Radar/Laser Detectors

When I was looking to buy one a year ago, I found there are two camps: Those who swear by their radar detectors, and those who say there are so many false alarms that detectors are useless.

But both camps recommended the WAZE ap, which I didn't know about at the time. Now I don't travel anywhere at speed without running the WAZE ap on my phone. Check it out if you aren't already using it.

 

They give false alarm most of the time. Waze is better and more accurate to an extent, it's the new thing now.

Radar detectors are like the kid in the crying wolf story. We ended up ignoring tall the "cries" aka alerts because of bad ones prior.

 

In California, it seems like most law enforcement is using Laser. Unlike radar which broadcasts out, laser is simply point to and they got you. My detector recognizes laser but by that time its already too late.

 

The Valentine one is the acknowledged Daddy of all detectors, comes with various mounting options including remote display etc etc.
I've not used it personally but every review I've read has sung its praises.

That said, as noted above, laser is far more common than radar now and unless you have a jammer fitted then by the time you've reacted to the detector going off it'll be too late.

 

If you keep to the speed limit, why would you need one. In europe they are banned in some countries, france, spain etc. In time they will be banned EU wide and no bad thing either.

 

Do you keep to the speed limit 100% of the time with zero tollerence for error when driving a +400 hp car?

Do you have 100% faith the speed measuring equipment used by law enforcement is 100% accurate all the time and in all conditions?

I am sure this accidental speeding/measurement error due to limitations of the equipment is perhaps one possible reason for needing such detection equipment to help the driver ;-)

Of course it is perfectly reasonable for you to question why any ferrari owner would exceed the limit intentionally! Such a thought is really blasphemy!





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I have never been done for speeding, to be fair they are reasonable here in that they allow you a bit of lee way.
On the UK motorways and dual carrageways the limit is 70 but you get overtaken by the 90 brigade putting everyone elses life at risk. I stick to the limit and i get to where i want to go- having a Ferrari does not give me the right to break the limit.

 

I have used the Waze app for several years now. The tickets it has saved me from easily have paid for my cell phone bill for the entire year. If you are considering a radar or laser detector, download the Waze up first and use it for a few weeks

 

I was an early adopter of Waze, but find that a large population is required to get the gains that several have mentioned here. It is user based. Limited local use / means limited effectiveness. As for actual detectors: I am proficient in speed violations. Being as such I can state with authority that the Valentine 1 is by far the best alternative. With that said - laser is tough to defeat. If you are alone in traffic you will be targeted ~ and documented. You need to depend on detecting laser "spatter" from some-other commuter being targeted to get a laser alert that will benefit you. Without that you will have a difficult time detecting laser soon enough to react period.

 

I was put onto Waze by an Uber driver here. Now the population of Waze in Western Pennsylvania is sufficient that there are plenty of cars using it in front of you for most trips, including the "new Autobahn" Tollway Rt 76 in Pa. I get passed routinely by old women in SUVs as I roll along at 80 mph. The Waze is very reliable for pointing out where police officers are sitting, very interactive. Also road hazards and weather. I never leave home without mine. Radar is worthless. The state of the art now is when your radar detector goes off, it's either too late, is a false alarm or laser for which there is no defense.

 

Not even a laser jammer? (honest question)

 

I have the Passport 9500ci. It's installed in the front bumper, and the display on my center console. It also has laser jammers (though I have no idea if they work) and I also use Waze.

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Aren't we special. The rest of us that live in the real world that are into high performance, high horse power sports cars can have a tendency to fracture a speed limit or two from time to time. The cars actually offer more exhilaration when driven, than attending Ferrari club PPE events (Posing, Parking and Eating). The purpose of this thread was not to be lectured on the moral relativity of speeding.

Back to the topic. I have Valentine 1's in all the cars. The latest version keeps false alarms to a minimum (or none), and has saved me on quite a few occasions. Even the laser function has picked up cars ahead that were being hit. It will work brilliantly if you drive your car and not just park it in front of restaurants and try to look important.

 

I found out the 612 I purchased has a Valentine system installed in the front complete with a laser jammer. It is displayed in the rear view mirror, the radar setup works well but I have no idea about the laser dector and jammer. Does anyone have any experience with this type of installation? I have other Valentines w/o the laser and they were good except the false signals. I am somewhat reluctant to trust the system so much as I haven't heard anything from any with experience with a similar system.

 

I use Valentine 1 and Waze app whenever I go for a drive.
I also have laser jammers but I have not installed it yet.

I had a laser jammer on my BMW M6 and its very effective. The key is once you get hit with the laser to drop down to speed limit and turn off the jammers so the cop can get a reading on you and you are at speed limit by then thus avoiding a ticket.

Some people commented to me - you must drive really fast as you have all this gadgets.
So I say to them - let me ask you some questions:

1) How many people you know drive the speed limit 100% of the time?
2) How many people you know watch their speedometer 100% of the time to ensure they are always driving the speed limit?
3) How many people you know always know what the speed limit is everywhere they go?
4) How many people you know enjoy getting a speeding ticket?

The purpose of my gadgets is to remind me to slow down as sometimes I enjoy driving my car so much I didnt realize how fast I was going already.
And I dont like getting a ticket.

How many speeding tickets I've had in my 42 years of driving?
1, and that was on my Honda Accord where I have no gadgets installed.

 

By it's nature, a laser beam is 100% coherent. About the diameter of a pencil. If there was enough energy behind it and you pointed it at the moon, it would have the diameter of a pencil. Therefore, it's highly unlikely that your "laser detector" will detect anything until it strikes your car. Lasers don't usually "bounce" off landscape to your detector. You're nailed in milliseconds.

As far as jamming goes, I'm told by a friendly cop that a State Trooper using laser can instantly tell if the beam from their gun is being altered and from the exact car doing it. That would generate a great deal of interest in you and he'd have a great interest in tracking you down for a look-see at your car and what's sitting on the dash. Unclear if they're "illegal" but if a case can be made for illegally avoiding a speeding citation by interfering with a means of tracking your speed, they could at the least drag you into court and ask you a lot of questions, wasting your time and money.

I continue to think that Waze is the best route combined with just limiting speed to under 15 mph under the posted speed limit. If you get hit with 15 mph over 9in Pennsylvania, it isn't speeding anymore, it's reckless driving and that's an offence where you post bond and go before a judge, costing you money and time.

If the speed limit is 70, I'm at 80 watching Waze. I've never been bothered by cops anywhere in Pennsylvania. Be more careful in Ohio where speeding citations are a growth industry.

 

Except for divergence. By the time NASA's rangefiding laser beam hits the reflectors on the moon, it's several kilometers wide due to divergence.

Police laser will be 2-3 feet wide at 1,000 feet. Cops usually aim at the license plates because those are highly reflective. So if there are cars ahead of you getting illuminated, there is likely to be some backscatter.

 

A laser beam does not appreciably spread as much as radar, certainly not at 1/4 mile or so, and you're right about the front license plate. That's where it's mostly reflected. However, depending on extraneous bounce off other things to reach your laser detector is pretty thin.

From an ad for laser speed gadgets:

http://www.pbelectronics.com/police_lidar_laser.htm

"Laser speed detection renders radar detectors useless, and thus isolates the most flagrant speeders. The Marksman measures speed in 1/3 second, not nearly enough time for a driver to react to a laser detector warning".

 

I had a laser jammer on my daily driver a number of years ago. It worked well at the time. I don't know if laser guns or jammers have improved since then though.

I had a cop friend that set up a time for me to drive by him a number of times with the jammer both on and off. He eventually could pick me up with the jammer turned on but the range was drastically reduced to the point I would have plenty of time to be alerted and slow down before my speed registered on his gun.

I still have the jammer in my garage. I just don't use it anymore because it's a half day job to install and it's hard to find the time.

At the time, this was THE site for jammer info http://www.guysoflidar.com/index2.html

 

Valentine 1 is great once you learn to interpret things. I speed almost always and don’t like paying more in taxes, which is all speeding tickets are.

 

I used to have some buddies in my gym who happened to be State Troopers. Now as most of you know, especially in some states, these guys don't mess around. They are considered the toughest of the tough. Wanna know what they think of detectors? They like them... because 1) they keep the driver alert and 2) people who drive with them tend to end up being in fewer accidents, because they tend to be smarter drivers.

Look if you're blaring around 20+ mph over the limit at rush hour then you're going to get caught eventually no matter, and I see these idiots all the time. There's a time and a place to open things up a bit, and we all know when it ain't.

You ask me, the real danger nowadays are texts. Can't tell you how many text caused accidents I see nowadays.

My opinion before we go all high and mighty about detectors, nail those texters to the wall.



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^^Totaly agree. When I see a car start to behave erratically I virtually always see the driver with a phone in their hand.

 

I use the Escort "new" ix. Before that I had the max 360 and a 9500ix. The max was too big and rattled in its mount. The ix does okay. I'd say 30% false but it has actually picked out a local laser along with multiple CHP Ka. I keep hearing that CHP uses laser so I assume they do but I just haven't seen it. Yes I know laser is instant but I assume it saw the beam being used on someone else allowing me to slow down or I was just lucky. My humble experience has been that CHP uses Ka band but local LEOs use laser. Escort has their own app which I find myself using a lot but I do see Waze is very popular so I suppose i should get familiar with it.

 

I use the K40 in 3 exotics - have used them for 9 years and never had a problem - totally hidden and protects against laser and radar