Looking for the world's best radar detector? For those to whom the term best means the longest radar-warning range, the Escort RedLine holds that distinction. Its radar-detection range is so extreme that it took us several months to find a test site long enough to probe its limits. At the test's conclusion, the RedLine's staggering 14.17-mile range, several miles greater than the runner-up's average range, led us to doubt the data. After it performed equally well against Ka-band photo radar, we were suspicious. Surely our factory-supplied RedLine test sample was somehow blessed with supernatural powers.

Perpetual skeptics, we waited for production to begin and bought more RedLines. These also were tested—not once but twice, in separate comparison tests conducted over a period of several months. And we were proven right: the performance of the other two RedLines was different than that preproduction sample's. They were better. Not by a huge margin, but enough to be noticeable.

What gives the Escort RedLine the world's longest radar-detection range is advanced technology, a clever design and premium components. This includes dual radar antennae, both forward-facing. (A rear antenna is unnecessary to detect radar coming from behind; the RedLine, for example, spotted one Ka-band radar 4.1 miles behind us.)

Twin antennae allowed Escort engineers to ease the microprocessor's workload, allowing it to do a more efficient job at spotting radar, a task at which the RedLine is without peer. In an interview with MSN.com's Eric Sofge, I mentioned that performance like this pays a big dividend when you're facing the rolling radars common everywhere west of the Alleghenies..

The RedLine does not have GPS and its mission statement is entirely different from that of the Escort Passport 9500ix or its electronic twin, the BEL GX65. Those two are the best in the business at eliminating nuisance signals that cause false alarms; they're equally adept at warning of red light and speed cameras.

The RedLine's focus is on performance, not red light cameras, and the absence of GPS means it's more susceptible to urban false alarms than its two GPS-enabled stablemates. But it's still substantially more reluctant to squawk false alarms in town than, say, the Valentine One, long renowned for its endless chattering in reaction to spurious signals. We've taken time to quantify that talkative nature in a past test which, oddly, hasn't attracted the usual hate mail from the Valentine lobby, a mute testament to its accuracy.

Escort targets the sophisticated road warrior with the RedLine. To illustrate that mission, note the matte-black hue of its housing, the lack of brightwork and a near absence of graphics on top. It won't catch the eye on a store shelf like some detectors, but neither will it blind the driver from reflections cast onto the windshield during sunny days. For that reason the red display is inset into the case, where it's shielded from the sun and easily read even at high noon in the Sonoran Desert. To make visual warnings even more compelling, a trio of bright red LEDs in the lower front case also lights up during alerts.

Controls are minimalist: three flush-mounted switches for power, operating mode, audio volume and manual-muting (auto-muting is standard). Depressing the latter two switches simultaneously produces a menu of user preferences. One option, for example, is called Spec Display. Once engaged, it will show a radar signal's digital frequency.

Average drivers greet this news with yawns but to the savvy, it offers a significant advantage. Ka-band signals often are non-police radar, unworthy even of a tap at the brakes. But conventional detectors can't tell the difference and merely display a generic Ka-band alert.

Inexpensive detectors may spot radar soon enough under favorable conditions. But when conditions favor the opposition, only a radar detector with superior range will protect you.

In contrast, Spec Display reports the frequency numerically, letting the driver know at a glance whether it's alerting to a passing Cobra radar detector—or a motorcycle officer hiding behind a bridge abutment up ahead, readying his Kustom Signals Talon II radar gun. Drivers more focused on posting to a friend's Facebook wall won't care about Spec Display. But a serious driver will appreciate this kind of information and exploit it to full advantage.

The Escort RedLine makes do without the blue LED text display adorning the Escort 9500ix. Instead, it uses a high-visibility 280-LED display in the same red hue found in upscale performance cars from BMW, Audi, Ferrari and others, not to mention combat aircraft. The display can be reduced to a tiny, pulsing red dot for stealthy nighttime running.

The Escort RedLine is all about long-range warning of radar and this includes photo radar vans. In several tests against the most common models of these photo cameras—one from Redflex Systems, the other from American Traffic Solutions (ATS) —it led the pack each time.

We tested against conventional radar at a new desert site where the Escort RedLine delivered that world-record 14.17-mile radar-warning range against every type of radar. By comparison, the flagship Cobra XRS 9970G ($329) managed barely half of that range on K and Ka bands and achieved barely 20 percent of the RedLine's X-band radar performance.

The Escort RedLine's industry-best protection against every type of radar earns it top-dog status among premium detectors.