I need a good radar detector

Wow! Lot of info since the last time I dropped by. First off GrayCobra - That Fuzzbuster pic posted above is a detector, not a jammer. I've never used a jammer in my life. Additionally, the following statement you made, "IMHO, Radar Guns do not help you avoid traffic tickets. They might help you avoid a really bad wreck up ahead.
Did you mean to say Radar Detectors or Radar Guns? Do you think cops should leave their radar turned on at accident scenes so those of us with detectors will have advance warning of possible trouble up ahead? If that was the intention of your statement, then yes I fully agree. I've actually witnessed that before on occasion. Not sure if it was done on purpose or intentionally.

Now if I take your statement above to mean radar detectors do not help in avoiding traffic tickets, then I disagree. As an educated "end user" of a radar detector I fully understand the laser warning in my V1 is usually nothing more than a "YOUR BUSTED" alert. Yes I've picked up a few laser warnings from a scattered beam or two while riding in a pack, but there really is no combating it unless you want to fork out the money for a jamming unit. From what I read it's still legal for civilians to jam laser because it's light and not electromagnetic in nature (radar). So radar jammers are illegal, while laser jammers are not. I have never witnessed any of the laser jammers in person, but tests show they do work in some scenarios. As for my V1, and all the other radar detectors I've owned over the years, they have saved me over and over again. Radar detectors serve a purpose and when used with a little common sense work remarkably well.

U.M.
 
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I've used V1's for over 4 yrs and they kick ass. I recently Ebay'd both of mine for nearly what I paid for them new and I've been buying various used detectors to check them all out for myself. Moreless playing around until the next V1 comes out...

Bel 985...very impressed. Falses less than the V1, but I miss the arrows and bogey counter. Automute is a great feature too. Range is awesome...picked up solid K band at 4 miles and instant-on Ka blasts at over a mile (over hills). Poor Accord in front of me never knew what hit him :D

Bel 970...same as the 985 except a few less features and less filtering (no AutoScan, which is nice in the city...basically cuts out ALL weak signals...level 1 and level 2 hits). Overall very good.

Bel 946 cordless....worthless.

Bel 940...same as the 985 except for less features (which I don't use anyway). Only paid $75 for it on Ebay, so I'll probably hang on to it for a while and use it in my car.

Passport 8500...works well. It's in my wife's car so I haven't used it much though. Cheesy mount...basically a bent piece of sheetmetal. That and the fact that it doesn't come with a hardwire kit like the V1 are big reasons for the price difference between the 2. Besides the obvious (arrows, counter, and 2 radar antennas instead of 1).

Escort Solo S2 cordless...have only used it a couple days. I've gotten 3 false laser hits, which is very annoying (and will make you juice your shorts).

The bottom line is that the higher end Bels and Escort / Passports will have similar range to the V1. The V1's windshield mounting system is by far superior (the Bel's bounce around some, which is annoying) to any other unit. The 8500 can track multiple hits in expert mode, but still no directional arrows. Once you've used the arrows, all other detectors seem like they're missing something. It's just nice to know where they're at. There are so many situations where the arrows help a ton that I can't even begin to explain...

Lawman85 said:
to be honest, detectors are a waist of money

Ummm...ok...

Sure, they're not fool proof. Laser and instant-on can still get you. But saying they're a waste of money is rediculous :notnice: Tell that to the guy in the Accord that got popped doing 90 in a 65 in front of me last weekend...

If all cops used laser they'd be a waste...and if all cops used instant-on they'd be much less effective (can still pick them up if they hit the trigger while you're within your detectors range). But neither is the case, at least around here...

You're making me wonder about your "expert" status :rolleyes:
 
I purchased one of the 8500's about 2 months ago, and my personal feeling is that I wasted $300 or so. Nothing against the model of detector, I think that they are ALL very over-rated. It detects well, especially the satellite signs that PA puts on the roads under construction!

Took a road trip yesterday from PA to NC via I81... it was set off every mile in PA from those signs. Took it down when I got out of the car and never put it back up for the 10 hour ride home, and didn't miss it a bit.

I really wish that this thread was written before I bought mine! I read up on all the detectors themselves, but not on "customer reviews" so to speak.

Just my opinion, take it or leave it... :shrug:
 
westernstar11 said:
I purchased one of the 8500's about 2 months ago, and my personal feeling is that I wasted $300 or so. Nothing against the model of detector, I think that they are ALL very over-rated. It detects well, especially the satellite signs that PA puts on the roads under construction!

Took a road trip yesterday from PA to NC via I81... it was set off every mile in PA from those signs. Took it down when I got out of the car and never put it back up for the 10 hour ride home, and didn't miss it a bit.

I really wish that this thread was written before I bought mine! I read up on all the detectors themselves, but not on "customer reviews" so to speak.

Just my opinion, take it or leave it... :shrug:

What exactly do you mean by satellite signs????????

Is it the 8500 or the 8500 X50?

How much do you want for it?
 
You're making me wonder about your "expert" status

Well, hankd, I didn't claim to be an expert.

If all cops used laser they'd be a waste...and if all cops used instant-on they'd be much less effective (can still pick them up if they hit the trigger while you're within your detectors range). But neither is the case, at least around here...

Our agency has put about 35 lasers on the road, and every patrol car has the MPH Python instant on, dual cone, radar... every patrol car. So I guess detectors are useless here...lol...

Now for some sneeky info. GrayCobra. You agree about the shadowing and that the larger signature vehicle will always give the reading right? Well, the new Bee3 radars now have what's called "fastest" mode. It measures ALL signals received, not just the strongest, and displays the fastest vehicle inside the beam width. So now I can nail the cobra, or the vette behind it, hiding in the trucks shadow.
Now to mess with you even more. Everyone thinks radar only works if the cop is sitting still or traveling in the opposite direction as you.... wrong.. The new systems can clock a car traveling in the SAME direction as the police car, no matter if the suspect car is in front or behind the police car. The unit will tell how fast the patrol car is going, and how fast the target car is traveling. LOL.... hope that makes everyone think a bit... gotta love technology.



A ? for you...Do you get false positive results from time to time with either the Radar or the Laser? Like near airfileds, or transmission towers. Like when there is no traffic or it is lightening. We used to from the Phased Array Radars and some early models of Laser Range Finders.


Laser, no. Radar, sometimes. The radar issues are easy to identify and fix. I clocked a street light at 180mph one night. It was the hum of the bulb that it was reading. We also use the Doppler "tone" along with the reading to determine if the display is correct.
 
I know exactly what you mean about PA Turnpike. They have radar on orange trailers connected to a digital sign displaying your speed. After running into 2 of these things, I had to hit the mute after they were detected. They are all X band, if I remember correctly. This is where you use your head. A combination of thinking like radar and a good detector work in tandem. The PA turnpike is WAY too twisted to get a radar fix on any cars together, just hide in the traffic. The only way to get you would be for a cop being in a moving crown vic behind you. BTW, exactly why you need those arrows! Just don't get carried away and go too fast. The twisties and cement divider in the center will get you on the PA turnpike.
 
Did you mean to say Radar Detectors or Radar Guns? Do you think cops should leave their radar turned on at accident scenes so those of us with detectors will have advance warning of possible trouble up ahead? If that was the intention of your statement, then yes I fully agree. I've actually witnessed that before on occasion. Not sure if it was done on purpose or intentionally

Hi Uncle Meat, :D

I stand corrected on the Radar detectors. As for the rest of the leaving Radar Guns in an active mode to help stop accidents, you and I think alike. As for what a Fuzz Buster did, being 46 years young I remember them, but forgot they were marketed as Radar Detectors. Do you remember them helping you avoid a speeding ticket! If they did then congrats to you, and hopefully that will happen more often for you and others who pay attention to the signals given off by these Detection devices. As for Lasers it is darned hard to beat them.

If my opinion of Radar Detectors rubs you the wrong way, so be it, but allow me my opinion. I have used either Cobra or Escort detectors since 1974(approximately). I will continue to use them as they make me, and my insurance company happy. Fewer life ending wrecks, fewer unnecessary traffic tickets, fewer bad drivers moving at reckless speeds equals more people enjoying the sport of driving.

Well, the new Bee3 radars now have what's called "fastest" mode. It measures ALL signals received, not just the strongest, and displays the fastest vehicle inside the beam width. So now I can nail the cobra, or the vette behind it, hiding in the trucks shadow.

Lawman85...I didn’t know there was a “fastest” mode capable of warming up that much. I should adjust my driving habits because of this.

One more thing I’d like to draw into this discussion. I like to call my Radar/Laser Detector a speed trap detector. Its not generally the choice of a rogue Cop to cause fear in the local drivers. I've heard a trend of states governments shutting down municipalities who use choke points in their road system as ‘Speeding Traps.” Dropping the speed limit from highway speeds to 35 or even slower in very short distances.

While not accusing you of any improper behavior, I have been tagged with radar and/laser guns on more than one occasion in several locations. :nonono: A few older notorious Speed Traps that stand out in my mind are:

a. About 20-30 miles south of the North Carolina to South Carolina Border on I-65. I think the town is named Dunn. :mad:

b. The cities of Katy and Lagrange Texas both of which are on I-10 west of Houston, Texas. :mad:

c. Elizabethtown Kentucky, near Louisville on 31W (Dixie highway). :mad:

d. I-40 west of Ashville, N.C. :mad:

The list goes on. I wonder how other people feel about this, and if they have been "tagged" by one? :notnice: / :)
 
We don't utilize "speed traps". Alot of people don't know what a true speed trap is. We will put an officer with a laser on top of an overpass to shoot cars, he then calls the cars out to marked units stationed somewhere on the interstate who stop the cars and cite them. That is not a speed trap. We do not play with the speed limits. Our interstates that we patrol are all 55mph and 65mph. We can stop people at 90+ all day long. Our state laws tell us that we have to be visible for 500ft and we can't use speed detection on certain grade roads. Every road we use radar and laser on is certified by the Dept. of Transportation and we have a permit for it.

GrayCobra, I figured you would like that info on the "fastest" mode. Here is another one for you.... There is a laser company here: Laser Atlanta. Everytime a new "jammer" comes on the market they get one. In order to beat it all they have to do is change to programming of the radar to alter the pulse rate of the beam. They then update everybody's laser with the new program. Their lasers are un-jammable.... awesome machine.

Like I said, I love writing the tickets to people with the detectors. Kind of a challenge for me. Here is a bit of advice. All the officers I know won't even consider giving you a warning if you have a detector. Our philosophy is: You played the game, bought your detector, and lost anyway..... here is your receipt for playing... come again.

That comment is going to get flamed!!! :rlaugh: :rlaugh: :rlaugh:
 
The V1 is winner by far. As for people say they dont work have no clue. No it wont save you from every ticket but for the majority it helps. Just use common sence along with it. Hit me in a spceific spot of the car and it wont trigger the radar detector, ahhhhhh yea right. I have had radar detector go off with a cop driving toward me from beyond a hill where I couldnt even see his headlights.
 
PWRHUNGRY01 said:
The V1 is winner by far. As for people say they dont work have no clue. No it wont save you from every ticket but for the majority it helps. Just use common sence along with it. Hit me in a spceific spot of the car and it wont trigger the radar detector, ahhhhhh yea right. I have had radar detector go off with a cop driving toward me from beyond a hill where I couldnt even see his headlights.


Your right about radar, the beam bounces everywhere. I can hit you with a laser and never set off the laser detector. Laser and radar are two different animals.
 
"ORIGANLLY POSTED BY LAWMAN 85" Kind of a challenge for me". Here is a bit of advice. All the officers I know won't even consider giving you a warning if you have a detector. Our philosophy is: You played the game, bought your detector, and lost anyway..... here is your receipt for playing... come again.

Well What I dont understand is you've said previously they don't work and there a waste of money,again here you say you like giving tickets to people with radar detectors for the challenge :shrug: well mine has saved me plenty of tickets ,you must just know how to use them .I drive safe and pick my spots and havnt had a ticket in over 10 years..knock on wood :bang: Good luck lawman and hopefully we dont meet On the street except to say Hi. :D :flag: :spot:my votes with the passport 8500
 
I hate to break it to ya, but lasers are very few and far between. At least where I am (nc) and between upstate NY. As a matter of fact, I have NEVER had a real laser hit and just a few falses (count 5 in 4 years). A laser false is caused by a sun reflection on a vehicle in front of the detector usually. Maybe lasers are common out west or mid-west, but not in the east as far as I can tell. They are too expensive for police depts. and they have no money.

Most of my hits are X or K band, with occasional Ka. Note that from X to K to Ka you have less falses and it's more likely to be radar. Also, the frequency increases, making the beams more directional and less likely to be detected by reflections. Note that if there is no X band radars in your area, you can turn this off in the firmware. As a matter of fact, you can change a ton of V1 settings.
Here's how to do it.



As for instant on - Only once from a motorcycle cop in 4 years. Everyone else leaves it on or pulses it so obvious that I can tell with at least 10-20 second warning to slow down.
 
Uncle Meat said:
Everything you posted is correct, but lets keep in mind here that a radar detector is nothing more than a tool. People need to know how to use this tool to their advantage. Anyone who thinks they can roll down the highway all by themselves or leading the pack at 90MPH and expect their detector is gonna save 'em is a fool. I've been driving with a radar detector in my car for 20+ years. I used to own one of the original FuzzBusters!! Never had a ticket in my life for speeding. Then again, I'm smart enough to use my detector as a warning device...

Remember these anyone?

odd_00002_fuzzbuster_electrolert.jpg


U.M.

Hey U.M. I had one of those! I also still have an original escort somewhere.....
 
Cobracide said:
I hate to break it to ya, but lasers are very few and far between. At least where I am (nc) and between upstate NY. As a matter of fact, I have NEVER had a real laser hit and just a few falses (count 5 in 4 years). A laser false is caused by a sun reflection on a vehicle in front of the detector usually. Maybe lasers are common out west or mid-west, but not in the east as far as I can tell. They are too expensive for police depts. and they have no money.

Most of my hits are X or K band, with occasional Ka. Note that from X to K to Ka you have less falses and it's more likely to be radar. Also, the frequency increases, making the beams more directional and less likely to be detected by reflections. Note that if there is no X band radars in your area, you can turn this off in the firmware. As a matter of fact, you can change a ton of V1 settings.
Here's how to do it.



As for instant on - Only once from a motorcycle cop in 4 years. Everyone else leaves it on or pulses it so obvious that I can tell with at least 10-20 second warning to slow down.


Don't drive around metro Atlanta. We use lasers like you would not believe on the interstates. Our traffic is so thick that the laser is the only thing we can use with any accuracy. As for instant on, that is all we use. The other radars were taken off of the market for health reasons. Every radar now has the capability for instant on. It just depends on how the officer chooses to use it.
 
Lawman85 said:
Our agency has put about 35 lasers on the road, and every patrol car has the MPH Python instant on, dual cone, radar... every patrol car. So I guess detectors are useless here...lol...


1. They're still not useless even if all cops used instant-on. Useless when driving with nobody up ahead of you for a mile or so, but not with a fair amount of cars on the road.

2. I also stated that around HERE most don't use instant-on or laser. I've learned where they do and am a bit more cautious there. You issued the blanket statment that radar detectors are useless, which is crap...

3. There's nothing new about same lane radar, etc. Anybody that thinks they can't get clocked by a cop driving the same direction whether in front or behind needs to study up...
 
Your right about radar, the beam bounces everywhere. I can hit you with a laser and never set off the laser detector. Laser and radar are two different animals.

I am somewhat of a countermeasures nut. I have a bell vector 985(hindsight is 20/20 should have bought the V1 for the arrows) and it works awesome, I also have a Phantom RCD(active radar jammer)now called the Scorpion RCD....those who think it doesn't work, think again....unless he is behind me, the Phantom will blank the radar guns to about 200 ft X & K bands only. I have several friends in law enforcement who have allowed me to do several feild tests with it. It is also alot of fun at night, as it emits a constant X signal, so I get to set off everyones radar detectors and watch them slow down when I come from behind. I also run a Uniden BCT-12 Beartracker, which alerts me if I'm within a couple of miles of a highway patrol car, it does so by picking up on the mobile extender frequencies(the radio signal that transmits from the car to the vest mounted radio)....it does not alert to local or county vehicles, as it would be alerting all of the time. And has a database of all states and canada. My final countermeasure will be the Lidatek Laser echo system....it is the only one that uses an actual Gallium Arsenide laser to jam. Lawman is partially correct in that the beam is only a couple of feet wide between 200-500 feet, however he didn't mention "light spray" which is inherent to all lasers, that is, though the main beam is only 2 feet wide at that given distance, the light spray(many smaller beams) may be up to twice as wide.
 
woomaster said:
I am somewhat of a countermeasures nut. I have a bell vector 985(hindsight is 20/20 should have bought the V1 for the arrows) and it works awesome, I also have a Phantom RCD(active radar jammer)now called the Scorpion RCD....those who think it doesn't work, think again....unless he is behind me, the Phantom will blank the radar guns to about 200 ft X & K bands only. I have several friends in law enforcement who have allowed me to do several feild tests with it. It is also alot of fun at night, as it emits a constant X signal, so I get to set off everyones radar detectors and watch them slow down when I come from behind. I also run a Uniden BCT-12 Beartracker, which alerts me if I'm within a couple of miles of a highway patrol car, it does so by picking up on the mobile extender frequencies(the radio signal that transmits from the car to the vest mounted radio)....it does not alert to local or county vehicles, as it would be alerting all of the time. And has a database of all states and canada. My final countermeasure will be the Lidatek Laser echo system....it is the only one that uses an actual Gallium Arsenide laser to jam. Lawman is partially correct in that the beam is only a couple of feet wide between 200-500 feet, however he didn't mention "light spray" which is inherent to all lasers, that is, though the main beam is only 2 feet wide at that given distance, the light spray(many smaller beams) may be up to twice as wide.


Countermeasures? What are you doing, runnin' drugs or something? Hell I'm suprised there aren't Chaff-n-Flare dispencers on that snake!

Dude.... people like you scare us normal folk.
babyhorror.jpg
 
LOL meat, I just tend to enjoy my interstate driving at a higher velocity than most. Being a pilot, I'm used to going 500mph daily and I must have speed otherwise I wouldn't be driving a cobra. I must do my best to avoid tickets as speeding tickets for me will potentially have negative effects with my pilots licenses....after all, SPEED IS LIFE!