The Radar / Laser MEGA thread

[Rlandon87]

My easiest response to this is radar detectors are a waste of $$$. The only time they will be useful is if a patrol unit has a moving radar -- and in that case you hopefully aren't speeding next to a marked police car. The other situation would be if your local department has "speed traps" but the good thing with those is they have to announce them before doing them via news media.

Spend the money on mods-- leave the radar detectors to kids who want to show off.

[Chaotic73]

Originally Posted by Rlandon87

My easiest response to this is radar detectors are a waste of $$$. The only time they will be useful is if a patrol unit has a moving radar -- and in that case you hopefully aren't speeding next to a marked police car. The other situation would be if your local department has "speed traps" but the good thing with those is they have to announce them before doing them via news media.

Spend the money on mods-- leave the radar detectors to kids who want to show off.

My detector has saved me several times, paid for itself several times already. I wasn't showing off, just cruising on the highway.

[vicredLS]

Why should rocky mountain radar be avoided like the plague?

[Rob3D]

Originally Posted by vicredLS

Why should rocky mountain radar be avoided like the plague?

Good question. Someone gave me one and I stuck it on the window and use it. I'm not habitualy heavy footed, but it has saved me a few tickets and the range is outstanding. If I were to buy one, I would not have bought this one though. It's great at finding drug stores and liquor stores and banks.

[Destructo09]

Because they can't prove that their garbage works. It might detect some radar, but it won't save you from laser.

It's probably medicore at best for radar even given the price. Good detectors are not cheap. However now days you can find refurb RX65s and Escort 8500s for the ~150 range which is a pretty good deal.

[Chaotic73]

I sold my Passport 8500 x50 and was going to get the Passport Max 2, but came across a great deal last week on a new Passport 9500ix for $319.99. It was $349.99 a few weeks ago and it's now $358.49. I thought it was a great deal and couldn't pass it up, plus I got free 2 day shipping with my Prime membership.

[bobby35ny]

I just posted in the DYI section on how to install the Passport 9500ci LED readout into your rearview mirror...
-Bobby

[mikescamaro12]

question sir , my valentine was in a outside shed for about 3 weeks during these past couple cold days ,, i plugged her in and all it does is alert on a rear lazer and all the lights are on ,, even on completely empty roads , the wife thinks it just needs to be warmed up a bit inside the house , is that true or should i just replace it ? thanks in advanced

[CamaroKid300]

Originally Posted by mikescamaro12

question sir , my valentine was in a outside shed for about 3 weeks during these past couple cold days ,, i plugged her in and all it does is alert on a rear lazer and all the lights are on ,, even on completely empty roads , the wife thinks it just needs to be warmed up a bit inside the house , is that true or should i just replace it ? thanks in advanced

Sounds like a defective unit now.

[kmart]

I have the passport max and i love it, But you need to drive with it in your area a few weeks before it get real accurate. The GPS needs to locate false signals but even then its dead on

[BlackSmoke]

Radar detectors are indeed effective in saving yourself fines and some insurance companies will raise your monthly rate or even drop you. I understand why they do that. If a driver continues to get tickets of any kind that makes you a higher risk person to insure.

I have purchased lots of things in my life. However I can not justify spending more than $150.00 give or take $10.00. I have used and still use passports and cobra my entire life. I have never had them fail me yet. The range is great and neither will not recognize active radar in use near me. I travel often as well so they have been tested 5 + times over and over.

They are worth the money. I am a former Deputy Sheriff so I have seen many things including radar detectors. Many many times I knew they were speeding until they are in range. I have wanted to slap a ticket on many smart mouthed teenagers but thier detector saved their butts.

[Goldrush]

This information is quite good. I am glad a stumbled upon this thread as it has really complimented the little I know about the workings of the Escort 9500c. I actually read about it on this site> http://www.win-source.net/ . Thanks alot for this very useful information.

[CFrance]

Hey everyone,

I have been on this forum for quite a while and here and there a thread comes up about radar detectors, whether someone should get one, which kind they should get, etc.
So I wanted to start a thread where people can ask their questions about radar detectors and I can do my best to answer them and hopefully others will chime in as well!

I learned a ton from the members at rdforum.org. Those guys over there (or at least most of them) really know there stuff! So if you really want to get into the details, head over there!
However, this thread isn't to advertise for that forum. This thread is for anyone who has been considering getting a detector but doesn't know where to start or maybe you haven't even considered getting one but now you are intrigued.

I have had a Valentine V1 for almost 2 years now so my knowledge is from personal experience, hours and hours of reading/researching, as well as conversations with LEOs.


Radar detectors ARE ILLEGAL in Virginia state, Washington DC, and on all military bases. And yes, there are such things as radar detector detectors so I wouldn't suggest trying to be sneaky.

First thing you should know is that no radar detector is going to be able to guarantee that you will NEVER EVER get another ticket. There are multiple ways that LEOs can check your speed including but not limited to:

Radar -- Best chance of getting an alert in time to slow down (if needed)
LIDAR -- Generally, if your detector alerts you to LIDAR, it is too late
Pacing -- The only detector you really have here is your eyes!
From planes or helicopters -- There are ways you can track/avoid these, I can go into detail if anyone is interested. Also, not all states use this method
Even eyeballing it -- Again, a radar detector isn't going to be able to detect that an officer is simply looking at you

From my experience, radar is the most common way that officers check your speed. Keep in mind I am in Washington state so your state could be different!

Using radar, the officer can only get the speed of the largest and closest vehicle. So even if there is only one other vehicle between you and the officer, he is only going to be able to read the front vehicle's speed until that vehicle is out of the radar gun's field.
There are also different 'types' (frequencies) of radar:

X Band -- Still used in 25 states
K Band -- Used in all 50 states (most city and county LEOs in WA use K Band)
Ka Band -- Used in all 50 states (used by Washington State Patrol and some county officers in Washington)

Here is a map on rdforum you can use that shows what frequency is used in your state and you can even drill down to the county and city level:

RDF Geographical Survey

Officers can also set the distance on their radar gun which is why in some cases, you will get an alert on your detector up to a couple of miles before you pass the officer. However, in other cases, you may not get an alert until you are a few hundred yards away. Again, either way, as long as there is someone between you and the radar gun, you are still safe until you are the closes and biggest vehicle.

Also, officers can set their radar to I/O (instant on), or POP, which basically means their radar is in standby mode until they hit the button which instantly turns their radar on. They will use this at the crest of a hill or right around a corner. They wait until it is too late for you to react if you have a detector and then hit the button and get your speed. However, if you have a good detector (not a $50 detector from Walmart) if the officer uses their I/O feature on a car up ahead of you, your detector may pick it up, depending on the distance the radar is set to, the terrain, and how far you are behind the car in front of you.

Last but not least, YES with just about any radar detector you are going to get False Alerts (aka falses) from blind spot monitors, grocery store automatic doors, etc. However, the higher end detectors (and probably even some of the lower end ones) have the ability to recognize these signals as false alerts and will "lock out" the signals so they do not trigger any alerts.


Sorry that turned into a longer post than it was intended to be lol

If you have any questions, ask away!

[Reaper85]

I thought only ka/Lazer was the only gun that had the ability of instant on. Learn something new. I'll throw thus out there for places that they are illegal. Beltronics and escort both have good shielded detectors that rdd's (radar detector detector) can't pick up. We'll they can but you need to literally put your detector ontop of the rdd.