FloppyCock

I live in CA and i want to get a radar detector (im surprised that i still have my license; 2 speeding tickets in the past month so far). Anyways, i want to know which radar detector is best, and i want one that is legal in CA. im looking at the passport 8500 and the valentine one. which is better?

and are there any better detectors out there?

DooBall

do a search, alot of threads on this topic.

but to summarize, the V1 is 'outdated'. I would go with the passport.

reviews - http://www.radartest.com/

blackY2Kmax

Those are probably the 2 best along with a Bel model (can't remember the model number, but someone will post it I'm sure). I own the Passport 8500 and absolutely LOVE IT. As many members as there are, you will get different opinions. Some say the arrows and the bogey counter on the V1 are great; others say it is a waste of $$ for as much more (about $150 more depending on where you get the others) as it is compared to the others. Some say the Bel is the cheapest and has the same or a negligible difference in range compared to the other 2 so it's the best value for the money. There is an article (someone will post that link, too, I'm sure) that rates the Passport 8500 overall best, but then people will also say the author is biased against the V1.

So, research those 3 and decide on your own. Each one has great range and great features. A few look better than the others (if that matters to you). You honestly can't go wrong if you pick one of those 3. You'll get a lot of opinons though - none of which are wrong - you just have to figure out what's most important to you.

WILLSE

i have the V1 i got it for 200 bucks get on ebay and get one it has saved my a$$ a number of times.... i am gettin it hardwired tomorrow.... good luck on finding u a good one!

tomz17

Heh.. i once saw an active radar jammer for sale in Europe... Shoulda bought it... on the other hand, the FCC might have me or me ....

still, it's something to dream about... an invention that would make you virtually invisible to radar... sweet...

-Tom Z.

punkdork

Bel 980 is the Bel model. Good prices and performance is supposed to be on par with the V1 and Passport 8500.

KaxMaxSEAE

As I understand it, the guy who runs/writes for radartest is a "consultant" for every detector manufacturer except valentine. (Read: On the payroll of...)

That alone makes me suspicious of his reviews.

I own a V1 (one of the *really* old models) and several bits of info on that site about the V1 is wrong.

But that doesn't surprise me.

Now, if anyone can give me information on when the V2 will be out...

ispeed

In To the Edge magazine there was an advertisement for a radar/laser jammer. They say that they'll pay your ticket if you get one while using this. Its expensive as hell though ... $116.50 x 3 (payments) = $349.50

But of course CA is excluded

Maxima-Ness

:-) get the Passport SR1. NOTHING out perfroms that. I got 2 tickets for speeding in less than a week and decided to use this. it has to be professionally installed, and its a little pricey, but its well worth it. You get protection from the front and rear, and it detects ALL types of radar, with NO false signals.

mike-777

Have used Escorts for the past 15 years - no radar tickets!
I believe the Valantine has out performed the Escorts for a long time, if you can stand the looks, they are butt ugly.
Also cost at least $100+ more.
I have one of Escort battery units, about 3 years old and cost about $200 when new. Works fine, not the best but if you only drive 10-15 over the speed limits it is adequate.
Mike from WA
2K SE

tomz17

Haha... no, those are BS.. many reviews even showed that they INCREASED radar range..

In the US, you can only sell a passive radar jammer... (it has to receive a signal before doing anything). Due to restrictions on current technology, these things can't work... (the amount of time it takes to process the entire band used for radar enforcement is longer than the amount of time it takes for a pulse to travel to your car and back to the officer about to give you a ticket)..


Why then, do they offer a 1 year ticket guarantee??? because it makes the product seem legit.. I once read about someone selling a lightbulb inside a fancy cardboard tube, and people bought it (thinking it would jam radar).

Think about it.. imagine the amount of people buying your product that won't get tickets within that 1 year period, yet all along they will believe they are invincible to old smokey and his radar gun...


An active radar jammer, on the other hand, sends out signals all the time (with military grade technology, these things can get so strong that you could easily cook a small turkey in your trunk)... So why is it illegal?? well, because while you could now safely drive @ 120mph, planes would be falling out of the sky :-)

-Tom Z.

RcticMax

I've got the 980 and it's saved my bacon a couple of times. However, there's no defense against laser if they've got you locked and loaded.

There's also the issue of metalic window tint. I know it does something screwy to the signals and/or reception (i.e. bad for the speeder) but I can't remember exactly what. I believe it warrants some investigation if you've got that type of tint on your windows.

Cheers!

tomz17

That is correct.. unless you are able to "absorb" the laser... (they sell license plate covers which do just that.) Although any half-witted radar enforcement officer would know EXACTLY what happened, and would simple aim the laser somewher else on the car. (it'll still work, but it's always easiest to get a reading by aiming at the license plate)..


As for the tint, i do not see any readily apparent reason why that should affect a radar reading... This is gonna bother me now...

-Tom Z.

AdamK

iTrader: (1)

Well I have to agree with the other guy in the forum who said these things are BS, however im not sure if anyone said so yet but the little letters also state that if your driving over 15 or maybe 25 the limit THEY WILL NOT COVER your ticket, the funny part is the popos dont mess around with folk who are only doing 15 mph over the limit...

nizmomx

i'm also considered getting a radar detector. I found that ebay has a lot of bargains. Go check it out. Here's an
address that tested the top of the line radar decteectors. Check it out.
http://www.radartest.com/

tomz17

Oh ya they do... If they have a quota to reach, they will get the guys doing 5 to 10 mph over the limit...

Why?? because the tickets are smaller, and you fighting the ticket (and the cop getting summoned to appear in court), diminish.. [unless they catch the guys speeding more, and just give them lower tickets.. It happened to my father, he was doing 79 mph(according to the cop, but IMHO way over 80mph), but just got a ticket for 64mph (0-9mph, the lowest category in a 55mph zone)]...

As for the passive radar jammers, I am quite certain they are BS.. I once read a rather technical document proving the impossibility of them doing anything remotely useful.. (it dealt with calculating the amount of time it takes to search all of the bands allotted to radar enforcement, let alone detecting and scrambling incoming radar signals)... Empirically, there have been many reviews done on these products in real world situations, and none of them has performed anywhere near the manufacturer's claims... (Like I said, some even increased the range at which an offier could get a reading on you)


-Tom Z.






-Tom Z.

AdamK

iTrader: (1)

But most importantly, has anyone ever tried taking it apart, haha its practicly empty with nothing inside that looks close to being worth 150.00

tomz17

oh, no... i'm sure that there is "stuff" inside... But i have plenty of "stuff" downstairs that would look pretty convincing too... Man.. Now that I think about it, I could make a huge business off putting together toys that look like radar jammers.. They would make some convincing noises, and would have a super cool readout..

Then I just dump money towards marketing, and promise people to pay their tickets for up to a year (with lots of fine print).. Anyone want a group buy?? I'll give my maxima.org buddies a discount ;-)

-Tom Z.

ispeed

tomz,

yeah I agree with you on the radar/laser jammers ... BS.

and just thought I would pass this along to you all. I was talking to a cop today. I was just asking him about various things and then we got started talking about radar. I never knew this but police cruisers (in most areas) have radar in them that will take a reading from the front of the vehicle, from behind the vehicle and while it is moving at any speed. I knew the moving part, but say you are driving along and you pass a cop. If he/she didn't get a reading on you at first they can still take a reading from a rear mounted radar gun to get your speed. (that was something very new to me!)

I also thought that traveling in the middle lane of say a 3 lane road with cars on either side of you made you kinda invisible to radar. According to the cop, no it does not. These guns have the ability to take readings from 2 different signals at the same time. If both reading reveal an excess of the speed limit then it's just the officer's discretion on who to pull over. And say you and a semi are traveling next to each other. The radar gives the officer that strongest signal speed (the semi b/c it's bigger than your car) and the fastest speed signal at the same time.

All this was new to me. I thought that the cop car had to be facing you to be able to get a reading on your speed. And yes it only takes a split second to get your speed reading. I do remember some physics from college, radar is an electromagnetic wave such is light, therefore it travels at the speed of light!

Also before I forget, you shouldn't be drinking and driving anyway, but when you pull up to a road block ... don't try to turn around or take a side road around it. They have cruisers set aside for this to chase you ... and in case you don't follow me, you are admitting guilt. Sometimes you might just get lucky and get through. The cop told me that at a road block they had over memorial day, they had 12 dui arrests. Of these 12, all of them tried to turn around or stopped in the middle of the road before getting to the road block. He even told me that if they hadn't done that he would have never thought anything, or suspected any wrong doing.

tomz17

Yup!!! the one that got my father was facing the other direction (I was in the car w/ him when he got pulled over).. he must have read him from some device pointing towards the back of the car..

Now here are 2 things MOST people do NOT know...
#1. the cop can only read when you are moving towards/away from him. (preferably DIRECTLY towards or away).. Since that is impractical (ie. you would eventually crash into him if he was standing in the middle of the road), the readings taken furthest away are usually more accurate (the further you are, the closer the angle btw. the radar beam and the direction of your motion is closer to 0. This ALSO means that he can't just hide behind any old bush, and take readings at some insane angle to the road. Why?? this introduces cos error. (admittedly, cos error would work AGAINST you, so don't dare mention it in court... remember that cos(0) = 1, cos( 0 < x < 90 ) is less than 1... SO, the speed he got at some weird angle would be LOWER than your ACTUAL speed!!! If he were trying to measure your speed at a 90 degree angle, in an ideal world, he would always get 0 mph.


#2. In order to take a reading while moving (or pace you for that matter), the cruiser's speedometer has to have passed through some sort of validation or calibration procedure.. I'm not sure of the specifics, but needless to say, if he is moving, the reading he gets on his radar is only the relative speed. He then has to either add or subtract his own speed (depending on the direction he is moving compared to you, and this happens either manually or automatically).



You are correct, he can catch anyone on any lane.. but from what I hear, it's much easier to get out of a ticket (in court) if you were in the middle lane, and there were other cars around traveling at roughly the same speed. Imagine the Garden State Parkway (for those of you from NJ). You're traveling in one of the middle lanes (some parts have 5 lanes)... now what are the chances that the cop got YOUR speed (keep in mind how many cars are usually on the parkway... you are almost never alone).




Haha... funniest thing I saw once.. I was pulling up to a road block, and the couple in a minivan next to me switched seats. There were like 3 cops that ran out of the bushes to catch them... Both of them were dressed nicely (perhaps coming home from dinner at some restaurant), and they were't driving erratically or anything, so had they not switched seats, they might not have gotten caught... Just a heads up that there migh be cops hidden on the side of the road just waiting for someone to try and switch seats. (although the center console on the maxima would make this a tad difficult.. not impossible... but difficult.. )