Are Radar Detectors Useless?

"mcquarrie" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> What I meant to say was...
>
>> Jeff Strickland wrote:
>> >
>> > CR does test them, and they like the Valentine One. It is on the pricey
>> > side, but it seems to work very well.
>
>
>
> I think you are mistaken, sir. According to the Consumer Reports
> website I subscribe to, they have never tested radar detectors;
>
> http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...chTe rm=radar
>
> Maybe you can post details of the test which "liked" the Valentine 1?
>

Sorry, no details. I just thought I remember reading a report from them.
Assuming I really did read the report, it must have been done by another
group. Sorry if I have misinformed the group.

"Jeff Strickland" > wrote in message
...
>
> "mcquarrie" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> What I meant to say was...
>>
>>> Jeff Strickland wrote:
>>> >
>>> > CR does test them, and they like the Valentine One. It is on the
>>> > pricey
>>> > side, but it seems to work very well.
>>
>>
>>
>> I think you are mistaken, sir. According to the Consumer Reports
>> website I subscribe to, they have never tested radar detectors;
>>
>> http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...chTe rm=radar
>>
>> Maybe you can post details of the test which "liked" the Valentine 1?
>>
>
> Sorry, no details. I just thought I remember reading a report from them.
> Assuming I really did read the report, it must have been done by another
> group. Sorry if I have misinformed the group.
>
>

IIRC, either (or both) Car & Driver and/or Road & Track magazines did tests
a while back and gave top ratings to the Valentine. That's probably what
Jeff was thinking of.

Tom K.

"Bacon" > wrote in message
...
>
> Luckily I quit drinking well before I got the 330. Otherwise I'd be
> in a lot more trouble than just speeding. The jinx is a nasty thing.
> I probably hadn't had a ticket in 10 years before this wave. I like
> the posts with suggestions on being more alert and knowing the ripe
> situations to slow down. I don't like the look of a radar detector
> suction cupped to the windshield, I don't think the ladies dig it.

Dude, the chicks dig it. They absolutely cream their jeans at the idea of
speeding wrecklessly down the road without a care of who might appear from
the side.

Get the radar detector, any of them, and the little suction cup holder
thingies, and the chicks will flock to your car.

On Sun, 4 Jun 2006 15:10:26 -0700, "Jeff Strickland" >
wrote:

>Dude, the chicks dig it. They absolutely cream their jeans at the idea of
>speeding wrecklessly down the road without a care of who might appear from

I'd far sooner speed wrecklessly than recklessly, but will the chicks
dig it as much?
--
Dan.

I have used many models of radar detector over the past 20 years and my
favorite for the last 14 or 15 has been the Valentine1 (and no I don't work
for them and neither does anyone in my family, etc.)

As to do they work...of course they work. What you may be referring to is
radar jammers. The vast majority of radar jammers out there are considered
"passive" jammers that purport to scramble the radar signal somehow and send
back a scrambled signal to the police radar gun. These DO NOT work...don't
waste your money. Defeating radar would require an "active" jammer and you
can find some of these, BUT, they are quite illegal.

There are also laser jammers that work well. Jammers that have an actual
laser tranducer (eg Lidatek) work very well, but the ones that reky on LED's
do not work as well, if at all in some cases. I can tell you that my
Lidatek system has saved me from getting tickets about 8 or 10 times since I
ourchased the system. It has more than paid for itself when you consider
the fine of the ticket + increased insurance fees that would have occured
with getting a ticket.

As far as the Valentine1, what their advertisement says is true. Once you
use the V1 and get used to the directional arrows, you won't want to use any
other detector. It shows you not only how many signals it's receiving, but
whether they are coming from in front, behind or to the side of you. This
info is invaluable in figuring out what's going on. As with any system, it
does require some thought on the driver's part to distinguish false from
real alerts. Things like door openers in grocery stores can give a strong
signal, but you will know how many signals the unit is receiving and also
what radar band they are. This has saved me. I know that on a certain road
I drive frequently, the openers at the grocery store give off 4 radar
signals in the X band. One day I'm driving and the detector goes off as
usual, with the arrows telling me the signal(s) is coming from up ahead.
But, I the "bogey" counter tells me that there are 5 signals this morning
AND the audio warning gives me indication that a Ka band signal is present.
Because this isn't usual for this spot, I slow down considerably and as I
drive past, I see a police car with radar hiding in the parking lot. He
knew that most detectors wouldn't let the driver know there was anything
there but the door openers.

I won't drive without one.

"Dean Dark" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 4 Jun 2006 15:10:26 -0700, "Jeff Strickland" >
> wrote:
>
>>Dude, the chicks dig it. They absolutely cream their jeans at the idea of
>>speeding wrecklessly down the road without a care of who might appear from
>
> I'd far sooner speed wrecklessly than recklessly, but will the chicks
> dig it as much?
> --

Good point. I'm not sure, but they like the little suction cup holders for
the radar detector.



> Dan.

On Wed, 31 May 2006 02:32:31 -0500, Bacon wrote:

> I've gotten 4 tickets in the last 6 months. Luckily I'm in Missouri
> where your lawyer buddy "fixes" them. I've always thought radar
> detectors were left over from the 70's and all the different bands and
> instant on stuff cops use makes them ineffective. But I'm getting
> desperate.

In Pennsylvania where I haven't seen any use of laser yet, and liberal use
of Instant On, a good detector goes the distance!

My buddy has the Escort Passport X2 or whatever (like $300) and I have the
Beltronics Vector 995. Both of these are equally good detectors, and if
you have active police, it's WORTH THE MONEY!

I used to use cheap $100 detectors. And they work. They do, but they
work so poorly they are useless. The sensitivity is really really low and
they false a lot. Here's a situation for you.

I was traveling down in North Carolina and I got a ticket with rolling
radar (something I'm not used to in PA) for 96 in a 55 (back country
road). I went before the DA and got it reduced to sub $100 and no points.
I was fully expecting like a $500 ticket and have had a ticket fund for
some time. Since I didn't get raped, I decided to spend hard cash on one
of the best radar detectors money can buy. Now if you know anything
about NC, you'll know even big box stores are far and few between near
the vacation spots. So I had to buy this $80 Cobra unit at walmart. This
thing was spiffy and had a lot of cool features, but it didn't seem to be
very sensitive AT ALL. A permanent sign installation would only tweak 2
bars out of like 8! I returned it promptly when I got home and bought the
Beltronics unit. OH MY GOD. I had NO IDEA! There's a very VERY serious
difference between the low end units and hte high end units.

Take this for example. A low end unit might get a fixed radar
installation (sign, etc) from a couple hundred feet away. The beltronics
will get it for MILES away, even over hills! cops like to use instant on
anymore. This is guaranteed death for the low sensitivity units, but even
miles away when there's no cars immediately in front of me, I catch the
cop poking at other people. This unit has saved me SO MANY TIMES where
"paying attention" just wouldn't have worked. Cops hiding behind
barriers, unmarked foreign cars, not enough traffic to "look for brake
lights", etc

Now, you have to know how to use the detector, you have to pick out the
difference between falses and not, and most importantly you have to OBEY
the detector. Once you have it and it falses sometimes you get into the
habit of wanting to ignore it. But when you see that low strength K band
alert, that seems random, THAT IS IT, THAT is when you want to slow down.
And sometimes you look like a fool dropping down slower than everyone
else, right after you just made a fuss about the guy lagging in the left
lane, but sometimes you'll be the one laughing home without a ticket.

Ethics of detectors aside, people should realize that this is your bottom
line. It's your money, and it's your insurance rating. Nobody is going
to protect you but you, so by all means, get an expensive AMERICAN MADE
detector. I know where I'm from, most of the accidents are caused by:

Drunk people, slowbies being so bored they don't even pay attention when
merging, people who simply can't handle an emergency situation (poor
training), and vehicles which really suck (Chevy Impala v6 spins almost
immediately on emergency braking)... the common theme that i see is that
all of these very dangerous drivers are driving near the speed limit. In
my opinion the police are lazy because of the radar guns and don't look
for real issues.

My opinion is that someone who is a verifiably good driver, in an
excellent well maintained vehicle with performance tires and brakes (an M3
for instance), who is paying close attention to the road which is NOT
filled full of traffic should be exempt from the current speed laws, but
since that's not going to happen due to the soccer moms having fits, the
radar detector is the best defense.

You know if everyone else did their jobs as well as speed enforcement
cops, this world might not suck so much.

Thanks,
Mark

Mark D wrote:
> On Wed, 31 May 2006 02:32:31 -0500, Bacon wrote:
>
> > I've gotten 4 tickets in the last 6 months. Luckily I'm in Missouri
> > where your lawyer buddy "fixes" them. I've always thought radar
> > detectors were left over from the 70's and all the different bands and
> > instant on stuff cops use makes them ineffective. But I'm getting
> > desperate.
>
> In Pennsylvania where I haven't seen any use of laser yet, and liberal use
> of Instant On, a good detector goes the distance!
>
> My buddy has the Escort Passport X2 or whatever (like $300) and I have the
> Beltronics Vector 995. Both of these are equally good detectors, and if
> you have active police, it's WORTH THE MONEY!
>
> I used to use cheap $100 detectors. And they work. They do, but they
> work so poorly they are useless. The sensitivity is really really low and
> they false a lot. Here's a situation for you.
>
> I was traveling down in North Carolina and I got a ticket with rolling
> radar (something I'm not used to in PA) for 96 in a 55 (back country
> road). I went before the DA and got it reduced to sub $100 and no points.
> I was fully expecting like a $500 ticket and have had a ticket fund for
> some time. Since I didn't get raped, I decided to spend hard cash on one
> of the best radar detectors money can buy. Now if you know anything
> about NC, you'll know even big box stores are far and few between near
> the vacation spots. So I had to buy this $80 Cobra unit at walmart. This
> thing was spiffy and had a lot of cool features, but it didn't seem to be
> very sensitive AT ALL. A permanent sign installation would only tweak 2
> bars out of like 8! I returned it promptly when I got home and bought the
> Beltronics unit. OH MY GOD. I had NO IDEA! There's a very VERY serious
> difference between the low end units and hte high end units.
>
> Take this for example. A low end unit might get a fixed radar
> installation (sign, etc) from a couple hundred feet away. The beltronics
> will get it for MILES away, even over hills! cops like to use instant on
> anymore. This is guaranteed death for the low sensitivity units, but even
> miles away when there's no cars immediately in front of me, I catch the
> cop poking at other people. This unit has saved me SO MANY TIMES where
> "paying attention" just wouldn't have worked. Cops hiding behind
> barriers, unmarked foreign cars, not enough traffic to "look for brake
> lights", etc
>
> Now, you have to know how to use the detector, you have to pick out the
> difference between falses and not, and most importantly you have to OBEY
> the detector. Once you have it and it falses sometimes you get into the
> habit of wanting to ignore it. But when you see that low strength K band
> alert, that seems random, THAT IS IT, THAT is when you want to slow down.
> And sometimes you look like a fool dropping down slower than everyone
> else, right after you just made a fuss about the guy lagging in the left
> lane, but sometimes you'll be the one laughing home without a ticket.
>
> Ethics of detectors aside, people should realize that this is your bottom
> line. It's your money, and it's your insurance rating. Nobody is going
> to protect you but you, so by all means, get an expensive AMERICAN MADE
> detector. I know where I'm from, most of the accidents are caused by:
>
> Drunk people, slowbies being so bored they don't even pay attention when
> merging, people who simply can't handle an emergency situation (poor
> training), and vehicles which really suck (Chevy Impala v6 spins almost
> immediately on emergency braking)... the common theme that i see is that
> all of these very dangerous drivers are driving near the speed limit. In
> my opinion the police are lazy because of the radar guns and don't look
> for real issues.
>
> My opinion is that someone who is a verifiably good driver, in an
> excellent well maintained vehicle with performance tires and brakes (an M3
> for instance), who is paying close attention to the road which is NOT
> filled full of traffic should be exempt from the current speed laws, but
> since that's not going to happen due to the soccer moms having fits, the
> radar detector is the best defense.
>
> You know if everyone else did their jobs as well as speed enforcement
> cops, this world might not suck so much.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark

A very good read, thanks Mark.