A few months back I think AIM did an article on these guys http://www.radarbusters.com/

Radar detection and laser jamming. You can also program in known speed camera sites and it will give you a warning prior to reaching that location. Big bucks...around $1000 for the complete setup.

 

I've read those guys' radar detector tests. I don't trust 'em. They always seem to favor Escort over the V1, and claim to have the test data to prove it. I own both, and my experience is that the V1 is the superior box, both due to fewer false alarms and the multi-directional alert display. My theory is that they push Escorts over the V1 because they sell them. They can't make anything on the V1 because it's only sold factory-direct.

It can't do any jamming, but I see where the new Escort 9500i detector can do all those other things for $450. It has GPS built-in for location information.

 

I stand by my previous post based on over 3 years of using K, KA band radar daily. And yes, I was certified by the state of NC. I had written several speeding tickets to owners of all types of detectors (including Valentine), only to see a few of them toss it onto the floor of their vehicle.

Another speed measuring device is VASCAR. It measures time/distance of a vehicle and calculates it's adverage speed. This doesn't transmit anything to be detected.

 

Well the radar in the USA must be different somehow. Detectors work in two ways as I understand them.

The first one works on gps locations for known sites of deployment or static cameras, so these can be set to warn you at great distances.

The second type senses when a radar signal is detected. These tend to be short range affairs.

Now over here we use laser, its more accurate and uses a much smaller width of beam. Radar tends to spread quite wide so at extreme distance it is pretty useless. Laser will hit the mark at 1000meters. Most people refer to both types of devices as radar.

Now if I am standing at the side of the road with either radar or laser, it does not emit any type of signal until I pull the trigger, and you have about 1/3 second to react, and also reach your desired lower speed. So I would be most interested how firstly your detector finds a dormant device, and where you honed your superhuman reflexes.

I repeat, they dont work, unless your talking about permanent, semi permanent sites, or some sort of device which is on all the time. It wouldnt stop a device deployed by a manned by anofficer.

In addition sometimes I deploy on sliproads joining main carriageways, which means I dont fire the device until you pass me. That of course means that any signals will always be directed away from your device.

As for not using one, I've been in law enforcement for over 20 years and the last 5 of that on traffic. I issue an average of 20 speeding tickets every month, and countless warnings. And on the areas I Police I dont start to issue tickets till 20mph over the posted limit.

If I catch someone with a radar detector active in their vehicle they aint getting a ticket, they are going straight before the court.

And as already mentioned VASCAR is also at my disposal, for both follows, and pre-feds.

WB

 

Escort 8500 here. Works great. Has saved my butt more then a few times. Only use it in the car. No need on the bike as I'm usually enjoying the ride too much.

 

Live to ride, ride to live.

Sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

know when you can do one, then the other.

Did I just make a poem or something?

 

WHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA![8D]

 

WildBill has got it on this one. the days of always-on wide-scatter radar traps are long over. First the "instant on" Ka was used, you had to be behind a targeted driver and going straight to get their signal wash, then the switch of first CHP and then city to LADAR (laser). A motorcycle can be picked out of heavy traffic, there's no wide-beam scatter to pickup, and there's no signal bleed to read ahead of time. Now my Cobra sits in my car, unused except for amusement. Radar detectors are now just part of history (unless your region uses 70's-era K the old X band guns). The ony thing your Valentine is good for is kissing your behind!!!

 

Well, sorry to disagree but where I live, tickets are written for as little as 3 to 4over the speed limit. My wife got one for 37 in a 35. Of course, if you're willing to go stand in line for an hour with hundreds of similar law breakers,plead no contest, you get the "priviledge" of standing in another line, paying court costs and nothing hits your record. I don't blame you LEO's out there, you arejust doing your job,but frankly tickets are just another hidden tax, a source of revenue in many places.

All my detectors still alert me if I'm paying attention. The cops here set up traps around corners and over hills. I generally get a signal or two at these locations before I'm the target vehicle allowing me to adjust my speed accordingly.

If I'm doing 8 to 10 or more over, I can understand a ticket (except in those places that the limit has been set artificially low to allow more tickets), but it's getting pretty ridiculous where I live.

 

I don't know what they're using these days here in central Texas, but as I said before, I get alerts often before I can even see the "offender" (traffic radar unit). And if he can't see me, he's dang sure not going to be able to get a clock on me. No matter what kind of new-fangled junk they've got, it's still a line-of-sight game to carry any legal weight. Where I live, traffic radar is as I described previously, easy to detect in time to avoid being stopped, if you're paying attention, in most cases. I don't leave home without my V1 (or my Escort, in my bike). Also, in Texas, fortunately, law enforcement understands that Texas law does not mention radar detectors, and the fact that one was present had better not come up in any kind of legal action against the driver - it'll go nowhere.