I have been thinking of buying a radar detector, but I wonder if they are false security. Right now I rely on having a "front door" vehicle and keep my eyes open. It seems to me that the radar detector will save you from many situations, but does it lull you into a false sense of security? Then when you your guard is down, you get nailed.

 

I've used a radar detector for years. I've never gotten a ticket while using a detector (yet), while I've gotten several when driving without one.

So in short, yeah, they work.

But they're not magic. If you drive like a "durn fool", your gonna get busted. What they do is greatly stack the odds in your favor.

There are a few caveats, first they won't protect you at all against "visual speed estimation". Second, I think that it would be very difficult to evade laser. I've encountered laser only a couple of times and there is absolutely no warning. The detector goes nuts for just a second or so, and by then the cop has you nailed. I think I was just lucky enough to be behind a faster driver.

Fortunately, those two technologies seem to be rare right now.

In regards to "a false sense of security", that's not how it works with me. In fact it has the opposite is true. It keeps me focused. When I drive my wife's car (with no detector) I space out more and am much more likely to miss a hidden cop.

Buy one! And make sure it's a good one. I like my Passport 8500. Other's swear by the Valentine One. I suspect that they are both about equally good.

Ciao,

Rick

 

They are most useful in town where the locals like to set up and catch people who aren't paying close attention to their speed in a speed zone that is far to low.

Out on the highway they are practically useless. With LASAR when the detector goes off they have you. I just set my cruise speed so it is just below where it is worth their while to stop me.

Bill

 

First thing I bought when I got my Z was a valentine 1... Ive always thought the same thing that I would rely on it, and let my guard down, but I don't.. I still pay very close attention to what is ahead (cops don't always have their radar on and can use laser which has no warning) and honestly its been paying off big time.. This radar has helped me out numerous times.. Buy one, and keep your guard up.. You will be amazed at how much a radar can help you..

 

I have an Escort cordless. It works well, I only use it when I 'plan' on going over the speed limit.

I think a cordless is good because: If a cop stops you, you can throw it behind the seat.
If a cop stops you and sees a radar detector, he will not give you a break: "You are trying to beat him at his own game".

The last 4 times I was stopped, the cop let me go without a ticket.

 

There's aparantly not much you can do about laser. Radar is still a preferrred method of law enforcement as most people don't invest in a radar detector.

Uzi

 

I have both the passport 8500 and the Valentine V1. They were virtually equal in detecting the radar when mounted side by side on my dash. I drove this way for about a week to get to know them better. The old V1's were too large, like placing a brick on the dash. The new version is much smaller, not much larger than the passport.

I really love the arrows on the V1. With the passport you don't know if you are ahead or behind the radar, very frustrating. If you are driving much faster than the traffic, you will get nailed. But if you are just driving on the faster side of the average, the detector will generally alert you to blips made down the road by cops aiming at someone else. This is worth it to me in that a yellow Vette is going to get more attention than a tan Camry going the same speed.

Chuck

 

Chuck makes an excellent point...given a choice between two vehicles going the same amount over the limit, most leo's will choose the Vette.

I drive with a V1 on all the time and have it fairly well concealed and use the optional remote display which is also in a covert location in my car. Radar is only a tool to use for situational awareness, it is not the only tool and should never be used as such.

One of the things that I have done for years when driving is to use my mirrors. Not only do they help keep me aware of traffic around me, they also help me keep my eyes open for the cops. I learned this tool when driving busses years ago and I still drive with my mirrors by habit, but they have saved me almost as many times as my radar detector has. Using the two together is one reason I haven't had a ticket in 23 years...not that I haven't deserved one!

Not long ago I was driving my normal route to the office and just happen to do one of my mirror sweeps while on a major area freeway. I just caught a CHP coming across the lanes into my lane about a half mile back. At the time I was doing about 15-20 over so I lifted and let the car slow down without changing lanes or anything else. I watched as this guy came up on me fast and then popped over one lane into my blind spot and just stayed there, obviously thinking that I had not spotted him yet. As I changed lanes to take my usual exit the dash board of my car began to refract red and blue lighting! I pulled over wondering how he could have nailed me that far back. He came up and told me my registration was expired and proceeded to give me a long speech about how he knew I was going way too fast when he first saw me and I knew it too. I remained silent and polite and got a 10 fix it ticket to get my registration updated. He was obviously frustrated and also gave me the "do you know you are driving a high performance car speech". I assured him that I did and thanked him.

I did deserve a ticket for speeding that day, but my eyes saved me, not my radar detector. He never blipped me, just tried to pace me. I was lucky. As a rule I do not drive 20 over...usually 5-10 and that just barely keeps pace with CA traffic. I am not condoning speeding, but I do condone staying aware so that I avoid paying the State any more money than I already do!

 

Radar detectors are useful, but don't ever rely on them to save you from getting a ticket. They seem to help most in situations with more traffic, but if your driving with few cars on the road and your radar detector goes off it's already too late. (The cop already knows how fast your going and he knows it's you who is speeding).

 

They just let you know when a cop is around. I came barreling onto the highway 80 on the on-ramp and a cop was on the highway, I lifted and coasted down to 70 and the cop was right on me. But since he was too far back he didn't read me, if I hadn't had the detector I wouldn't have noticed. But you still don't want to go over 15 over with a detector, when the cop turns on his radar pointed at you, you have no warning, just a full buzz. I got nailed by that once, also it's not too effective on laser except telling you that your screwed. But all in all it helps you kind of like your mother smacking you in the back of the head whenever there is a cop around, telling you to shape up.

 

That's not entirely true. Think of it this way, the cop's radar beam has to travel twice as far to it's detector as it does to your detector. Radar energy dissipates as a function of distance. Therefore, your detector has a 2X detection energy advantage over the cop's gun.

That means that he you can detect him before he can detect you.

Of course, if he is using POP or laser, then all bet's are off.

Ciao,

Rick

 

You cannot mount them side by side for comparison testing because they will set each other off and reduce the detection time.

http://valentine1.com/lab/DoItYourself.asp

 

You almost seem to be looking for a guarranty, which doesn't exist in life. A good dectector will help but if the police use instant on you have no advance warning. That does not mean that the detector was at fault, it just means that the police were smarter.

I have never had a problem being stopped by the police with the detector in plain view. The thought that you have to hide the detector indicates an admission of guilt and carries over in your interaction with the officer.

 

I have a Pasport SRX radar detector and laser jammer installed on my 2002 vert and it works great. The best part has been the past two months in my area they are starting to get more and more laser guns. I know this beacuse I have been timed five times with laser. The first three I was going the speed limit. The other two were kinda funny. Both times I was going about 80mph in a 45mph zone and did not see the officer sitting on the side of the road ahead. My detector went off just like you all described happens with laser, but my passport system sends out mixed signals to the laser gun when it detects laser, so the officer just looks at his radar gun and gets this puzzled look and tries again but by this time I am slowed down enough it didn't matter. This system works great with laser and is completely legal. It was a little pricey at $1200 but I needed something that was hardwired and installed with my vert having it's top down 75% of the time. As far as radar goes I am at the same mercy everyone else is.

 

Not True! All radar detectors internally create the same frequency used by the various bands of radar that they match against. Cheap detectors emit a lot of this energy. Both the Valentine and the Escort models have extremely small frequency leakage.

There are certain areas in all towns that will cause detectors to "false". There was no discernable difference between the detectors mounted side by side compared to using them individually. They are both high wuality, self calibrating devices. They both signaled the presence of police units, front or back, at virtually the same time.

Chuck

 

If the leos are using Laser you are fooling yourself, and they become annoying with al the false beeps, sold mine not tickets since, V1

 

Keep doing what you have been...those are still the best defenses you have.

A radar dector is a handy tool, and does work well for "pre-alerting" you in many situations. Use it for that advantage, but don't ever rely on it completely, or you will pay the price.

 

What are all the options on a lasar jammer?

 

I highly recommend both the V1 and the K40 dual laser jammer and radar detector. The K40 laser jammer is completely legal (laser is NOT regulated by the FCC like radar is) and it will jam the laser all the way to the gun...meaning no speed reading for the leo. I know because I have the system installed in my Z06 and it does work. It is NOT cheap. Fortunately for me the previous owner of my Z06 paid to have a complete K40 stealth install (~$2500) and did not remove any of it when I bought the car. Between the K40 and the V1 the ONLY way I am getting caught by radar is by a VERY patient leo using "instant on." But the odds are still in my favor because the leo has to know that I am coming down the road and he will have to wait for me because if he triggers his instant on just one time to check another vehicles speed I will know about it.

I can certainly live with those odds. I have had my V1 for two years and it has saved me several times. Now that I have the V1 and the K40 I haven't even had a close call.

 

Jeepers - who DOESN'T drive while periodically scanning their mirrors?!