Best radar detector

Thanks.

 

I'll answer #24. As an ex-embalmer...Living is the fun part. Next question. Jq.

 

Then you cross your fingers and hope you don't catch a cop on a bad day. My brother got a ticket for going 3 mph over.

 

There are various web sites that list by city and county in California what type of equipment the law enforcement agencies are using. Unfortunately in California, most are now either using laser exclusively or are using laser/radar combinations with more going to exclusively laser. I'm in Los Angeles and they are predominantly laser now.

I've been happy with my Escort 8500x but it doesn't give me anything for laser. If they hit you with laser, they have you. From my limited understanding, unlike radar, laser is directly pointed at a specific car and does not send out a wide, detectable signal like radar does.

 

BEL and Escort each offer a model that is undetectable by the laser detector detectors - check out their websites that I linked in my earlier post.

Re laser - as mentioned, if you're targeted by laser, the average radar/laser detector will just tell you you're getting a ticket, nothing you can do at that point. With a laser jammer system, however, it will jam the laser for only a few seconds so it doesn't get a reading and at the same time warn you to slow down NOW. By all accounts, they are effective against laser.

 

Well, that's not ENTIRELY true. I have a laser jammer installed in my M5 - a Blinder M40 Extreme system. It has been 100% reliable and effective for me. So much so that I've actually seen smoky joe by the side of the road smacking the side of his gun to get it to work properly - seriously, no lie.

The intended operation, as I've been taught, is to speed as you normally would. In my M5, I also have a Valentine 1 - both the V1 and the Blinder are hard-wired, obviously. If I'm being hit by a laser, which are the only guns used by Highway Patrol in my experience, both my V1 and my Blinder will go crazy in alarm. Immediately, I'll slow down to approx. 70 mph, and I'll actually deactivate the Blinder via a kill switch mounted under my dash, near my left shin. Then, the cop can get a clear reading on my car - 70 mph. Off I go, smiling happily. If I left it ON, it would continue to jam the signal from the laser.

I've been very fortunate - never have I rec'd a speeding ticket in that car.

 

I also have a Valentine since 2002, and was wondering if anyone has sent in their Valentine for the upgrades to the older ones they offer? I think it runs about $150

 

Yes, I bought mine in the early 90s and have sent it in for upgrade to the newest spec. Mine was so old they just sent me a new one

 

Wow, not bad.

 

No detector is going to provide any practical laser protection. It is just the way it is.

 

... unless it's paired with a suitable laser jammer install.

 

Has anyone published a test on laser jammers? I would be interested on reading up a little on them and what options I have

 

I am a huge fan of the BEL 995. They are running a new KU band here in GA and it works fine with that and laser. I-95 has a bunch of crappy small towns that love to screw with people as they pass though their territory. I don't think the V1 is at the top of the heap anymore, and My last 2 Escorts fell apart and had stuck buttons.


Need to buy another one for the 328 as retired my Escort 9500 and run a Bel 995 in my F150.

 

Radar Roy's OFFICIAL Radar Detector Review site! this is Radar Roy's website with reviews on detectors and jammers. The Blinder M27/M47 units are probably the best. I have the ZR4 because my car was already wired for the ZR3 and I upgraded...

 

What do you guys think of the new passport max. I have 2 v1 but I think v1 has not made any major improvements in years. The arrows are there thing but now many are more sensitive and have gps lock out. V1 is annoying in city having to push mute every few min. I think I am leaning towards a unit which can learn and lock out falses or allow a manual lockout. Arrows are nice but advances in other units i think now outweigh this one feature. Any input on Max users

 

I have searched and read most of the FChat posting on detectors and everything I can find on the net.
Correct me if I am wrong but:
1) most cities ( at least in the Dallas /Fort Worth area ) are using laser- radar DETECTORS are useless except for the newer ones that are also Laser DETECTORS , which means they are only alerting you that you are about to get pulled over.
2) Laser JAMMERS are the best (if not only) way to truly avoid city tax revenue gatherers.

 

Last week I was visiting N California and we were driving south on Hiway 1 with my Valentine in place. I was doing maybe 5-7 over the limit and I suddenly noticed a car behind me licking my tailpipe. Then about 20 seconds later as I went around a turn a long ways off I could see a police car, local sheriff. So I let off a bit.

He went on by both of us and then I could see him pull a U-turn and I though oh crap he's going to write me up for 7 over! But I never heard a blip form the detector and it supposedly does have laser detection. But besides that the sheriff was in a moving car and AFAIK that doesn't work for laser?

So sure as hell help pulls behind and puts on the red lights but takes the guy behind me. I just kept driving.

I can't figure out what he could have seen or detected about the guy behind me. Yes he was probably going fast as he was just suddenly behind me but I don't see how the cop could have know?

Which leads me to ask. Is there something new out there now?

Do they really run airplanes overhead on hiway 1 on a Friday afternoon?

 

It could have been something simple like expired tags, or they were on the lookout for that guy. 5-7mph (in a 65) isn't generally enough to trigger the Police in CA.

 

I'd like to hear any thoughts on the passport max as well. A friend of mine got one a few months ago and is really happy with it - far fewer false alarms that with his previous detector.

 

I don't have the Max, but I do have the 9500xi in some of my cars, with the Escort Live smart cord. IMO, even the 9500 model is superior to the V1 in not only the obvious ways, but also in overall less false alerting. I don't even pay real attention to my V1 anymore. I am considering replacing it with the Max, hard wired into my M5 with the smart reporting add on.
The V1 is aging, and now has an app but it's not that much of an improvement because of the lack of GPS functionality. I used to love the V1, now after running the Escorts for a while, I don't like it anymore.

 

Better make sure it has Ku. I am in south GA and several jurisdictions run Ku here. I get hit with it weekly on I-95 and the other major arteries.

 

+1 for the V1

 

It seems like the majority like the V1 some say older models are better and not to upgrade. Any info is appreciated on that.

As others said it false a lot but that can be adjusted, others prefer other models.

Many of the V1 competitors are catching up redline out did v1 in some tests I have seen. What sucks is it difficult to be remotely mounted. I have read about rearview mirror concealment but not sure how good it is.

Guess it depends on what is used where you travel.

 

I've followed a lot of the rd discussions before and since getting my escort max. Here's the basic summary I see:

For arrows, only the V1. If that's the priority it's the only choice for you. The penalty is lots of falses.

For range, the v1 or escort redline. redline can be paired with Escorts Live service to mark out known false alerts.

For minimal falses, the escort max. The range appears to be slightly less and there are no arrows, but the GPS and internal filtering does a very good job.

As much as I'd like arrows and maximum range, I chose the Max simply because I knew if I was getting false alarms all the time, I would start ignoring the alerts.

Having had it awhile, I'm am happy with it. Though it seems here is CA, police are using pretty much only ka and laser so one could probably get a v1 or redline, turn off all bands but those and have a quiet drive. Not true in other states though from what I hear.

 

How does the V1 or the Max do with radar?