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  #1  
Old 05-09-2003, 09:55 PM
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Location: Wakefield, RI
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Speeding Ticket!! Whats the best Radar/Laser detector?

Well, after almost 5 ticket-free years in Texas, where the speed limits are reasonable and so are the police I got bagged today. I was pulled from the middle of about 11 cars for doing 45mph in a 25mph zone. This may sound bad but anyone who has ever been in RI knows the speed limits are ridiculously low so the cops can collect their "donut money" at will. Its just another form of BS taxation that brain-dead RI residents have learned to put up with. Anywhere else in the country the road would be a 35mph minimum or maybe even a 45mph. No one EVER drives 25mph on rt138 in South Kingstown. I am suspicious that I got bagged 'cause I have a MB. Well with any luck, since I have a clean driving record the ticket will be dropped (you get one drop every 3 years here). Anyhoo, I stopped needing to play the cat-n-mouse radar-detector game when I moved to TX in '98 so I need to know what the latest and greatest "oinker-alerting" devices are these days. Sorry if there are any LEO's on the 'board but I just don't like y'all. I've met too many bad/ignorant cops in social situations, not incarceration mind you, to give any of y'all credit. C'mon guys, whats the latest-greatest technology out there? Thanks, RT

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  #2  
Old 05-09-2003, 10:01 PM
turbodiesel
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Valentine One, hands down. I've had mine for three years and I'm a little ashamed to say I do drive excessively fast on the highway (I swear, the car begs me!). In my defense though, I drive about 4 times more than the average driver.

I have gotten my share of tickets, but I also have a good lawyer. This radar detector probably saved me from a loss of license about 5 times through the years, even on a dead empty interstate at 3 or 4am.. if the statie is sloppy with his trigger I will beat him every time.

I also have an FOP card which works well when pulled over, but never by the State Police.. Too bad you're not in NJ I can get a bunch of these cars from a Seargent I know.. the same card saved me three times (and having a girlfriend who is one town's dispatcher helps too )

You can definately get the ticket reduced by just talking to the prosecutor on your court date, provided you have a fairly clean driving record.. it will save you money come insurance time.

Good luck,
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  #3  
Old 05-09-2003, 10:03 PM
turbodiesel
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By the way, the V1 is also a GREAT laser detector, I know for a fact the Connecticut State Police use it avidly, not sure about Rhode Island. Towns usually use good old radar. The V1 is $400 but one ticket will cost you that in fines and insurance surcharges.
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  #4  
Old 05-09-2003, 10:56 PM
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Location: south-east missouri
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detectors

I have had over half a dozen different detectors costing up to $1,000 ( built in to the car), forget all the rest of them and get the valentine one. You wouldn't belive the difference. Dairel
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  #5  
Old 05-09-2003, 11:17 PM
Mack
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V1, and if your a scrounger, you might do the research on V1 upgradability, and save some bucks buying an older eBay V1 and sending in to Valantine for the latest upgrades.

Cheers, Mack
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  #6  
Old 05-10-2003, 01:21 AM
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The only ticket I ever got was for 38 in a 25, some empty side road which should of been 35. Anyway my radar detector went off, pretty much saying 'YOU'RE SCREWED!', I never have and never will trust them. IMO the only way they help is if a cop is camping on the side of the road with his radar on, just waiting for a customer to come by. Maybe my Whistler hard wired detector in the 84 isn't very good, or the Bel 925 in my talon either, but any laser use at all almost isn't detected.

Oh, and my ticket was dropped because when I contested it the officer didn't show, thanks officer Miller. Try to contest it with a court date, maybe you won't be as lucky as I was, but it doesn't cost anything but a little time and your chances are very good you can talk it down. Good luck.
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  #7  
Old 05-10-2003, 04:19 AM
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Valentine One for sure. It's saved my tail many times when I had it in my 6.9 and now as it resides in the 6.3 it's still performing its magic. Check my post entitled "One more pic...Underway in downtown Cincinnati" which is posted in the Vintage Mercedes Forum here on this site. You can see the V1 lit up like a Christmas tree and 1.5 miles later I finally passed the speed trap. Forget Passport and BEL and Whistler. I've had them all and they are junk.

A good friend of mine has a Passport 8500 in his 2002 VW GTi and we did a side-by-side comparison. The Valentine smoked the Passport by a longshot!

He's now got an order in for a V1.
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  #8  
Old 05-10-2003, 11:08 AM
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Quote:
Forget Passport and BEL and Whistler. I've had them all and they are junk.
Maybe I should look into this detector then, I will probably never trust it but I just like the added insurance of having one. I still drive kinda slow (only 5 - 10 over) so I'm not real high risk, my 84 doesn't have a detector in it yet.

Quote:
Valentine One is the only detector with two radar antennas -- one front and one rear -- to scan all around your car and precisely locate each radar threat.
Uhhhhh, really?! My Bel does! It doesn't have the arrow feature, but I can still pickup radar a half mile to mile away. It may not the best but for $40 I can suffice.
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Last edited by BoostnBenz; 05-10-2003 at 11:24 AM.
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  #9  
Old 05-10-2003, 11:26 AM
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I've never really wanted or needed a detector either but you're all starting to make me consider getting this Valentine. I'm either driving in traffic in the city or going 5-10 above on the highway, so I probably wouldn't get a ticket anyway, but I'd like the extra gadgetry. Thanks for the suggestions.

Alex
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  #10  
Old 05-10-2003, 12:32 PM
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I used to drive pretty fast and lived by my radar detector. Didn't save me every time but it did a 90-95% job which is surely better than nothing. I drive a diesel MB for crying-out-loud! I take it easy now and just follow traffic. I was on the same road this morning going back to work and the oinkers had someone else pulled over in almost the same spot. I was three cars back and just got there when the poor "son of a unmarried woman" and the oinker pulled back into traffic. No sooner had the "offender" taken a right the oinker and the rest of the traffic speeded back up to, you guessed it, 45mph!! The same speed I got whacked for! This town is corrupt, period. I hate radar detectors. But it seems I will have to start using one again just to know the oinkers are in the vicinity and back off just a bit more. Ridiculous that it has come to this. They might as well just put "South Kingstown Tax Collector" on the side of the car. I did some research on the Valentine and the Passport 8500. Seems they are both top-rated and very close in performance. At the speeds I drive I only really need to know they are near so I can be careful. I have also found a couple of websites with designs for active radar and also active laser jamming equipment. Apparently it is illegal to operate active jamming equipment but I am so miffed right now I really don't give a rip. Two buddies with EE's that are into ham radio so I think building a unit is feasible. We'll see... I can just see the look on Officer Donut's face when the diesel MB is "invisible". H'mmm, gun must be broke, that or diesels really ARE slow. This really pushed the wrong buttons on me. Time to take this on the offensive. Thanks for the advice. RT
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  #11  
Old 05-10-2003, 01:23 PM
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I think I'm getting the Valentine One this summer. I drive quite a bit above the speed limit on the interstates...

My friends are gonna laugh at me when they see a V-1 in my 300CD

Whatever
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  #12  
Old 05-10-2003, 03:32 PM
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The V1 is the Mercedes-Benz of radar detectors. I've heard the passport is close in performance but I stick with what works and the V1 works.

The V1 will protect you from everything but instant on RADAR and LASER. Its not a license to speed but its a great help.

Tim
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  #13  
Old 05-10-2003, 05:15 PM
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Quote:
Apparently it is illegal to operate active jamming equipment but I am so miffed right now I really don't give a rip.
Not sure if you mean in your state it isn't, but you can block it legally in most states. The one that you are invisible upto a certain distance with the blocker I believe is legal in most states, but you can't jam it in any states. I've never had or tried one, but I believe the difference between a good and bad one are the distances they work at. Eventually when you get close enough they all will let the radar or laser work, but the idea is to give you plenty of time to slow down before this happens.

Instant on laser is what got me, then again I was on an empty road which was a horrible time to be speeding. I seen the cop there many times afterwards where he was looking for more customers, obviously stating the speed limit is to low there. Just to help other people on the road normally if I see we are coming into a trap I tap my brakes rapidly. Most of the time people catch on, and sometimes afterwards the person flashes their headlights to thank me.
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  #14  
Old 05-11-2003, 12:00 AM
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From what I understand the active jamming of laser is legal in most/all states? The equipment is not cheap and uses led's pulsing erroneous data at the laser gun to confuse it. Many passive radar jammers are available but most don't do squat. Active jammers broadcast on the same frequencies as the radar guns and either are activated by a detector or run all the time. The FCC frowns on anyone "broadcasting" anything without a license. I don't see how you would get caught if you were using such a device in traffic. How would they know its from your car? Seems like the magic bullet for radar. There used to be a device that tracked all the low-power repeaters in every squad car but I can't find anything about it anywhere. That way you would know when an oinker was within a 1/2 mile of you, radar/laser or not. Still doing some research. My MB may end up being the only one that can cook a turkey at 300yards from all the RF energy emissions. RT
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  #15  
Old 05-11-2003, 12:11 AM
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detector research

I spent months on the research, order independent lab test results, research the law etc. You right detectors are ok depends on the state, active laser jamming ok, but active radar jammers are not legal, the passive radar jammers either do not work or actually increased you changes of being a hit target by laser. After all the time and money I came down to two systems and bought both. Save you self a lot of time and trouble and just buy the V1. Dairel

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