
AUDIO”, “X AUDIO”,“VG-2 Al e r t ,” sample Radar alert (K
band signal ramping from weak to strong) and “SAFETY
WARNING SYSTEM SAMPLE ALERTS”. Three sample sws

™

messages are then presented in the display along with the
corresponding Digital Voice Message:
Sample 1 “ACCIDENT AHEAD”
Sample 2 “HIGHWAY WORKCREW AHEAD”
Sample 3 “POLICE IN PURSUIT”
Anytime during Tutorial Mode (except Safety Warning System

®

DESCRIPTION OF FEATURES

5

sample alerts) press CITY or AUDIO to move forward or backward

through the alerts. During sws™sample alerts press CITY to
move forward in the sws™message list. “MSG 1” will appear
initially in the display confirming your selection. Pressing the

AUDIO button allows you to listen to the sws

™

message while
viewing it in the display. Press the CITY button again to step to
the next message; press the AUDIO button to review, and so on.
This allows you to review all 60 messages.

To exit Tutorial Mode, press the PWR/VOL button and your unit

will be ON and ready to receive signals.

Memory Retention of Feature Selections

Any time EXPRESS 935 is turned OFF or unplugged from the
cigarette lighter socket, all feature settings are retained in the
unit’s memory. Memory retention eliminates the need to reset
your preferred feature settings each time your unit is turned

OFF and then back ON.

Adjusting the Audio Level

Once your unit has completed the power up test sequence, the
audio level can be adjusted by holding the PWR/VOL button down.
As you hear the audio level change, the display will provide a
visual reference of the audio level. To reverse the direction in
which the audio level increases/decreases, briefly release, then
hold down the PWR/VOL button again.

DARK (Bright/Dim/Dark) Button

The DARK button allows selection of a dim or dark setting for the
display. To engage dim mode, press the DARK button once. A single
“beep” coupled with the brief illumination of “DIM” on the display
confirms your selection. To completely cancel the illumination of
the display during an alert, press DARK a second time. A single
“beep” coupled with the brief illumination of “DARK” in the
display confirms your selection. While in dark mode, you will
notice an “H” (highway mode) or “C” (city mode) remains dim to
confirm your unit is receiving power. To return to a full bright
setting, press the DARK button a third time; two “beeps” confirm
this selection. Use of the DARK button does not affect audio alerts.

Important—if you press the the DARK button and do not receive
audible confirmation, the audio level has been set too low.

6

7

AUDIO (Audio Mute) Button

Continuous Audio Alert Pattern

Your unit has been preset at the factory to provide an X, K, Ka
or Laser Digital Voice announcement of the signal detected.
Digital Voice prompts are provided once after the initial audio alert.
Note: Digital Voice can be turned OFF, (see page 9).
This standard setting is often preferred when background noise
in a vehicle is loud.

Automatic Mute Alert Pattern (Radar)

To engage automatic muting, press the AUDIO button once when the
unit is not alarming. A single “beep” and brief presentation of
“AUTOMUTE” in the display confirms automatic mute mode has
been engaged. The alert pattern when this mode is activated
consists of several X, K, Super Wideband Ka audio alerts followed
by the Digital Voice announcement of the signal detected. After
the Digital Voice announcement, a “clicking” tone keeps you
quietly informed for as long as the signal is present. This
“clicking” becomes more rapid as the strength of the Radar signal
increases. With this mode engaged, the automatic muting will be
repeated each time a new signal is encountered. The automatic
mute mode enables you to conveniently monitor extended
encounters without having to manually mute or adjust the
volume setting. To return to the continuous audio alert pattern,
press the AUDIO button a second time (while the unit is not
alerting). Two “beeps” and the message “AUDIO o f f ” confirm you
have cancelled automatic mute mode.

Manual Muting of Audio Alerts (Radar and sws™)

Regardless of the AUDIO mode selected (continuous or automatic
mute), the audio alerts can be completely muted by pressing
the AUDIO button during an alert. Once the alert has passed,
EXPRESS 935 unit will revert to the previous AUDIO setting.

Note—because Laser alerts are not lengthy or sustained, muting is

not required (see page 17).