Hello fellow Corvette Owners! I was looking at different Radar Detectors and was wonder what some of you are using.

 

As a Police Officer, I can tell you no matter what you get...L.E. will always find something to beat it.... then the market will find something more expensive to sell you to beat what we have, then we will use tax money to buy something that will beat your latest gadget, and so on.

So either way, look at it like this, you are buying something with probably 25% effectiveness and also paying taxes for us to buy the "solutions."

Drive smart, keep your eyes peeled, and when you HAMMER DOWN.... just make sure, there are no cops around.... MUCH CHEAPER.

that's my 2c

 

Generally you will find that there are two camps in this forum. Both are very loyal. But I have both in my cars and either is really a fine unit.

* Valentine-1

* Escort 9500/9600

You cannot go wrong with either. The differences?

The Valentine has the arrows so you know where the signal is coming from. My wife loves this feature. But Valentine's technology is approaching like 20 years old I think.

The Escort has a GPS so it can learn automatic door closers and reduce false alerts greatly. This feature really works unless you start your car in front of your favorite supermarket and it will go off until the GPS syncs up with the sats (about a minute). If you want to pay for a subscription to their data base, you can get weekly updates with Red Light Cameras and known speed traps. But no arrows so you spend a lot of time looking around for your adversary.

The above poster is correct, the LEO do have technology that these units cannot detect. I have rolled past them when they were hidden by tool booths and the State Troopers smile and wave (but I was doing the correct speed) and not a peep from the detectors. But not all troopers have it apparently. Mostly used by special teams during "revenue raids" as we call them. But that is the State pretty much.

I live is the second worst speed trap in the US and the locals don't have the $ for that yet, so it helps me as they won't tolerate 1 mile over the limit. It is their main source of revenue. It is so bad the State passed a law saying they could not ticket until 5 over, but they will still ticket as many people just don't know and pay. Most other local towns around me don't have that technology either as they are able to catch enough people with their old tech speed traps to fill their coffers so they don't spend the $. As long as they have a long line of people to write up they remain happy.

 

probably the coolest Cop ever here ^ ! ! but in my Andy Griffith sized city there still driving the outdated crown vics the only charger around is a State guy thats rarely here lol

 

very informative thanks alot! I kinda only wanna get one for road trips.

 

Thank You man... In my 10+ years on the job, I have truly learned and enforced the belief that most of us (society) lives in the "grey" area, and there is no such thing as BLACK AND WHITE, or BY THE BOOK...



Just remember that the less financially strong a PD is, the more primative the means we use to catch speeders are.

EG: ENRADD, and VASCAR, neither of which lazer or radar equiptment will detect. In fact they are both distance measuring devices. Timed between two points. Whether the 2 points are items set up by us, or any landmark passed (not just those white lines painted on the roads either). Alot of Officers are not creative enough to use these pieces of equiptment to their fullest, however there are some out there... and they will CLICK you off before you know what happened.

With that being said... Ive never pulled a car over that was not going 17+ over the limit... and I have not written a vehicle codes, or traffic citation in 3.5 years.....

 

omg we need cops like you here ours try to get us for anything music,lights,tint, turning a blinker on(JK) lol but it's horrible. My bro(friend) got a ticket the other night for having his Underglow on in a parking lot because they said it was illegal while 3 other cars got off.

 

You have to realize that some Officers are dedicated to traffic offenses. That is their specialized unit. Most patrol guys I know don't really care about their ticket count. I rarely to never write tickets. If I do it's usually to help with PC to get something in the car.

I don't bother with radar, the way I've run it in the past was such that I only pull the trigger on a car if I plan to stop it. So if you are that car your detector won't help.

 

Well said Brotha.

 

Thank you man....

We all (Officers) go through transitions in our careers, where we learn that somethings require more emphasis than others. As previously stated, some Officers are specialized in traffic, it does not necessarily mean they have to write tickets, however their job is to stop cars, deal with crashes, and everything that pertains to traffic. When I started 10 years ago, I would write 150 citations in a month, with goals in my head of writting 200. When you figure I only work 15 days a month, and still answer other calls....thats ALOT. Those days are gone, and I grew up quick learning that there were more important things I wanted to look for out there. i wanted to make sure people were not in need of help, in danger... and when it got slow.... then I would stop cars, but only for the sake of having a reason to check people out.....

Either way, getting way off topic..... Officers who do use radar, are well trained... they know that if their finger is not on the "trigger" they will not wake up any radar detectors.... and once they wake up the one they want.... its already GOTTEN. Yes their are Officers out there that will continue to "zap" any thing that moves, and thats when your detector comes in handy... however..... as time goes on, Officers (just like any other profession) become more proficient with our equiptment. Just hope that after you spend 200+ on a detector, that you run across an Officer that is still learning, and not one of the hundreds of thousands, that know their stuff.....

 

I have the Beltronics GX65 and it has saved me about $25,000. The above LEO is right, a radar
detector will not save your butt 100% but, if you know how to use it and where to do your thing it will always work for you.

Radar detectors are like tires, the best and expensive tire will save your life on that twisty.

The Beltronics is great; has a GPS and you can download the database and it already has potential
speed traps and you can program to mark your own speed-traps. That helped me tremendously while
I was driving all over the place back in May.

I got to give it to Ohio Highway Police. On Sunday, May 29th they had cruisers with laser guns every
two miles for about 30 miles. They waited for you to be within range to get you but, I was doing 65 on the dot

If you are alone on the street, the LEO will get you in a millisecond.

Laser guns are very fast. The LEO aim and shoots, at the same time your detector goes off and you are toast.

If the LEO has the radar on, your detector will warn you with enough time to brake but, remember that LEO know that.

Thats the reason I obey speed laws all the time.

 

I have the same one but normally do my fast driving at the track. I'll drive right by a city cop with his gun pointed at me and my unit does nothing. The freeways are a different story, I don't know what the CHP uses but it alerts me all the time. One day We were getting on the freeway and my wife was getting annoyed with the detector and said it doesn't work. Well it went off and down on the side of the road was a CHP parked. She kept quiet.

 

Your wife is sick, extremely sick.

 

lol... conflicting comments.... hahahahahahaha. Sorry

 

Its illegal to speed on this forum.

 

ohhhhhh, I never read forum rules...... Im a bit of a rebel. lol

 

but, my rebellion already gave me few "tickets"

 

lol... the more I post on this site, the more FUN it becomes.....

 

be careful with that word

 

Another "rule?"