Radar Detectors

[TodB]

I am curious to hear about your experiences with latest radar detectors.

Looks like the best options out there are the following:

Escort Redline - The newest. Longest range, undetectable, little filtering
Escort 9500IX - Range not quite as long as the Redline, GPS enabled alerts to known sources (database can be updated), filtering of false alarms, a list you can add to
Valentine V1 - the prior "standard" but falling down the list.

I've owned various Escort detectors since ~1982. I am leaning towards the 9500IX. What do you use and what have your experiences been? Any others I should be looking at? Recommendations?

 

[alanmcg]

9500ix

hi tod, finially bought a coupe, got one of peters (coupeking) restorations - not nacht, but all else good. i just got back home from driving it up to seattle from long beach - great trip - 80-85mph the whole way. I bought a 9500ix for the trip and it worked flawlessly. saved my bacon at least 3 times. the voice alert ('ka band detected') turned out to be a nice feater, it only does it once, then goes to a beep, and then beep gets quieter as long as is from same source.

kinda spendy, but all else gets full marks from me.

they also make a stealthy version that can be installed permanently (detectors mounted to the front and rear lisc plate, and then small display unit in the car) - am thinking about getting this version for a perm install in the coupe.

hope this helps,
alanmcg

 

[sfdon]

Escort is great with Ka band - but nothing will save your ass from Lidar.

Lately the CHP in CA stand next to the their car and shoot cars as they go by.

When your "laser detector" goes off- you know you just got a ticket if you were speeding.

 

[deQuincey]

funny word: undetectable

are you sure about that ?

here you will be asked to pay a 3000 Euro bill if you are caught with one of those, and often newspapers came with a small notice of some cars been stopped in the Toll area of the highway to be checked due to an evidence of those detectors found

some of them with a professional hidden installation under the bonnet

 

[bmw art car]

Escort is great with Ka band - but nothing will save your ass from Lidar.

Lately the CHP in CA stand next to the their car and shoot cars as they go by.

When your "laser detector" goes off- you know you just got a ticket if you were speeding.

that's why i like to call them ticket announcer

 

[blumax]

"funny word: undetectable

are you sure about that ? here you will be asked to pay a 3000 Euro bill if you are caught with one of those, and often newspapers came with a small notice of some cars been stopped in the Toll area of the highway to be checked due to an evidence of those detectors found---some of them with a professional hidden installation under the bonnet



Nothing like "living" in a socialistic country where government "needs" for revenue trump ANY rights of the individual to protect himself against government extortion!!

 

[glenn in encinitas]

Having owned several Passports and a couple of Valentines, there is no question that the most useful is the Valentine because of the counter and the arrows. Radar enforcement knows where all the door openers (K-band noise) are and sit nearby. The GPS function of the Passports overrides this and you get nailed.

Like the Apple vs. Windows debate, much of the technology devolves into what is useful and what is not. In my humble opinion, Valentine is useful. While Passport technology might arguably be more technically evolved, it is not as useful. If it's not as useful, who cares about technology.

BTW, I've had my older Valentine next to my older Passport and the Valentine detected with greater distance and with greater accuracy than the Passport.

Finally, in So. Cal., many CHP are lazy and simply drive around with their radar units powered up- making the radar detectors the equivalent of CHP detectors. Not always, but becoming much more common.

My $0.02.

 

[acat2002]

Personally, I think RADAR detectors give a false sense of security.

25 years of excessive speeding have taught me that the best detector is your own eyes and experience. Of course you need to pay close attention to your rear view mirror and features of the road (bridges, overpasses, blind curves etc.), whic of course the road should have your full attention anyway when youre "at speed".

I never had a detector in my coupe, or any of my '02s. Never really pushed them beyond 80 on the highway. My latest bucket is one of the hardest vehicles to keep under 80mph and is definately NOT "under-the-radar" (both figuratively & literally) and came equipped with a hidden K2500 detector that I turned off. I want to keep my reflexes sharp!

Tod, of course I realize that you were not asking for a dissertation on speed trap avoidence, rather a survey of RADAR detectors so sorry. However, I do think it is relevant that I racked up many more tickets when I was younger and had a detector, compared to now when I have none. That said, if I did a lot of interstate travel (where I'm unfamiliar with the usual speed traps), then a good detector might be in order.

 

[deQuincey]

"

Nothing like "living" in a socialistic country where government "needs" for revenue trump ANY rights of the individual to protect himself against government extortion!!

:-D:-D:-Dblumax

take it easy ! it is not really a fact of living in a socialist or non-socialist country, you might know that there is not real socialism out there:-D:-D:-D (with the honourable exception of the low clasess of some countries like n-korea:confused

there is a fact that in europe there is a crusade against high-speeding in order to reduce the dramatically rising figures of deaths in the road ! and that includes all possible anti-anti-radar devices and techniques

 

[hans3]

What's interesting is that Mike Valentine of Valentine1 is an E9 owner--it's in his signature when he posts on other forums.

What's also interesting--given this--is that our cars have the standard Euro cig. lighter outlet, which is slightly larger than those in American cars. Consequently, radar detector, etc., power plugs fit loosely and sometimes will lose power over bumps, etc.

The solution is what Escort Radar sells: a sleeve that fits over your power plug to give a proper tight fit in the Euro cigarette outlets. Valentine doesn't sell one last time I checked. I own a V1 and the requisite sleeve for all Euro cars.

 

[HB Chris]

I couldn't find the adapter sleeve on the Escort site, are there any other sources? Even US coupes have the euro socket, correct? Thanks.

 

[hans3]

I couldn't find it either. It would be worth calling them or checking E-Bay, etc. Useful for other older Euro cars too.

 

[gazzol]

:-D:-D:-Dblumax

take it easy ! it is not really a fact of living in a socialist or non-socialist country, you might know that there is not real socialism out there:-D:-D:-D (with the honourable exception of the low clasess of some countries like n-korea:confused

there is a fact that in Europe there is a crusade against high-speeding in order to reduce the dramatically rising figures of deaths in the road ! and that includes all possible anti-anti-radar devices and techniques

Taking this off topic from the OP I have to agree with Blumax, I live in the UK where radar detectors are no longer illegal but I know for a fact that in France they are, with HUGE fines imposed if you are caught with one in your car weather it is switched on or not. Now tell me this is not a revenue raising exercise. If France wanted to stop people from speeding all they need to do is legalise radar detectors and scatter K band noise generators up and down the highways (along with patrols of course) so you drive down the highway over the speed limit and your detector goes off what do you do?
a: Maintain your current illegal speed
b: Increase your current speed
c: Slow down so that you're driving within the limit.
If you answered "c" then in theory its mission accomplished so whats the problem with having a detector??????? The answer is that "they" don't want you to slow down "they" want to catch you speeding so they can impose a fiscal punishment.