Radar Detector?
 

So I'm sure that none of us ever speed :D However, if you were looking for (or already have) a radar detector what would you go with? V1? Escort 9500? Something else?

i am actually looking into getting one myself

heard good things bout valentine radars but would like opinion from some people who actually have it would be nice. o heard false alarms are a issue with them

I'm in the same situation also. I have no idea. I heard good things about Escort 9500. I have an app on my fone but those are sorta a joke.

I have heard good things about the V1, mainly the ability to show you the direction the radar is coming from, but I've also heard the drawback about the false warnings. Hopefully we have some other speed conscious peeps on here to help educate us.

Yeah, I'm on board with you guys, I'd like to know if the Escort is worth purchasing before I get my BRZ.

4.5 years with my Escort 9500ix. Absolutely love it. High detection only a hair lower than the V1, lockout false alerts, and pre-recorded alert locations for those spots that I know they sit and/or run laser from frequently (like mile marker 37 on the New Jersey Turnpike)

- Longest detection I've seen personally was 2.9 miles on I-80(?) On the salt flats west of Salt Lake City.
- Locked out somewhere over 700 false alerts locations across the northeast, though a handful across the rest of the country
- I don't rely on it, it is simply another tool in my arsenal, and is not superior to the grey matter between my ears.
- 1 ticket with it, a last second pop radar head on from a RAPIDLY closing cruiser in the no-mans land of northern NV. Was targeting me anyway for possible drug runner (out of state plates, sports car, between a major highway and a town with a known drug problem) saved from dozens of others.


\

Valentine V1 all the way!

My brother has had one for about 5 years and hasn't gotten a single ticket with it. It pretty much always detects police officers, and even when it does detect the occasional sliding door and whatnot, you can just slow down anyway, just to be safe.

However, things like Radar Cruise Control make it go off and so if you're car has RCC then you can't really use it, as it will just keep beeping.

Glad this hasn't turned into a speed discussion, thank you for those who oppose them for staying out. :)

I have an Escort 9500ix in my car, it's awesome and was really handy back when Phoenix had the speed cameras. The range is awesome I've had it alert me 2 miles away before.

On my R6 I have an Escort 8500 X50 blue. I got it for free and it was beat up and not very good. I mailed it in for $60 to have it worked on, and they replaced the laser circuitry, the antenna, and recalibrated it and replaced the entire outter shell! I was impressed, plus they threw in extra suction cups and a smart cord.

Love Escort.

I've always loved the Valentine 1 but I've also heard that with most states using laser exclusively, once the laser is picked up by the detector it's too late. Any truth to that? If not, I might just have to buy a V1 now that I drive 150 miles round trip a day to work, all highway.

For the most part, that is true. Unless the laser can't get a lock on you and your speed, or it reflects, and the detector gets the light in time, but you'd have to react fast.

And that claim about states using exclusively laser is not true. It's expensive technology and has limitations:
- Have to have perfect clear weather (rain will obstruct the laser)
- Have to be stationary.
- Typically can't be used behind a closed window.

Given these, it's more common with two cops, where one will laser you and the other mobile unit will track you down.

Additionally, in some states you can buy laser blockers. Jamming radar is illegal in all states because radar is FCC regulated. Blocking light, however, is not federally regulated, but some states may have laws blocking their use. IMO it's not worth the $600-1200 it may cost to jam laser.

Isn't laser also useless at night?

No, they still work at night. If they don't then some cops have been scamming me out of 1-2 HJ's on more than one occasion...

Those are some expensive tickets...Google just found me RadarDetector.net they have some interesting threads over there.