school me on radar detectors

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I have been researching this a bit as of late. The valentine 1 is great if you have $400.

Passport 8500 X50 is about $225 on ebay (this is my choice) rated highly on the forums.
 
BHMCruiser said:
Edit: In short, you were right, and I was stupid.
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If you can think of a way to get my wife to say this, I will be your friend for life. :D:D
 
I have a 100 dollar cobra from walmart, and it has saved my butt several times. Radar Roy has tests published by model for range and function.

They don't work around corners, limited over the hill capability(see Roy's tests)

Pretty much all you need to know is on Radar Roy's website
http://www.radarbusters.com/
 
I used to have a need for speed and had several radar detectors: Escort, Valentine 1, Cobra, and Bell. Every time I've received a ticket I've had a radar detector in the car and it has gone off. Unfortunately, it has been going off because they were clocking me. If there is no traffic ahead of you it won't work until it is too late. Ooops! I was wrong there was one time I received a ticket and I didn't have one. I was supposedly going 32 mph in a 25 zone. I was probably 50 feet from a 45 mph zone and I was in the middle of about a 40 car line up. However I didn't have the right license plates for that county. The radar wouldn't have done me any good because it was on a visual. I've been pulled over a dozen times on visuals. Only that once I was ticketed. And some of them have been really bogus, like I got pulled over for going 23mph in a school zone (20mph). It happened to be on spring break (I am a teacher) and there were no children present and I was only really going 17mph in a76 FJ40 in 2nd gear. No ticket but I got hassled for 35 minutes. This is a local lady cop and she has pulled me over at least a dozen times for various things. Once she pulled me over for not having an exterior door handle. Never a ticket so far. My wife says she has the hots for me. To me a radar detector is like screwing someone with AIDS with a condom. It makes you feel safe but you aren't.
 
SR.GRINGO said:
I have been researching this a bit as of late. The valentine 1 is great if you have $400.

Passport 8500 X50 is about $225 on ebay (this is my choice) rated highly on the forums.
Click to expand...

In the US, buying off of ebay is rumored to void your warranty...
 
Been using radar detectors for 25-years+...ended up getting the Valentine about 5-years ago...the best 'investment' I have made regarding radar detectors. It has saved my butt many times. I use it with the conceal kit so I don't become the rabbit for others at night...works too! As above they do not eliminate risk...you still need to scope ahead and behind you...but as far as radar detectors go the arrows, just like they advertise, are great.
 
Three choices as I see it. V1, V1 and V1. I've owned one for 8 years now. First in a '99 Porsche Carrera and now in the LC. Directional indicator is awesome.

That being said, once the V1 or any detector lights up, especially if law enforcement is using an instant on, you're dead meat any way. They are great for radar left on and the V1 has saved my bacon countless times.

Check the laws in your state. Some down right outlaw their usage.
 
Another vote for the V-1. I think it's a whole different level of quality than the rest.

Laser is laser though, and i think you are done once it lights up. It's more of an early ticket notice.
 
Semlin, if you're talking about the highway to Whistler a radar detector won't do much for all the reasons pointed out above. I have had it when I still used the detector that it would go off, I backed out of the throttle and when I was within range of the cops radar gun I was at the legal speed. That makes the cops mad and I've had them glare at me and wave their fists but they couldn't pull me over!

Your BEST radar detector is the brake lights of the vehicle ahead of you!!
 
Semlin,
In Canada many of the cops use the laser radar guns. They basically watch traffic and when they see a car coming down the highway they aim the gun and take the speed. So basically the radar detector won't work. As it will read when your being checked out.

The only way your detector will work is on a busy highway. As you will read other being being lasered. But you said this highway is empty.


Are they legal in BC? I know Alberta they are legal to have. But Ontario they are illegal to posses. And maybe other provinces.
 
dfmorse said:
First thing to consider is the front windscreen. It should not be tinted glass. The radar detector is a receiver of radio waves which will not easily go thru tinted glass.

I'm partial to the Valentine unit. It has saved my butt more than once.

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/automotive/radar-detectors/index.html

http://www.valentine1.com/
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My brother has a V-1, but the metallic tint on my windows blocks reception. While driving down the same stretch of road with it in his pickup and my Cruiser, all of the normal miscellaneous alarms from security systems and automatic doors that he detects through his vehicle's non-metallic tint were blocked by my Cruiser's tint. I think you can get a remote display to go with it, which would allow you to hide the sensing unit and have a discreet display installed in the dash or gauge cluster.
 
FB > ALL!!


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:grinpimp:
 
The Valentine 1 is the best, and then there's the rest which aren't worth your time. I used a V1 for years and never got a speeding ticket. Mine's worn out, but I am planning on getting a new one. I dunno if they still have a replacement offer (upgrade). I think I might just buy another outright. The V1 kept me from losing my license when I owned a sports car. It's WELL worth the investment. It really does work as good as they brag.
 
I'll chime in for the Valentie 1. I've got three now and I bought my first about 10 years ago. They still do the upgrade and they now have a custom programming deal if you really want to refine the detector.

I use the stationary radar signs (the ones that are designed as a parked trailer with a big speed display of "your speed is . . .") for testing reception at different mounting locations. I'm told higher is always better, so the cruiser and denali have hard wired units at the top center of the windshield beside the rear view mirror with a remote display on top of the steering column. However, the BMW has a coating on the windshield that completely blocks the signals. I didn't originally believe the coating woudl make a difference, but I mounted it at the usual "top near the mirror" location and the only signals I got were from the side and rear once the signals were coming in the side and rear windows. I then moved it to the bottom center of the windshield (slightly on the driver side) where there is a cut-out that has no coating. It made a world of difference.

Just my $0.02
 
I vote for the V1 also- love the amount of info and the remote display. Bummer is the big unit has to be stuck to the glass though- why don't they make an antenna that doesn't LOOK like a radar detector for the glass- maybe have it look like those goofy rain sensors or compass mirror sensors?
Anyway- works great, saved my bacon a couple times. Got a ticket in N.J. for "obstructed view" because it was mounted to the glass though- even though it was all the way up over top of the rear view mirror. The cop was a real prick about it and kept asking over and over "Does a safe and prudent driver need a radar detector" to which I repeated over and over "Are they illegal in New Jersey?" The guy had a serious stick up his butt, but I've heard Jersey is kinda that way. I'm glad I wasn't like him when *I* was a cop.
 
I have a 5 year old Passport 7500 and have gotten one ticket during that time. The one ticket I got was without radar so not the detector's fault.
 
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