I have to post again here. I'm not a crazy enthusiast but I have done many hours of research & comparison and I challenge anyone to try and prove me wrong, I know what i'm talking about.


Radar is a way of detecting your speed, yes. Radar waves are wide and scatter VERY easily, which is why it's possible to pick up Radar that's on miles ahead, this is a good thing for detection (this is of course with a good detector, Escort, Valentine 1, etc. NOT COBRA!!!). Radar waves are governed by the FCC and it is ILLEGAL (READ A FEDERAL OFFENSE: A FELONY!!) to JAM them, in fact it is illegal to transmit radar waves without a license from the government!!! You WILL NOT FIND A RADAR jammer that works (some HAVE BEEN reported but very rare and in general you will not get one without doing some shady stuff). So, it is MUCH easier to detect radar because you can get 2+ miles range of radar waves giving you plenty of time to "slow down" and do everything right.

Radar has a few modes, there is Instant on (where it is OFF until the officer targets someone and turns it ON, gets speed, and turns it OFF really quick which is hard (but not impossible) to detect.) This will be the most deadly because if you are the car the LEO is targetting, you will have no prior warning and he will have your speed. This isn't common nor uncommon, some places use it some don't, it just depends on your area. However, if the officer is using it on cars ahead of you there is a good chance you will detect it and have advance warning.

Constant on radar is the easiest to pick up because you will be picking up a constant signal and have a ramp up to tell you approx how far away it is (slow beeps farer away, the faster the beeps the closer you're getting, until its a solid tone!).

There are 2 main bands for radar, K and Ka. X is 99.9999999999% never used,unless you're in Ohio. K is used for radar and it is what stores use for their automatic door openers as well. The radar detector will pick those up (what we call 'false alerts'). They are annoying but eventually you learn what is a real threat on your route vs a false.

Ka band is most always a LEO. As soon as you encounter it, slow down and make sure you're doing everything right. (I'm not going to get into frequencies here but if you have questions you can feel free to PM me).


Now for laser, it is entirely different. Laser (or LIDAR) uses a single, narrow beam of light to get a speed reading. The officer has a "laser gun" and it has a sight. It is only activated when the officer pulls the trigger and is aiming at a car. It has little to no scatter, it is VERY rare to get scatter off of laser and anyone who says their detector reliably detects laser is either the one being hit (in which case the officer HAS your speed and all it tells you is that it detected laser which is useless because even if you slow down they have your initial speed), or is lying. Detectors will not reliably detect laser in any useful way.

There is where laser jammers come in, in most states they are not illegal. Laser is LIGHT, so as weird as it sounds, it is governed by the FDA. Therefore, it is not a federal crime to transmit light (what a jammer does). The two main brands are the Blinder (M27, M47) and the Laser Interceptor (LI, which is the best no questions asked although the blinder is very good as well).

Now in regards to "well the officer will see/know you have these!"

This MAY be true. I have been pulled over a couple of times (not related to speeding) and what I have done is remove the detector from my windshield and throw it under the seat. I'm sure an officer would not appreciate seeing a RD on my windshield.

For laser jammers, you are never supposed to jam to gun. (This is keeping your jammer on all the way to/past the officer). Once you are hit with laser, slow down and turn off the jammers (they come with a power switch). When he shoots you again, he will get a speed reading but hopefully it will be one that is safe and doesn't want to pull you over. Some officers ARE educated on jammers. Some laser guns (There are many kinds) will throw an ERROR CODE which means JAM, some will just not display a speed. Laser guys are not the easiest to use either, so it is not uncommon for an officer to shoot something and not get a speed right away.


Even if you have the best radar detector and laser jammer, there is still a chance you can get a ticket. They can use VASCAR (officers are trained to visually estimate the speed of a moving car) which is their eyes, ntohign you can do against that. If you are flying past a LEO they don't need your exact speed to give you a ticket. You can be shot with instant on radar, nothing is fool proof, BUT you have a very good chance of being safe.


Now how much does this cost? A GOOD radar detector will be $250-500. More in the 4-500$ range. Now for laser jammers, Blinder M47 is about 5-700$, and LI will be a little bit more (maybe $1k, but i'd have to check prices as it's been a while).


Is it worth it? Depends. I don't drive crazy but it always puts a smile on my face whenever I get an early warning that the LEO is out there, and I love technology. I just think it's cool.


Any more questions feel free to post or PM me.