Radar detectors.

I think I should have started a raffle of some sorts on my other forums. People were certain I would have speeding tickets enough to paper my house with them. But here it is 7 months later and I haven't gotten a single one. *knock on wood!*. But I have to admit I thought seriously about getting a radar detector. I even did some research and found the Valentine and Escort models at the top of the list from people who have tried them.

It appears that different states use different methods of speed detection, so how about Florida? Is any one particular unit better then others in this state? And how about you? Do you have one?

Yeah, I haven't been w/o one for the last 15 years. I drive safer than most peeps on the Florida highways with the exception of occasional spirited driving:shrug01: , but I am now so comfortable with a radar detector, I wouldn't drive without one. Evens the score somewhat I think...........Tom

No radar dectector here.

Rich Z said:

It appears that different states use different methods of speed detection, so how about Florida?

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In Florida they use the radar and laser. If you are going to buy a unit then you may want to buy the one that covers both, and even the one that has a rear detection mode as well. In my opinion if you are "clocked" the radar/laser detector will beep, but it's only an early warning of an impending ticket. The police are smart enough to pause the radar, and laser is only a second long pulse when the trigger is pulled. When the laser or radar is sent out and your detector "sees" it it starts to beep, but too late,,,, the numbers are already on the display.

The main reason the detectors are good sometimes is if the police sit still (or drive in moving mode) while leaving it on. Then you can get a good warning beep. That's only if there's a half hearted attempt to run the radar. Laser is not passive (like leave it on and drive). It has to be aimed at a specific vehicle and trigger pulled like a gun.

Some people say jammers work, but I seriously doubt it myself.

PS, when you have a detector, and should you get stopped, you WILL get a citation. The police look at it as though you raised the stakes by using the detector, so you stand to loose more (ie no warnings, bigger pot in the game).

Just my .02 :crazy03:

Z06 Rocket said:

PS, when you have a detector, and should you get stopped, you WILL get a citation. The police look at it as though you raised the stakes by using the detector, so you stand to loose more (ie no warnings, bigger pot in the game).

Just my .02 :crazy03:

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Good point........ :thinkin:

I've had a Valentine V1 hanging on my windshield since 1998.

Laser is hard to beat but it also only works during clear days; no nights, fog, smoke or rain.

I have a Valentine 1. Except for all the false alarms, I'm kind of used to it. I've never had anything see a radar signal from so far away. But like it was said above, radar and laser are two different animals. I don't remember what it's called, but the window for laser is so small. It's very hard to get an overflow signal from it bouncing off another car. You have to be in the right spot.

But, for the always on radar, the V1 is great. I was driving on 275 going south last night and just before I hit the actual bridge, I got a signal. Slowed down a bit and it kept getting stronger. Believe it or not, the signal was coming from the other side of the hump on the bridge! They were doing construction and there were state troopers on the other side. It held that signal until I almost reached the first exit for 4th street.

BTW, checkout www.radartest.com Radar/Laser jammers do not work. Plus they are being sued by the Government. At least Rocky Mountain Radar is.

EDIT: Radar jammers do not work. Laser Jammers do. SEE POST #10 BELOW.

Scott

SebringBill said:

Laser is hard to beat but it also only works during clear days; no nights, fog, smoke or rain.

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The laser is diminshed slightly by fog/rain/smoke, but only if it gets thick enough to prevent the laser beam from bouncing off the target and returning to the measuring device. Rain is the best inhibitor since the water bends light.

They work great at night. If anything, the night allows the laser to be seen even easier by the device measuring the beam (over an abundance of light in the daylight sun which is still no big problem).

The laser is a "point and shoot" method of operation. It's very similiar to a scope on a rifle. The red dot is put on a car and the trigger is pulled, the machine measures the time out vs. the time back and bingo, theres the speed. It's vehicle specific since the sight picture lets the user aim at one car. There is no defense in court that they mustve clocked someone else. I think I've heard that at 1,000 ft away the laser beam is only 2ft across, where as the radar "cone" could be hundreds of feet across allowing another car to be clocked. If the officer can see you, then he can clock you. Even when your emerging from behind another car and are not in 100% view of the officer. They just need to put the dot on your car. Laser's pretty nasty stuff,,,:ack2:

The advantage that the motorists have is that laser is not passive, so the officer has to choose to sit still and use it. They have to aim and try over and over, so it can get old for them to sit still and keep trying.

Radar allows them to be a slight bit "lazier" and just turn it on and off without the constant effort to point and aim over and over. Plus radar can have moving mode where an officer is going the opposite direction and clock you. Some newer systems can clock you in the same direction as well. They can catch you speeding up behind them before you see them ahead and apply the brakes. Then they just slow down and let you go by to stop you. This uses the radar beam telling the device the difference in speed between the police car and the speeding car to tell the officer your speed (no math involved for the officer ).

Just be careful out there guys, and let the little rice burners and cafe racer motorcycles get the police attention while we just cruise on by.:yesnod:

Z06 Rocket said:

The laser is diminshed slightly by fog/rain/smoke, but only if it gets thick enough to prevent the laser beam from bouncing off the target and returning to the measuring device. Rain is the best inhibitor since the water bends light.

They work great at night. If anything, the night allows the laser to be seen even easier by the device measuring the beam (over an abundance of light in the daylight sun which is still no big problem).

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It's my understanding that laser isn't allowed at night as the beam could temporarily blind the driver.

I have a Valantine one also. saved me couple. actually I havent gotten a speeding tickets since I've had it :knock on wood: 3yrs maybe, luck maybe, but im not complaining. buddy of mine has a laser jammer, block laser from the front and rear of the vehicle. he got pulled over, cop was like "I was unable to read your speed", he just played dumb and he was send on his way.
It was $600 installed though, but really good insurance.

I guess I was a little incorrect about my previous information. From what I understood, Radar/Laser Jammers don't work. Radar jammers do not work. Laser Jammers do.

Rocky Mountain Radar claimed to have a "passive" radar jammer since "active" ones were illegal. Every test done proved otherwise. Here is a quote about radar jammers.

"Invisibility to police radar may sound terrific but historically, effective jammers have been nigh impossible to find. There are good reasons for this. For one, they're blatantly illegal in all fifty states, since jamming police radar requires broadcasting a powerful, modulated signal. And precious few engineers are sharp enough to outwit the sophisticated digital signal processing (DSP) universally employed by modern radar. Not to mention, jammers are fiendishly expensive to construct."

"A one-square-inch antenna, no matter how efficient, is simply incapable of reflecting enough signal back to a powerful police radar to jam it. For that matter, we've tested $5,000 active jammers that pumped out 500 milliwatts of microwave energy--50 times the power transmitted by a modern radar--that failed entirely to jam anything."

Here is a link to information about Laser jammers. http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleID=8502

Interesting information. It reviews a few products, including a BEL, Escort and the best one, from Blinder. A quote from the review about the Blinder M-20 Xtreme.

"In our last test an earlier Blinder model turned in disappointing scores. Bur grom what we saw on this go round, they've clearly devoted the intervening time to radically improving their product. it jammed the Kustom ProLaser III and LTI Ultralyte 200LR down to point blank range, the Laser Atlanta to 319 feet and the Stalker to 200 feet. And it was the only unit to jam both the Jenoptic Laveg and Riegl LR235.90P (the most widely used European laser) to point blank range, a remarkable feat."

Scott

SebringBill said:

It's my understanding that laser isn't allowed at night as the beam could temporarily blind the driver.

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Naw, It's not visible to the naked eye. It is not the same as a red dot laser pointer someone might use for presentations on a board or wall.

I have a Valentine One and will never have anything else. Believe it or not, it'll often catch the radar signal 2 miles out. Plenty of time to back off. I like it best because of the arrows. It'll tell you if the signal is in front of you ( and how many) or behind you. Costs a little more than the others, but WORTH it.

I have heard some people complain that the Valentine gives too many false warnings. Has that been the case for you? Are you in a more rural area or in an area more heavily populated?

Rich Z said:

I have heard some people complain that the Valentine gives too many false warnings. Has that been the case for you? Are you in a more rural area or in an area more heavily populated?

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Definitely a lot of false warnings! If you drive by most grocery stores it will set it off. It will indicate that it is getting 2 signals, one for the in door and one for the out. On the all bogeys mode, which has no filtering, I can't even use it around town. Way too many signals. I turn mine on advanced logic, which gets rid of some, but not many. On my normal route to and from work, I just had to memorize where it goes off and how many signals it detects. I just have to pay attention to the number to see if it rises by one. Kind of a pain in the azz. On the highway, I just keep it on all bogeys mode. I do love the arrows though. One of the only things going for it. And the fact that if they make any upgrades to future detectors, that you can send yours in for the upgrade instead of buying a new one.

Rich...I have my Valentine in my Corvette 24/7. To be honest, the main time I use it is on the road. Virtually ALL radar detectors will be going off anywhere in the populated areas...any time you pass Target, Walgreens, CVS, etc.
I use mine primarily when I'm on the highway. It's unsurpassed for distance...(mine picks up the signal as much as 2 miles away). I was reluctant to spend the money initially; now, I feel that it's worth every penny.
06 C6

Well one part of me says I should get one, simply because I like all sorts of technological gizmos. And yes, maybe it may save me from a speeding ticket some day. But the other part of me is reluctant. It's just another gizmo distraction I have to worry myself about. And honestly, my track record with getting things that meet up to my expectations is kind of poor. I'm getting tired of spending money on stuff that is not debugged, has poor quality control, or just doesn't work like some sane person designed it. So yeah, I'm getting gunshy about buying stuff, I guess. I guess this latest fiasco with the Diablo Predator (in another thread), is leaving a foul taste in my mouth.

Another thing....there is no mute button. That gets annoying. I unplug it a lot!

OK, I have stated this earlier but here goes again. Radar detectors work very well. There are some extreme circumstances where a cop can bag you before you know he's there, but as stated, it's rare. The radar used mostly in most areas is K/Ka band. The more sophisticated radars are too expensive for the cops to use extensively. So for me, 99 out of a hundred times I'm hit by radar it's from K band. My detector lets me know way ahead of time there's a cop up the road with radar. I check my speed, most of the time I'm good, but occasionally I'm a little over. When I'm feeling a little frisky with another vette or stang, if my radar detector is quiet, I have a little more liberty and am more apt to play.
You can still get caught. You can get caught with laser, instant-on, or just plain visual. But a radar detector is very liberating on the road. I've got so comfortable with mine I am uncomfortable without it, say when I'm driving the Jeep or someone else's car. Yes, there are false warnings, but you get used to the behavior of the detector after a while and know when the alarm is false. I mentally tune out false reading and the only time it bothers me is at a long stop light or if I have someone riding with me and we are talking. Then I turn it down or off. I know when a cop is approaching by the way the warning builds. Goes from a low reading and low audio warning and builds up rapidly. That's a police cruiser up ahead. What's my speed?
You can't go wrong with a good detector. It cost less than one speeding ticket and it can save your bacon many times over. It's a great gismo in my opinion and I won't be without one till I'm old and creeping along in my Cadillac. I don't know it's in the car till it's needed.......Tom

Rich-I have two radar detectors one at each end of the price range. My Valentine1 www.valentine1.com
is good and may be the best but it's expensive. I use it only on the interstates and in town it's stored in the vette tray behind the seats and covered. www.southerncarparts.com
The other unit is a Whistler 1730 www.buyradardetectors.comunder Whistler and believe it or not it's $39.00 at WalMart(WallyWorld). It's for the daily driver and it picks up a lot of signals but it will go bezerko crazy when it gets hit by a real radar gun. I leave it plugged in all the time. It saved me 3 tickets in one day several years ago.
If you have never had a detector before buy one of these cheap ones and see if you like having something on your dash and it may save you a tix at the same time.
You mentioned you like Techno Gizmos. Start a thread and list the stuff you have and the stuff you like.. WiFi hotspot finder. Actron code reader www.actron.com/whats_new_detail.php?id=20

sigarms said:

You mentioned you like Techno Gizmos. Start a thread and list the stuff you have and the stuff you like.. WiFi hotspot finder. Actron code reader www.actron.com/whats_new_detail.php?id=20

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Oh the gizmos cover a wide range of stuff. Laser range finder, major audio doodads (Heil air motion transformers, equalizers, sound pressure meters), electronic measuring instruments for my lathe and milling machine, chronograph for my shooting hobby, digital powder scale and trickler, miniature security cameras, digital game camera, all kinds of computer stuff, etc., etc........ I'm actually surprised I have NEVER owned a radar detector before. Even in the days with my GTO.

I guess I am reluctant to see the "raised eyebrow" look from the wife when she sees a radar detector in the Z. "Uh huh.... thinking you may need that, huh?" :toetap05: The other day when she came home from work, she asked me "Anything exciting happen here today?" And I said "Oh yeah.........." So she comes back immediately with "You get a speeding ticket today?" So I think she is expecting that......

Hmm, thinking back, I'll bet it's been at least 20 years since I have had a speeding ticket....... (trying to knock on wood, but not sure this compressed particle stuff will suffice....)

So most of you seem to like the Valentine, eh?