Radar

[BainyG35]

Hi im looking to buy a radar detector.
Any sugguestions? i live in Northern California.

[370Z/28]

I personally love my cordless Escort. I know it isn't the "BEST" detector out there, but it has always given me plenty of warning. My husband and I both have one.

http://www.radarbusters.com/radar-detec ... tector.cfm

If you are anal about your interior like I am, it gives you the flexability to put it any where you want it. Batteries last about a month. I just buy the big pack of batteries at Costco.

[audtatious]

Escort, Bel (same company regardless) or Valentine are the ones to get. I have a Escort 8500 in my G and a older Bel 985 in the other G, both do a good job. I usually upgrade every 5 years so It's about time to get the newest top-of-the-line and move the 8500 to the other G as a replacement for the Bel.

Stay away from the cheap radar detectors as they give you a false sense of security. Either get the top of the line, or close to it, or don't get one at all.

[kmckis1029]

valintine ONE

FTW

+1

buy top of the line or just slow down...

[Kendahl]

The last I heard, the ultimate setup came from Escort and combined a laser jammer with a laser & radar detector. Price was about $2k and it required professional installation.

Radar is relatively easy to evade. If they zap someone else in the vicinity, even over a hill or around a corner, there is enough stray radiation to set off a modern radar detector. Laser is hard. The beam is so narrow that there is little to detect unless you are the target. In that case, it's already too late. That's where the jammer comes in. It gives you a few seconds to slow to a legal speed. Then you let the cop get a reading on you. He probably won't even realize he has been jammed.

The one catch to laser and radar detectors and laser jammers is state and federal law. A few states ban detectors. I think the only ones are Virginia and the District of Columbia. If anyone knows of others, please chime in. My state, Nebraska, permits detectors but bans laser jammers.

Radar jammers are illegal under federal law. The FCC regulates radar, as well as radio, TV and cell phones. Even police radar units must be licenced by the FCC. I have heard that some people beat speeding tickets because the police department had skipped licensing. At one time, Iowa placed obsolete radar units on highways just to set off radar detectors. The FCC made them stop.

[Fezzik]

The escort 9500ci is what you are talking about kendahl. Unfortunately the shifter from escort are not that great when compared to laser interceptors.
It also depends on what you want to spend. If you want a window mount one then, just about any of the ones people listed on here will work. I have the sti driver because I travel in canada some and its can not be detected by radar detector detectors.
If you want built in custom radar the 9500ci is the only best one out there now in my opinion BUT in march of 2011 the STI-R Plus NA (north america) verison is comeing out which will have Ka band segmetation which is awesome. It lets you cut out frequencies that are not used in your area so it can scan the other frequencies faster and alert you sooner. It will look just like the 9500 ci but without the laser zr4 shifters.
The is nice sometimes b/c it has the arrows but it wasnt my cup of tea.
Do research on it and see what other people think of it as well.

[370Z/28]

The last I heard, the ultimate setup came from Escort and combined a laser jammer with a laser & radar detector. Price was about $2k and it required professional installation.

2k would pay a lot of speeding tickets.

[kmckis1029]

my radar detector has saved me from about 100 tickets over 3 years, so lets say the average ticket is $200 and i have avoided 80 tickets in 3 years. thas about $16,000 saved from buying a $400 Valintine One and points not on my license.

Since ive had my Valintine One, i've gotton only max 1 ticket a year, and its always a close range Lazer encounter smh. The Lazer Interceptor is next on my list as its not illegal in GA to jam lazer.

[370Z/28]

I got my last speeding ticket in 1977 in my '76 Camaro.

My detector is good, but I think most of that is luck. There are a lot of times that I really deserved one. I scope cops out pretty good. I remember where they like to hang out. I pay attention to vehicles around me. We have a lot of unmarked cars around here. I've seen everything from Tahoes to WS6 Trans Ams pulling people over.

[kmckis1029]

yeah im pretty good at scooping them out too... but i seem to get caught when im changing lanes passing someone... then bam there is the cop that smartly waited to the last minute to clock me and even though the V1 notified me it was too late smh... or its late at night and im just crusing listening to music and i let my self coast down a hill, then bam ticket... smh

i have never gotten a ticket when i actualy deserved one, but i guess it evens out lol...

[370Z/28]

I got pulled over for wreckless driving once but got out of it because the policeman said he would have to take me to jail for what I had done. I got D@MN lucky on that one. Of course I was a lot younger then.

[shiznitttt]

Valentine One.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX-9Sw3rTI0


This was me earlier in the week, and I shut it down when the V1 started to alert me.

[Kendahl]

2k would pay a lot of speeding tickets.

When you add in the cost of jacked up insurance premiums, its about two tickets.

I still have a first generation Escort I bought circa 1980 for $300. That was serious money when an engineering job paid $30k a year and a 3-series BMW cost $10k. Those were the days of the 55 mph national speed limit and my Escort paid for itself dozens of times over. It now sits on a shelf unused. Speed limits are back to something half way reasonable, the old Escort only covers X and K bands and the real threat now is laser.

Since 1970, they have only gotten me four times. Once, I was let off with a warning by a rookie cop who was practicing taffic stops under the supervision of his training officer. Another time, the cop was on the wrong side of the interstate and couldn't get across the median to write me up. Five years ago, I ducked the ticket by taking a BS driving class. (If you have to take one of them, be sure to sit next to a waste basket. The urge to puke may become overpowering.) I actually have fond memories of my first ticket, in Kansas, in 1975. The deputy sheriff was polite and wrote me for 69 in a 55 although I'm sure I was going faster. When I called the court clerk to ask what they wanted, she told me the fine was $1 per mile over the limit and apologized for the $5 court costs which, she said, were mandated by the state.

[kmckis1029]

one of my V1 saves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdM-Wqg14C0