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Radar Detectors?

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Posted by: mespock

I know for some states these are illegal but not here in WI ...

And for those moments where you need to do a little testing it's nice to know if someone is watching.

What brands are the better brands and how many bands are necessary.

For the Money .... what the best value out there ...

I'm not going to be flying 130 mph all the time or even 70 mph ... but for those occations

... what's the opinion...

Posted by: rmac694203

Everyone will tell you how great the Valentine is. I've heard good things about the nicer escorts as well. I have a $130 Cobra that has worked well for me for a few years. I also have a Cheap Whistler (around $100) that I don't care for. TONS of false alarms everywhere you go.

Posted by: JMiles_T

The latest from Escort seems to be getting great reviews.

It has a GPS aided feature that keeps track of areas of the road known to give false alarms.

It's not cheap.

Posted by: mespock

I've had a Cobra that was nice but it seems to be fried...

Was thinking of getting another Cobra. I'm not paying high dollar for some GPS unit... LOL... I like the chances of gettion lost.

Posted by: 04SCTLS

The Valentine 1 is extremely well built in the US and will last a long time. I have had one in my Camaro for 5 years and it works like the day it was new.
Got another one when I bought the LS 5 months ago.
I had a Whisler before and it broke within 2 years and only flashed it's lights without the buzzer going off.
The Valentine is the only one that has arrows showing if the bogey is behind, in front or right or left which is very handy when approaching an intersection.
It can "see" around curves and over hills for quite a distance.
Well worth the 400.00 direct from Valentine.

Posted by: Russo

V1 is the only way to go.

Posted by: MediumD

The V1 is like Nike. A good product but there are comparable products out there that are as good and in a couple cases better, without as much brand recognition.

I personally have a $30 Whistler SRT35R.

Posted by: 04SCTLS

No other detector has the directional arrows.
I pulled out of my driveway once and the back arrow went off almost immediately.
Studying the cars in my rearview I saw there was a state trooper a few spots back.
It stopped beeping as soon as he turned off.
I think you really do get what you pay for.

Posted by: 02V8Sport

I have both the Passport 8500 x50 and the V1.

The V1 is great because of the arrows and I cant live w/o them now. But the X50 is way better on "true" detection. The V1 falses on everything!!! I cant wait until V1 comes out with another upgrade version V1.8 sucks!

For around $200 new on Ebay you cant beat the Passport X50.

Posted by: 04SCTLS

I set my V1 on the Logic setting and get very little falsing except for maybe supermarket doors or close microwave transmission towers.
Since I speed every day I don't mind putting up with a little falsing.
Tickets are much more annoying.
You learn how to recognize a police radar due to the steady chirping as you get closer especially with rolling radar which is very common around here.
Cost is not an issue for me and if you really want to have good protection I recommend adding the M20 Blinder laser detector/jammer

http://www.radarscramblers.com/blinder.htm

The M25 is the latest but the older M20 is just as good and 349.00 instead of 429.00.
I have both a V1 and an M20 in both the LS and my Camaro.
I've taken up to 3 seconds to respond to being lasered and not gotten a ticket.

Posted by: JMiles_T

Quote:

Originally Posted by mespock

I've had a Cobra that was nice but it seems to be fried...

Was thinking of getting another Cobra. I'm not paying high dollar for some GPS unit... LOL... I like the chances of gettion lost.

I was referring to the Escort Passport 9500i.
It's not a GPS travel planner, it's a radar detector.

It's about $450.

Popular Mechanics review:
-A first-of-its-kind radar and laser detector that uses GPS to track your vehicle's speed in real-time.

-It saves the locations and frequencies of false alarms, like automatic doors at supermarkets and garage openers, plus you can save the location of known speed traps.

-Internal microphone detects whether your convertible top is down or your stereo is blasting and raises the alert volume.

The Valentine 1 was the best once, but it's totally outclassed by this.

Posted by: ponytail john

I have the Passport Solo S2, does a good job and I like the cordless effect and the batteries last quite long too. I have the cord for use on long trips.

Posted by: 04SCTLS

Valentine has a metal case which is not fuse welded plastic and hasn't changed much since the 90's. They are the only ones who will upgrade it for a less than replacement cost when they make improvements or add features.
GPS and memory are surely coming.

Posted by: Jeffguy11

times 2 on the escort solo s2. Seems to do a great job for me; much better than my beltronics i had before hand. I dont use radar detection as much with the lincoln as i did with my mustang... police dont seem to take notice of the lincoln as much.

Posted by: Goddard-MarkVIII

Looks like I'm shooting for the Valentine I'm sold.

Posted by: mespock

Quote:

Originally Posted by MediumD

The V1 is like Nike. A good product but there are comparable products out there that are as good and in a couple cases better, without as much brand recognition.

I personally have a $30 Whistler SRT35R.

Ooo.... you mentioned Nike ..... Track Coach here... the last shoes I'd ever have any of my athletes wear.... But I get your drift....

I'm not looking for anything $400 here... If I'm putting $400 it my car it's going under the hood .... Just need something to pick up the area County Mounties.. They run K band around here....

When I take my little runs to visit Joey and Dave it's nice picking out a few of the Polizi on I-90....

Posted by: glanga

my thread i started a while back to the valentine 1. its expensive but worth it and you can usually find decent priced new and used on ebay.

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=32656

good luck

Posted by: PimpMyTint

I bought one of these... http://www.rockymountainradar.com/pr...36f1654842443a

BEST investment I think I have EVER made! It LOOKS like a "regular" Radar Detector, but is Actually a radar & laser SCRAMBLER! I can't begin to tell you how many cops I've flew by on the freeway doing over 120mph, they look so confused when they cant get your speed on their guns...haha! These days, MOST police use LASER. With a radar "DETECTOR", by the time you're even alerted, it's TOO LATE, the police have your speed! Buy a scrambler, well worth the investment! (IMO)

Posted by: MediumD

Quote:

Originally Posted by mespock

Ooo.... you mentioned Nike ..... Track Coach here... the last shoes I'd ever have any of my athletes wear.... But I get your drift....

Ok, it's like Kleenex. Puffs brand tissues work just as well but without as much brand recogntion

Quote:

Originally Posted by PimpMyTint

These days, MOST police use LASER. With a radar "DETECTOR", by the time you're even alerted, it's TOO LATE, the police have your speed! Buy a scrambler, well worth the investment! (IMO)

The vast majority of police throughout America still use radar. Lasers are cost prohibitive for most smaller departments.

Anything that is supposed to be a radar jammer is either false advertising or illegal.

Rocky Mountain Radar is a... shady company from what I hear.

Posted by: 04SCTLS

Yes,
Active radar jammers are illegal and using one is "gasp" a felony!
Laser jammers are not prohibited.
I had one of Rocky Mountain's Phazer passive radar laser jammers years ago.
The premise was that it would add some kind of "chirp" to the reflected signal which was supposed to confuse it.
Of course it was a POS and didn't do anything when tried against one of those "Your Speed" trailer carts which I believe are used to gather information to comply with the 85th percentile rule.
I try to boot it through those to get as high a number as possible but I don't think they'll ever set the speed limit to what 85% of the drivers are doing.
There's always some "other" factor which keeps them 12-15 mph below that number.
Now Rocky Mountain may have improved their laser jammer performance but I would try to find some independant reviews in reputable publications before trusting them.
The M20 and M25 have 2 receivers/emitters that are mounted on both sides of the license plate on the outside of the car.
These devices have gotten great reviews and have seemed to work for me on the number of occasions I have been painted by a police laser gun.
I don't think it's a good idea flying past a cop at 120 even if you think you're cloaked as they can plainly see that you're moving almost twice as fast as the usual suspects.
Blinder recommends slowing down and turning their jammer off so the cop can get a legal or close to legal speed reading to not arouse suspicion as they could conceivably charge you with interfering with police business.

Posted by: PimpMyTint

I am LIVING PROOF, it WORKS. I $hit u not, I have blew by cops on the side of the highway, with GUN IN HAND, and they point n shoot, point n shoot, and look at their guns like they're broken...lol. I find it comical. I know I have a bad attitude towards it, but the way I see it, fair game! It's a game of catch me if you can. I've been clocked on a crotch rocket pressing 190Mph... At those speeds, it's REAL hard to catch me. That was before I bought a scrambler.

Even with "radar", if you know how to beat a speeding ticket (and 95% of them ARE beatable), it doesn't really matter whether or not they scramble the signal. KNOWING the cops are there, is half the battle. The other half is outsmarting them at their own game! SCRAMBLERS are the solution to the other half!

I am only speaking from real world experience on these subjects. I have PLENTY of points on my license, and NONE in the past 2 years, since buying a scrambler. The scrambler I purchased, can be made into a "non scrambling - radar Detector" at the push of a combination of buttons. IF you were to get pulled over, all you have to do is press the buttons, and the police would have no way of knowing it was a scrambler.

Then again... like I said... catch me if you can. Sorry guys. I LIVE for this $hit, it's an adrenaline rush.

Posted by: 04SCTLS

Live fast, die young
Your story sounds larger than life but I wish you continued success
in your speeding endeavours.

Posted by: PimpMyTint

Live Fa$t, Die Fun!

Posted by: Frogman

Valentine, Rich.

Posted by: evillally

V1, or enjoy riding the bus.

Posted by: Garbone

I dont use a radar detector, because I want my 13yo, and 16yo(who is driving), to know that it is NOT alright, if you dont get caught...dang kids ruin all of my fun...

Posted by: 04SCTLS

Hypocracy is the tribute vice pays to virtue although thinking of my own teenage days driving 150 in a hipo 340 dart on a 2 lane blacktop that had a speed limit of 50 I can understand your wanting to set a good example.
The hood wanted to lift and the leaf piles blew down the road as we passed by them.

Posted by: turborich

This is by far the best money can buy!