Radar Dectector Recommendations?
 

It wasn’t me, it was my wife! Any suggestions? Thanks.

I recommend using the Search function. ;)

Here, check out this thread for lots of discussion on the topic: http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...ght=best+radar

I have the Valentine One Radar Detector and highly recommend it…………..


Valentine One radar and laser detectors

Valentine One. Accept no substitute.

I love my Passport 9500ix

:stirthepot:

I've had a Passport 8500 x50 for a few years now. It has more than paid for itself. I'd highly recommend the Escort product line... After my experience with the 8500, I'm looking to upgrade to the 9500ix.

Thanks all!

This is the only one I will be getting and have used, my last one went flying out the window after a crash in a friends car.

Amazon.com: Cobra XRS 9960G Voice Alert 15-Band Radar/Laser Detector with 1.5-Inch Full-Color Display, GPS Locator, and Red Light/Speed Features: Electronics

i got a 50dollar whistler from walmart that works suprisingly well for almost a year now. except for that ticket last week lol

Have you guys seen the new Redline from Escort yet? I'm sticking with my V1, but I'm still curious to know if there's anything ground-breaking with the Redline.

RedLine - Escort Inc.

i run V1's on my cars. :) most detectors will work but knowing where the signal is coming from is a big bonus....but at the end of the day, it's just a conversation piece
for me.

Are you referring to the 'conversation' the cop starts up about how he was able to beat your radar detector as he writes you a ticket? lol (I've had that happen before) :rolleyes:

I agree. I have had both the v1 and now the 9500ix. I can't tell you how great it is to drive to work and not hear those false alerts all the time! That thing has been great!

hahahaha. ive been pulled over for nothing a few times in the past too while driving around my modded cars. the youngster cop started a conversation that he had a impreza RS and on and on...'so, where do you get your parts?' and a whole list of questions... then at the end, 'oh, btw you need to put your front license plate on, ok? drive save.'

:rolleyes:

I'm having a big problem with my passport 9500ix, the first one I bought fell apart while I was driving (cheap plastic), I was sent a brand new one and the gps can never find a signal and it constantly glitches all day. I don't know if I should give the passport another try or get something else?

i would change it to another passport model if you're fan of passports. ...or get the V1.

i have an old 7500 in my dd and it's been very reliable. :)

Hmm, I was pretty impressed with how well made and put together it is. Did it fall off the mount? I know you have to be careful to make sure it "clicks" in place to be sure it's secured properly.

Mine picks up GPS signals very quickly, well under a minute. My Garmin GPS takes way longer to get a signal! Do you have it flush against your windshield?

What part of NY are you in? If you're in the city then I can see how the buildings would block the signal, and I can see how the potholes would make it fall out of the mount. :p

I live in florida at the moment, I have it connected to one of those custom "Z" mounts that hang onto the rearview mirror. The first one that was send to me picked up a signal very fast and showed my speed perfectly, so I know it's not how I mounted it. This second one picks up & drops a signal like every minute and glitches when it tries to read my speed.

I'm currently using the V1 and I'm highly disappointed with my purchase. I've had it for about 4 months now and I can't recall a single time when my V1 went off due to a cop. I'm guessing maybe the cops here in L.A never have their radar on or utilizing some cRaZyyyY frequency band that my V1 can't detect. In addition, most of my drive is consisted within the city so there's a false alarm every 10 seconds. :/

Are the cops you pass stationary?
Many cops will ride around with it off now and pop it on instantly if they see someone speeding, radar detectors are great if cops run around with it on 24/7 but they are getting smarter.

I'm being sent a new passport 9500ix, hopefully third time's the charm.

yah, in my area 4 times out of 5, cops do NOT have their radar on while driving around.

most stationary ones have their radar/laser on standby and instant-on. the most
funny ones are on their bicycles and or lawn chair on the side of the road and
cop cars await about 1/4 mile down the road to pull you over. :D

Are you sure they sent you a new one? Often with electronics you get a refurbished warranty replacement. I would push back on the MFR to make it right and send you a NEW new one.

Radar detectors really only work if there are people ahead of you. If someone is ahead of you and speeding, the cop will use instant on and get them, causing your V1/Passport to go off. No radar detector will save you if there aren't many cars on the road, and you're the only one speeding.

That is one BIG reason I love mine. The gps automatically lets you know of known places were they hide and you can tag a new place that you might see them hiding.

That is only if they are using laser, if they are sitting use K or Ka you will have plenty of time to react and slow down. But this is why the rule of never be first or never be last in a group is important.

This isn't entirely true. It depends on where you are and the habits of the cops in that area. If cops in your area only use instant-on, then yeah, what you say is true. But in my area, cops usually leave their radar units on all the time, so even if there aren't any other cars on the road, a radar detector can be very helpful.

I'm thinking maybe you're not familiar with the 'instant-on' method? If a cop turns his radar on and leaves it on, then yes, you'll have plenty of time to react. But sometimes cops use what's known as the 'instant-on' method, which is where they leave their radar off until they see you, then turn it on. So it's actually just like laser in the sense that your detector doesn't go off until the very last second. As I mentioned above, in my area they usually just leave their radar on, thank goodness. But not always. In fact, just this past Monday, I was on my way to the gym at 5am. It was still dark out, and a cop had parked in the median. I couldn't see him at all. One second, everything's completely quiet. Then suddenly my V1 goes off at full strength and I see him sitting there (barely) hiding in the dark. No time to react at all. I was going 15 over but he left me alone. And I was the only car on the road, so not being first or last in a group was not an option. And this is a perfect example of what carfr3ak is talking about.

Radar tech has come a long way, but I would question the accuracy of such a system. I could see it working if he is traveling with you and flips it on and has a few seconds but if you roll by I am not 100% sure the system can "instantly" calculate your speed and report a reading.

Now it could depend on the angle of the cop and how he is stationed and how long the radar can ping your car so I am sure it can happen. Luckily cops here only use laser/k/ka, and if they are using k or ka they just leave them on.

The freakiest radar incident that I've ever had happen to me actually just happened a few months ago. I was driving one direction (again, 5 in the morning), and suddenly this cop shows up, driving in the opposite direction. No radar or anything, then suddenly after we've already passed each other, my radar goes off. And I have a V1, so the arrows show that it's coming from behind me. In other words, the cop that passed me whipped his radar on. My immediate thought was 'a few seconds too late, bud'. Wrong. He had radar that was pointing out his back window, and actually got my speed. A mile down the road and blue lights show up behind me. He had my speed EXACTLY. He let me off with a warning because I didn't BS him, which was nice. But I am still freaked out that cops in my area can do that. I mean, we were doing in opposite directions, and he zapped me backwards!!! Um, yeah, I'd have to agree with your statement about radar technology coming a long way! A little too long a ways, IMO! :rofl2:

Front/back radar has been around for years. I remember when Texas state troopers got them, definitely made sitting in the middle of interstates interesting for them on picking off speeders. I know radar has a moment where it must calculate itself to a zero point so as to determine the speed of the cop v. you, but I am unsure of that amount of time.

Guess what we need now is radar deflectors, we can jam lasers but we need something which can absorb or rebound K or Ka in a different direction.

Yeah, I know that rearwards-facing radar has been around for years, but here's what I can't quite figure out. (Maybe I'm just being dense on this.) We were going in opposite directions. So imagine he's going west at 60mph, and I'm going east at 60mph. He turns his radar on. Let's just assume for the sake of argument that the time required for the radar to zero itself isn't an issue. What I don't quite understand is, whatever reading his radar gives him, how does he know the radar isn't just bouncing the signal off of a tree he just passed, or building or parked car or whatever. I mean, even if the road were completely empty, if he turned his radar on, wouldn't it bounce off the nearest object behind him? And wouldn't it read 60mph? Because if he's traveling at 60mph, then whatever stationary object the signal bounces off of is, relative to him, moving away at 60mph, right? So did he know I was doing 60 because his radar showed an object moving at -120mph? As you can see, I'm a tad confused.

Actually, maybe it does make sense. If the cop is going West at 60mph, and his radar unit zeroes itself at that speed, then any object moving away from him in the rear at 60mph would automatically be adjusted to show as zero. That would automatically filter out stationary objects. Any object moving away at more than 60mph would register as a positive speed. So an object moving away at, say, 100mph would show as doing 40mph. An object moving away at 120mph would show as doing 60mph, and so on.

Maybe, I keep trying to get a friend to let me test his radar equipment and find out the limits on what exactly they can/cannot read and report.

I have been using a Passport 8500 for the past several years. It seems to detect X, K, and Ka band well in advance of the radar (at least when it is continuously on).

But overall, I'm not sure the unit is all that great and perhaps due to seeing few cops and everyone driving fast in Utah may be why it seems to perform OK. I have been stopped twice for speeding and neither time did the alarm go off. I received a warning on one and got lucky on the second when the cop had to go to an emergency and did not have time to give me a ticket. I did not asked them how they foiled my detector.

I have also had a problem with the laser detection mode and had to turn disable that function in my WRX (laser function was on when I was stopped previously as stated above). The problem with the laser was when I would accelerate in the WRX. On occassion, the laser detector would go off while accelerating, presumability due to an increase in voltage that was causing the laser detector to go off (??). I plan to turn that function back on and see if the Z causes it to go off.

Detectors may help in some situations, but now days I think you just have to lucky to not go by the cops or be following other fast cars for interference (and be on the lookout). With instant on, laser, pictures, aircraft, pacing, etc, there are too many ways to be caught.

Your pretty close to the right answer. Plus, it locks in on you.

Really? How does it lock in? Can you elaborate? I wasn't aware that radar could lock in on a particular car. I always thought one of the big criticisms of radar is that if there are multiple cars on the road, there's no way to tell which car's speed is being displayed.

I had the wife ask a traffic officer at work, they get off at 5pm. I'll try to get the answer before Monday. If not, then it will be Monday before she sees one again.
(small department, odd hours for some officers)

This is true according to my research, as well as comments by an ez-officer I know ........ It picks up speed, but doesn't tell the cop who is going that speed. On two different occasions years ago, my dectector went off on the interstate, just before a curve ...... I slow down quickly, the Corvette keeps on going. The cop pulls out and pulls the Corvette. He was in the middle lane going much slower than I was, appeared to be doing the speed limit. This is why I HATE radar .................. accurate as to speed sometimes, not accurate as to who is producing that speed.

John

Laser beam!

That makes zero sense to me. If they're locking in with laser, then it's a laser gun, not a radar gun.