Radar detectors

[link]

With a new car comes the need for another radar detector. I haven’t bought one for a long time.

In looking at comparisons, the Whistler CR90 gets consistently good marks and is low cost.

Any other recommendations?

[E150GT]

I had a Passport Escort 8500X50. It was a pretty good unit. I turned off x band since my local pd uses ka band. Might as well turn off laser too since its pretty useless. The laser alert is loud on mine and I got a false alarm once and it scare the crap out of me. The only time a ticket was issued using this is when I lent to a buddy and he got lasered. It never made a sound. The only reason I dont use it now is that I had it hard wired to my car and I sold my car and I never installed it in the new car. I ended giving it to my brother since be bought a V10 M5. I figured he'd need it. I might get another once since I am not allowed to get a ticket for work.

[jplinville]

I have found that a radar detector gives me a false sense of security in that it should go off when it's supposed to. I got two tickets with the last one, both times it went off with a laser, but by the time I reacted, it was too late...they had me. In the end, a CB with properly tuned antenna works the best, at least for me and my neck of the woods.

[link]

I’ve found that laser detection is largely academic in practice. The reason is because the detector is usually pointed right at the vehicle and is very fast at caclulating speed. By the time the detector senses it, the deed is done. However, there have been a couple of occasions where the person in front of or beside me got tagged so it is not entirely useless.

I know what you mean about the false sense, but for me they have been mostly very reliable. I have only been tagged 1x without the radar detector giving me a warning. That time was by an airplane doing the spotting and signaling to a lineup of patrol cars on an on-ramp.

One of my radar detectors is about 16 years old and the other one is 19 years old. I found another in a desk that is almost 30 years old! They have been darned reliable machines so far. I read that the newest ones have the ability to mask out the type(s) of and patterns of newer cars which use radar to help them drive more or less autonomously.

There are some forums which are devoted almost entirely to discussions of radar detectors. One can learn a lot with a little time reading. Accordingly, the Valentine brand is still a run away favorite, and still about the most expensive. Some new detectors incorporate a GPS and also have the ability to share information by way of the www about where known speed traps are located. Some of these can report this autonomously while others require user intervention to upload the data. It’s nice to see these tools are advancing in novel ways.

[Stretch]

You guys have all the fun - here the rozzers have radar detector detectors and then you get in serious doo doo (as they are illegal)

[alabbasi]

Originally Posted by Stretch

You guys have all the fun - here the rozzers have radar detector detectors and then you get in serious doo doo (as they are illegal)

At least in the UK, the police don't collect revenue for the city, county, state etc so it's very rare to find a police car sitting on the side of the road issuing tickets. As a friend of mine in the profession once said to me 'you'd have to be driving like a right plonker for me to stop you'.

[Adriel]

You wouldn't need a radar detector if drove like me: never five miles per hour over the speed limit.

However, try not to impede traffic flow and drive 20M.P.H. under the limit like my Dad did in is Beetle because it was the most efficient and wanted to have the engine last longer (over 200,000 miles and still be running if Dad hadn't quit driving her).

[Maki]

Working the afternoon-evening shift, I found a radar detector more useful on my nighttime commute home than during the day. LEOs like to take advantage of the cover of darkness, and they're on the lookout for impaired drivers after about 10 p.m.

Unfortunately, my pricey Valentine One radar box has become largely obsolete because it goes off when it detects K-band parking and vehicle proximity systems on newer cars.

Here's an article that describes what radar detector manufacturers are doing to filter out the abundance of low-energy K-band signals that have become commonplace on the highway: Is your radar detector just a new-car detector? - Autoblog

[E150GT]

Originally Posted by Maki

Unfortunately, my pricey Valentine One radar box has become largely obsolete because it goes off when it detects K-band parking and vehicle proximity systems on newer cars.

Thats why I just turned K band off. That was a nice feature on my passport.

[E150GT]

I always get tickets in small towns and on roads that are usually 35mph. I dont consider myself a speed demon but its easy to to speed in a 35mph zone when you just got off the highway.

[tyl604]

People still use these things? Should I hook up my old Fuzzbuster again?

[link]

Originally Posted by Stretch

You guys have all the fun - here the rozzers have radar detector detectors and then you get in serious doo doo (as they are illegal)

In the abstract, i can see why a state would make these illegal because they may work to rob the state to the right to generate revenue.

In practice, i'm surprised it would hold up in court. From your comment, obviously it does.

[link]

Originally Posted by Maki

Working the afternoon-evening shift, I found a radar detector more useful on my nighttime commute home than during the day. LEOs like to take advantage of the cover of darkness, and they're on the lookout for impaired drivers after about 10 p.m.

Unfortunately, my pricey Valentine One radar box has become largely obsolete because it goes off when it detects K-band parking and vehicle proximity systems on newer cars.

Here's an article that describes what radar detector manufacturers are doing to filter out the abundance of low-energy K-band signals that have become commonplace on the highway: Is your radar detector just a new-car detector? - Autoblog

Thanks for the article. I found that Whistler has a newer edition than i noted above. The new one is the cr93 which addresses this issue, at least to degrees.

I do a lot of longish road trips and am a left lane driver, but not a left lane camper, when on the hiway.

Can't speed in town as there are too many cars.

[link]

Originally Posted by tyl604

People still use these things? Should I hook up my old Fuzzbuster again?

Hah! It probably would help.

[Stoney]

Here in NYC and surrounding there is a mix of radar and laser but the city and other localities has set up radar zones...automatic cameras at known speed areas, at EVERY School area and at major intersections. They then dropped speed limit to 25 on streets , 30 on access roads but still 50 on expressway.

But the NYPD Highway units still use X/Ka on major streets to get you at blind spots, and always at last week of the month (Called Red Light Overtime here).

The only good thing about radar cameras is courts have tossed the points...since there is no cop to witness they cannot stick points on you.
$50 for a red light, $50 for over 25 in a school zone, etc but if cops gets you on highway with radar the fines start @ $150 and point are 3 basic and go up according to the judge's attitude. Used to be +20 mph was see the judge but now it is +10 and see the judge

They claim it all about Safety for the Kids but it is all about the Benjamins...