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I was wondering if someone could share some experience with or recommend a good, economical radar detector. Yes, I know...no one should speed....but everyone does, cuz speed limits are boring.
Radar Detector
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·I had one for a while, but sold it because I started driving tooo fast since I had little incentive to slow down.
Valentine 1....simply put..The best on the market, TRUE (or close as it can get) 360 degree detection.
Edit:
Not that I am recommending ANYONE to violate any vehicle codes, but for those long lonely stretches of open road where you can SAFELY "blow the carbon out".
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Edit:
Not that I am recommending ANYONE to violate any vehicle codes, but for those long lonely stretches of open road where you can SAFELY "blow the carbon out".
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725 Posts
Having received a ticket while using a Radar Detector, and now writing 15 and over tickets to people with Radar Detectors...... The best way to avoid tickets is to be honest when caught. That's still a 50/50 shot
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I have yet to notice a radar that is "The Best". They are all weak in one way or another, and just like Computers, the Radar and Radar Detector of today is obsolete next week.
I have yet to notice a radar that is "The Best". They are all weak in one way or another, and just like Computers, the Radar and Radar Detector of today is obsolete next week.
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Guest
·Heck, the $50 radar detector ($100 model on sale) I got at Radioshack (rebranded Cobra AFAIK) has served me very well.
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Guest
·Passive Jammers are useless and active jammers are illegal in most places and fairly expensive. A decent detector still has its usefulness. For anyone interested you can find several types/prices here: Radar Detectors
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way overpriced, overrated, and much more effective ones available, and 360 deg coverage isn't even necessary since ur immune from the side! and they asked for something economical
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i'm sorry but u do not know what you're talking about at all, it really pisses me off when people go around talking about deceiving products recommending them when they know nothing about it at all. they are a scam (i'm not even gonna bother using the word allegedly here) simply put. sure their concept sounds great, but it's not feasible. also i've taken apart their "jammers" and their laser jamming device is just a basic led diode, the circuitry inside basically just controls the oscillating indicator leds, there is no circuitry that collects and bounces back the signal like they claim, nor is their a real receiver that could electronically collect radar. even IF someone did manufacture a real device which collected and bounced back radar, it would be ineffective also. the surface area of the "jammer" is a couple square inches (the radar it would supposedly collect), the surface area of any one side of your car is thousands of square inches; it would only be bouncing back like .001% of the radar that hit your car. for it to be even possibly effective, the radar that was bounced back would need to be amplified thousands of times and outpower the other radar that effectively bounced off of your car many times over, so you would be driving around with a weapon that would be frying other people and things whenever radar hit it. rocky mountain radar is completely nonsense. basically what they are selling is useless black boxes with an insurance policy. the insurance policy is also mostly useless in my opinion, read the fine print. actually to be fair i suppose the are not all useless, a few of them have working detectors, but low quality ones, u could go to kmart and buy a cheap radar detector that would work better than theirs which cost hundreds. ask any physicist, or just buy one urself and waste ur money.
For those seeking more protection than a detector can deliver, there's a veritable smorgasbord of gadgets claiming they can cloak your car with an impenetrable electronic shield. Some promise protection from radar, others from lasers; some claim they can defeat both. Another group promises protection from photo radar, the stealthy camera-radar system used in fewer than 20 U.S. cities.
Passive jammers claim to jam radar by receiving the inbound microwave beam, mixing with it some white noise, then reflecting the altered signal back to the radar, so confusing it that no speed is displayed. Active jammers transmit a signal designed to make the radar disregard its own return signal, placing it in an endless loop as it continuously tries to acquire a speed. Not surprisingly, active jammers are illegal to operate.
"Phazer, Patriot and Eclipse jammers from Rocky Mountain Radar.
"I could ship an empty black box with a weight in the bottom and only get 22-24 percent back," inventor Mike Churchman told us in 1993. Which is exactly what he's been doing ever since."
Passive jammers transmit nothing and are perfectly legal. Passive jammers were invented by Mike Churchman, proprietor of Rocky Mountain Radar. We first tested Churchman's magic boxes in 1993 and have since tested all his products, including the best-selling Phazer ($200) , claimed to jam radar and laser and Phantom ($350), claimed capable of both detecting and jamming lasers and radar.
In reaction to past stories we've written for Automobile Magazine, the BMW Roundel, Mercedes Star, AutoTronics and Car Audio & Electronics, among others, the resourceful Churchman quickly renamed these same boxes--the new appellations include Illusion, Shadow, Eclipse, Patriot and Avenger among others--and continued doing business without missing a beat. He's also produced several private-label versions with names like Barrier-RDR and Barrier-LSR.
Except for the Phantom, which contains rudimentary radar-detection circuitry, each is essentially an empty box with a 12-volt power cord, a cheap cast-plastic waveguide assembly, one or two front-mounted LEDs, a basic power-supply circuit and a button or two. Press the button and an LED lights up, accompanied by a tinny bird whistle. ("Our patented 'FM Chirp', " company salesmen proudly proclaim.) We've tested these products a dozen times against every front-line police radar gun and laser, finding all of them utterly worthless.
Interestingly, while we were riding with Texas Highway Patrol trooper Mack Wallace near Houston recently, he stopped a Dodge minivan with Colorado plates. On the dash was a spanking new Phantom jammer. The van pilot was told he'd been speeding. "Impossible," said the agitated driver, "my Phantom jammed your radar."
"Didn't seem to be doing much jamming when you came by me," deadpanned the trooper. "I got you at 69 mph in a 55 mph zone. Maybe you should take it back for a refund."
JUST ONE OF MANY MANY ARTICLES REGARDING ROCKY MOUNTAIN RADAR.
Passive jammers claim to jam radar by receiving the inbound microwave beam, mixing with it some white noise, then reflecting the altered signal back to the radar, so confusing it that no speed is displayed. Active jammers transmit a signal designed to make the radar disregard its own return signal, placing it in an endless loop as it continuously tries to acquire a speed. Not surprisingly, active jammers are illegal to operate.
"Phazer, Patriot and Eclipse jammers from Rocky Mountain Radar.
"I could ship an empty black box with a weight in the bottom and only get 22-24 percent back," inventor Mike Churchman told us in 1993. Which is exactly what he's been doing ever since."
Passive jammers transmit nothing and are perfectly legal. Passive jammers were invented by Mike Churchman, proprietor of Rocky Mountain Radar. We first tested Churchman's magic boxes in 1993 and have since tested all his products, including the best-selling Phazer ($200) , claimed to jam radar and laser and Phantom ($350), claimed capable of both detecting and jamming lasers and radar.
In reaction to past stories we've written for Automobile Magazine, the BMW Roundel, Mercedes Star, AutoTronics and Car Audio & Electronics, among others, the resourceful Churchman quickly renamed these same boxes--the new appellations include Illusion, Shadow, Eclipse, Patriot and Avenger among others--and continued doing business without missing a beat. He's also produced several private-label versions with names like Barrier-RDR and Barrier-LSR.
Except for the Phantom, which contains rudimentary radar-detection circuitry, each is essentially an empty box with a 12-volt power cord, a cheap cast-plastic waveguide assembly, one or two front-mounted LEDs, a basic power-supply circuit and a button or two. Press the button and an LED lights up, accompanied by a tinny bird whistle. ("Our patented 'FM Chirp', " company salesmen proudly proclaim.) We've tested these products a dozen times against every front-line police radar gun and laser, finding all of them utterly worthless.
Interestingly, while we were riding with Texas Highway Patrol trooper Mack Wallace near Houston recently, he stopped a Dodge minivan with Colorado plates. On the dash was a spanking new Phantom jammer. The van pilot was told he'd been speeding. "Impossible," said the agitated driver, "my Phantom jammed your radar."
"Didn't seem to be doing much jamming when you came by me," deadpanned the trooper. "I got you at 69 mph in a 55 mph zone. Maybe you should take it back for a refund."
JUST ONE OF MANY MANY ARTICLES REGARDING ROCKY MOUNTAIN RADAR.
The Passport 8500 has scored very well in recent tests, as has the Valentine 1 since it came out a million years ago.
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I have an old arse Cobra 9200 that has saved me from at least a handful of tickets. It does not have all the nice features that some of the new ones do, but the voice activation definitely is nice.
I have an old arse Cobra 9200 that has saved me from at least a handful of tickets. It does not have all the nice features that some of the new ones do, but the voice activation definitely is nice.
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yes the passport 8500 is one of the best detectors out there, what tests are u referring to about the valentine one? many of the editors are rumored (notice use of wording) to be paid togive them better reviews than they deserve. yeah the val 1 is old, i really believe if they invested some money to update it, including its circuitry, it very well could be the best on the market, but until then, buy a 8500 or bel 985 if u want top of the line, but he did say economical, i would suggest the bel 910, that is very affordable, (from what i remember less than $100) and effective, and my experiances with bel have been great, very high quality.
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369 Posts
The best way to avoid the police knowing you have a detector is to take it apart and build it into the dash.Originally posted by acreature@Feb 9 2004, 09:28 PM
Having received a ticket while using a Radar Detector, and now writing 15 and over tickets to people with Radar Detectors...... The best way to avoid tickets is to be honest when caught. That's still a 50/50 shot![]()
I have yet to notice a radar that is "The Best". They are all weak in one way or another, and just like Computers, the Radar and Radar Detector of today is obsolete next week.
I believe detectors are only illegal in a few states. For instance... the detector is legal here in MD and illegal in DC and VA.
I have a question though.. How about these VG2 sensor technology.. the so called Radar detector detector detection? First of all, are modern radar detectors that easy to detect and second of all, does this VG2 technology really mask the radar detector from radar detector detector technology?
Wes recently bought a 12 band cobra Laser and radar detector that's supposed to have VG2 technology... is cobra good stuff?
-Dan
FYI.. The Passports you mentioned are listed at about $240 on eBay right now as "buy it now" auctions.
I have a question though.. How about these VG2 sensor technology.. the so called Radar detector detector detection? First of all, are modern radar detectors that easy to detect and second of all, does this VG2 technology really mask the radar detector from radar detector detector technology?
Wes recently bought a 12 band cobra Laser and radar detector that's supposed to have VG2 technology... is cobra good stuff?
-Dan
FYI.. The Passports you mentioned are listed at about $240 on eBay right now as "buy it now" auctions.
yes the passport 8500 is one of the best detectors out there, what tests are u referring to about the valentine one? many of the editors are rumored (notice use of wording) to be paid togive them better reviews than they deserve. yeah the val 1 is old, i really believe if they invested some money to update it, including its circuitry, it very well could be the best on the market, but until then, buy a 8500 or bel 985 if u want top of the line, but he did say economical, i would suggest the bel 910, that is very affordable, (from what i remember less than $100) and effective, and my experiances with bel have been great, very high quality. [/b][/quote]
MK, don't take this the wrong way, but...what makes you an expert on the subject?
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Guest
·The detector I got at RadioShack (that is supposedly a rebranded Cobra) has the VG2 technology. AFAIK, generally speaking, I have heard many good things about Cobras. Anwyays, The VG2 stuff works really well. I have noticed that only the state cops have the "detector detectors" in my area but, sure enough, anytime that alarm goes off there is a state cop nearby checking speeds. So it seems to be a pretty reliable technology. My instruction manual says that my detector actually stops detecting radar AND laser (making it useless) once a "detector detector" is detected, lol - then it reactivates itself when the "detector detector" is gone. hope this makes sense, lol
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569 Posts
I got a ticket, even with my radar detector. (it was a cheepo, so I'm not saying all of them are crap, but mine was, even though it beeped like mad AFTER the cop saw me.)
It's been a year, and now I only speed "in excess" (ie, more than around 6mph over the speed limit) on highways I'm very familiar with, and only either in groups of cars where everyones going the same speed limit (everyone going 75, who would pull over a Taurus instead of that nice red mustang?) or when there's no one around (freeway at 2 am, but still watch out for hiding spots!)
No tickets or run ins yet. My radar detector is sitting on the floor on the other side of my room. MUCH better, IMO.
It's been a year, and now I only speed "in excess" (ie, more than around 6mph over the speed limit) on highways I'm very familiar with, and only either in groups of cars where everyones going the same speed limit (everyone going 75, who would pull over a Taurus instead of that nice red mustang?) or when there's no one around (freeway at 2 am, but still watch out for hiding spots!)
No tickets or run ins yet. My radar detector is sitting on the floor on the other side of my room. MUCH better, IMO.
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I bought the Passport 7500, about 2 years before the 8500 came out. I still think it is the best value out there. It is basically the same as the 8500 with out a few things, but has the same performance AFAIK.
I did however, 5 days after I got the 7500 received a ticked for 50 in a 35. Damn Laser and the cops shut off the street lights and hid in the median. Then they jumped out right in front of me with white glove and waved me down. Not a good night. Laser detection, basically tells you that you just got a ticked
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I did however, 5 days after I got the 7500 received a ticked for 50 in a 35. Damn Laser and the cops shut off the street lights and hid in the median. Then they jumped out right in front of me with white glove and waved me down. Not a good night. Laser detection, basically tells you that you just got a ticked
Laser & Ka-Pop is very hard to detect before they already have you busted. Fortunately most districts use K & Ka band to bust speeders, but they are getting alot better. Do a search on motortrend.com for their recent radar detector test. They had the best detectors for each price range listed.
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