KAT Radar Detector Review

KAT-600 and KAT-DSL315 Radar Detector Review

I first became introduced the KAT line of radar detectors at the 2006 SEMA show in Las Vegas when I eyed Michael Churchman, the founder of Rocky Mountain Radar, sitting at the company’s display.

What first caught my attention was this sad and lonely soul sitting behind a weather beaten fold up table that had several radar detectors sitting on top. On the backdrop there was a single piece of paper with a hand written notice “KAT Radar Detectors”.

Later that same evening I ran into Mike at the Las Vegas Stratosphere bar where I had the opportunity to ask him about his new company. Mike related that several merchants had put up blockades because of his radar jamming features in his RMR line, so he had formed a new company K.A.T. so he could get his warez into the AutoZone stores and such. He further explained that KAT stood for “Kick Ass Technologies.”

With credit, since the 2006 SEMA show Michael has managed to get his new KAT line up listed onto a few questionable websites where they are sold for as much as $225.00 advertised as the most “feature packed value radar detector” in the automotive industry.
I felt when I began the review of the KAT line up for my “under $200.00 test” that Mr. Churchman would feel that my review would be distorted if I only did a one day driving test, therefore the following review of the KAT-600 and the KAT-DSL315 was performed over the past two weeks, logging over 1000 miles on each radar detector.  

In multiple encounters in both highway and city driving, both the KAT-600 and the KAT-DSL315 performed very poorly at detecting police radar.

In two situations I was following behind an Arizona Highway Patrol officer that was using a forward facing Ka radar gun.  In each encounter as I approached the officers from the rear My Escort SR7 was on full alert Ka band from over 2300 feet away. Switching off the Escort and then activating each of the KAT radar detectors separately, neither would activate until I was within two car lengths of the officer.

The KAT detectors also performed very poorly in other off axis encounters. In three encounters we had a local Wickenburg police officer using K band radar where they were at a ninety degree angle from our approach. Again the Escort SR7 remote alerted well in advance while each of the KAT radar detectors remained silent.

In numerous head to head encounters on both K and Ka the KAT did not alert until we were well within the kill zone of the officers radar gun.

The only positive thing I can say about either the KAT 600 and the KAT DSL315 that both performed very well at not having false alerts. However, this is one heck of a trade off if the detector cannot detect real police radar signals.

Radar Roy’s Badge Rating

KAT 600 Radar Detector – Zero Starts

KAT DSL315 Radar Detector – Zero Stars