Radar Detectors? What do you think?

[Mixedpuppy]

I guess a spin off the Speeding ticket thread,

I have gone through like 3-4 radar/laser detectors but they really don't seem to help unless you are over a flat area and can see for miles.

Know any good excuses to try to get out of a ticket?

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

What detectors have you gone through? Ever try the Escort Passport 8500? I swear by it...

[Mirroredshades]

Alot of Vette guys I know swear by Valentine 1 but they are expensive. I have a Bel and a Passport and like the Bel better.

As for excuses, tell them you have to pee really bad and you were speeding to get home....

[Black97]

Can't remember the name of mine. It's somewhere in a bag since I cannot use it here in Canada.

When I'm on business in the US I use it all the time. But no matter what you still have to keep your eyes open and don't think you can just floor it wherever you go.

About a year ago I was working in Tennesse and I was running late for work so I was going 68 in a 55. It was a long straight and I saw this car showing up at the end of it and wham the RD went on and I hit the brakes but it was too late. It was a State Trooper that stopped me.

I gave him my Canadian DL and he went to his car and eventually came back giving me a warning.

If there are cars well in front of you, the chances are better that you pick up some signals so you can slow down in time.

Even with a RD keep your eyes all over the road in front of you and if you are not sure what's heading towards you or is parked along side the road, slow down.

[Rhode Island Red]

I have valentine 1 .. didn't help me one bit avoiding my last ticket... radar detectors are useless with broad hills.. as the hill blocks/defects the signal from warning you .... didn't help me that I was in a F-body convoy and a red car was speeding and there happen to be 6 read cars... he chose mine...

[Spades95formula]

i hear ,all radars go off every time you pass a grocery store is that ttrue?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

That depends on the radar detector. They way Bell used to get away from this is to detect the scan angle. The doors scan horizontally so to see from a wide angle. Police radars scan vertically. I don't remember why. My Bell can detect this and not go off unless I'm right in front of it. I don't know about others.

[M3EATER - GG '00 WS6 T/A]

first....Best ones are:

Escort 8500
Valentine One

I have used both & I am now using the 8500 (I sell them and wanted to try one). I really got used to the direction arrows of the Valentine. The packaging and features of the Escort are better and it's ever so slightly more sensitive, but I want my arrows back!

As for using one....
It's not a "get out of jail free" card. You have to understand how radar works, how the police use it and how the detector works.

If you are the only car on the road & you come upon an officer using instant on (which, these days, is almost all the time) .... you will get a nice notice from your detector that you have been busted!

Unless the officer is running constant on .... You MUST have other traffic in front of you that is getting shot (far enough ahead so that it's them getting it, not you) in order for your detector to pick it up and warn you before YOU get shot.

Pay attention to ALL signals, you may be getting a short little beep from an officer punching the instant on at the traffic up ahead over a hill or around a curve. Of course, in the city this is tougher. You need to get to know your area and what signals you always get at certain points.

If you're just buzzing along in the fast lane with other traffic in the other lane, he's going to shoot YOU.

You have to find a rabbit to follow so that he gets it first. You also have to stay in the right lane as much as possible. You have to NOT be doing a lot of lane changing (they'll see you doing that & figure you are the fast guy). You MUST drive courteously and not be a nuisance to the other cars on the road.

Most importantly, use it all the time during your normal drive. This way you'll learn how the locals use their radar and their enforcement techniques.

You must accept that even with a detector, if you are gonna play .... you are going to get it once in a while. However, by driving allert, wisely and with a good detector ... you will avoid some of them too.

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

Gordon is 100% right. In Michigan the speed limit is 70 mph in most areas, and the state troopers I find are rather lenient. In most cases, you need to be doing over 80 mph to attract their attention. I feel completely comfortable crusing at 80 to 85, knowing that if I do pick up an alert, I will have plenty of time to slow down. In Michigan, the state troopers also seem to have a habit of driving with their radar on - rather than using the "instant on" so it is not unusual for me to pick up a signal from as far away as two miles - and despite what some people have mentioned - this INCLUDES over hills and around turns. The Passport is SO sensitive, that I once got an alert, let the detector chirp at me, until I got sick of it. I muted it, and accelerated back up to cruising speed. Well, low and behold, up and over the next hill, there he was. Luckily the hill had slowed me down to 78 or so, and the trooper didn't bat an eye. But I looked at my detector and saw that I was at full alert still... the thing is so sensitive that I actually find its warnings are TOO early sometimes

Also -- the detectors are largely ineffective against laser. Here, almost 99% of cop cars I encounter are hitting me with either K or Ka band. NOT ONCE has a cop shot me with X band in this state. That's fantastic because X band produces the most false alarms that were mentioned earlier. A nice feature with the 8500 is that I can completely turn the X band detection off, and greatly decrease my number of false alarms.

As far as laser is concerned, the cops are still rather limited in using it. Unlike radar, they can't clock you while moving, and they cannot shoot you through their windows. Every time a cop uses laser, he will be stopped, and the gun will be pointed out an open window - often times the cop is actually out of the car. If you are an alert driver, you should see this cop LONG before you get an alert - if it is during the day. There is very little defense from laser at night.

In the end, no radar detector gives you the freedom to cruise at triple digit speeds. It should only be used as "peace of mind" so that you don't feel like you are in an elevator that just had its cable snap when you come over a hill and SURPRISE! THERE HE IS!

Mine has saved me several tickets, but it has also saved me several heart attacks

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

PS: I have owned the car for 2.5 years, and I have zero points on my driving record. I got a ticket over Thanksgiving for a complete early morning brain fart when I turned left on a red light in front of a cop. The cop pretty much just laughed at me because he knew it wasn't malicious -- when we went to court, he reduced it to impeding traffic which is a zero point ticket that doesn't go on my record. At any rate, I wasn't pulled over for speeding, and it wasn't in the Trans Am. I have never been pulled over for speeding since I got this radar detector.

[Mirroredshades]

Jeff, thanks for that info. I always wondered why I get less false alarms on my Bel than the Passport.

[tabahr]

I don't use a radar detector. I find a fast moving car and let them run blocker for me. I'll follow them at a respectable distance allowing them to be the ones to get the ticket. My cousin is a cop, and he says you are pretty safe from tickets if you stay less than 10 over on the interstate. I usually go 73 in a 65 unless I have a blocker. At 73 I dont even slow down for cops, and I've NEVER gotten a speeding ticket.

I also recall passing 2 patrol cars off to the side of the interstate while traveling about 120mph. They waved at us! but, then again that was while on the HRM powertour in 97 and dozens of us were going that fast.

[briantech]

Anyone know of anywhere close to atlanta that you can drive pretty much as fast as you want? Like just a big oval race track or something... or a stretch of highway inbetween counties or something.

[Black97]

Originally posted by Jay 02 TA ws6
Gordon is 100% right.

Amen to that Couldn't have said it any better.

[Rhode Island Red]

Originally posted by briantech
Anyone know of anywhere close to atlanta that you can drive pretty much as fast as you want? Like just a big oval race track or something... or a stretch of highway inbetween counties or something.

I wouldn't .. they use laser .. and right over broad hills so no warning as even with the best laser warning device, you cannot react fast enough... I got out of that one (another story )