Not here to GIVE advice, here looking for advice:

Ok, four tickets this year. $808 in one year (only one ticket, I believe, is on my record - no impact on my ever-cheap insurance rates). So, after spending that on tickets - I am asking for input on Radar/Laser Detectors. OBVIOUSLY, after spending $808 in a year - PRICE is not an issue. Ok, everyone - what should I buy?

 

I use the Passport 9500IX. Without getting crazy on installation, this is the best IMHO. I like Valenine 1, except it doesn't have GPS, so it will go off every time you pass a false alarm.

The Passport 9500ix knows where you are, so it doesn't sound the alarm if you've identified a spot as a false alert (by tapping the button 3 times) or after it senses the false alert 3 times.

 

Ditto ^^^^^^^^ and I think they come in red or blue

 

Ditto - Ditto.

Have one in each of my SRT's. Lifesavers.

Don't leave home without it!

 

Man, that sensitivity in the video is impressive.

I think I know what I want now, thanks guys.

 

Gonna check out the Passport. Thanks guys.

 

Dang. Can't find your number Mark!
Just found out it's on sale but only for another hour.

 

Well if price is NOT an issue, then the bar none best is the Escort Passport 9500ci (and it's twin the BEL STiR Plus).
Completely undetectable and stealth installation w/ radar jammers.

https://www.escortradar.com/passport9500ci/

https://www.beltronics.com/store/stir-plus.html

 

Thanks DJ. I grabbed up one with that great deal.

 

When I bought my sons truck.. it "had" one of these in it.. or I should say similar model.. I've got a 45 dollar escort hardwired into my car.. so I plugged this one in to test out. It went off maybe a 1/2 second before my chepo escort.. and they always detected the same.. escort never missed anything the passport picked up.

 

THanks, snagged it with 14 minutes to go!

 

I considered it -but can't justify it. When I said price was not an issue, I had no idea such items existed. Over $1,000? I'd like the stealthyness of it, but since RDs are legal everywhere I go - it's not that big of a deal.

$808 in fines in one year - so far, my insurance is only $715 a year.

(I am told, and will check after the first of hte year, that only one of these tickets is on my record.)

 

Hey - Look at me!

6002 posts!

 

I bought two el-cheapo cobra radar detectors on fleabay for under $25 bucks each (one 14 band, the other 15 band). The 15 band goes in the XF with the mirror mount mod and the 14 band goes floating between the truck and the Camaro. I got these after a 89 in a 60 ticket that could have set me back a whole lotta $$$$$. Luckily, the female trooper wrote it 9 over and then we negotiated it at courthouse for court costs of 30 bucks. So, these have saved me many times already. IMHO the higher priced ones are just much ado about fluff and not worth the added $$$. My $0.02 cents worth!

 

Well, ANYTHING is better than NOTHING - which is what I've had.

I thought about experimenting with an $80 one from Autozone - but I sure have had a lot of people tell me that the one I have coming is way more sensitive. And I know one of the guys here at work as a $99 (Uniden, I think) that he has told me only alerts in time if he is doing under 40.

In any event, with the price drop last night, I just had to order one after seeing the video above.

How 'bout you and I compare their performance this spring in April?

 

I'm sold on this particular model (for now) that's why I bought another one last night.
I started with the cheaper detectors as a youngster and learned that sometimes more ($) is better.

Call it my Christmas present to myself!

 

That is just what I am thinking here!

 

So, when this unit is giving the full signal, is the LEO able to pick you up on radar from that distance and around the curves? Kind of like if you can "see" him, can't he "see" you?

 

Yes, from that distance he could - but not in the case in the video, as you are buried in traffic. Also, the curves work to your advantage.
Hence, you gain plenty of time to slow down.

Curves? Yes, remember the trigonometric function of Doppler radar: the speed the radar displays is the target speed times the cosine of the angle at which your car is closing on the Radar. Radar does NOT measure your speed, it measures the rate at which your vehicle's distance from the radar device changes over time. In a curve, your distance from the radar is not a 1 to 1 ratio with your speed. Your distance from the radar changes at a trigonometric rate.

So, headed strait towards the patrol car, your angle is 0 degrees. cos(0) = 1
Radar displays your speed x 1

BUT...
If you are coming around a curve and are closing on the patrol car at a 45 degree angle, cos(45) = .707
Radar displays your speed x .707

In the video, he is going around curves that are way less than 45 degrees (by my lousy eye, let's say 20 degrees). cos(20)=.93
Radar shows your speed x .93

So, again, you have SOME time to ease off (which you will automatically do whenever the alert sounds, if you are like me.)

Of course, an 'instant on' Radar is still going to get you, no matter what - but an officer sitting there doing reports with his radar on is not likely manually operating the radar in "instant on" mode.

Radar detectors are not a license to speed with impunity, but in the four tickets I got this year, I think a RD would have saved me every time. Oh, perhaps not on the Skyway (Dragon GTG) - because I would not expect an officer to stop me for 8 mph over in most circumstances.