Radar

What do you boys recommend for radar detectors, this would be my first one and have no idea what to look for!

i have a Valentine One wired through the OBD which also lets you set a speed limit at which the detector is not distracting. It works great, but had to change the settings recently cause of those new Audis Valentine 1 and Audi's Side Assist - conflict solved! - YouTube

be ready to get a LOT of opinions on this FWIW, I am a currently using Passport 9500iX. I opted NOT to hardwire so I can easily move it around (I have 3 bikes and a few cars) This site helped me when I was researching: http://www.radarbusters.com/ In case you missed similar threads: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...detectors.html https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...hat-brand.html https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...your-vote.html https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...or-or-not.html

Beltronics RX65 with SmartCord Live. Awesome detection, voice prompts, and the smart cord live uses bluetooth to download speed camera, red light camera, and speed trap info via your phone's data plan. Put the detector display in "advanced" mode and it can track multiple sources for each band - like V1, except it doesn't indicate whether the threat is ahead or behind. The detector plus a hardwire installation and a good rear view mirror mount is a great setup. In CA, a detector isn't illegal, but having one suction-cupped to your windshield is.

I went with a Valentine 1 paired with a Blendmount mounting bracket. It was the first "mod" that I did after purchasing the car Watch out for motorcycle cops with lasers - even as good as these modern detectors are, by the time they are signalling to you it's probably already too late. R

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+996 It will basically boil down to which color lights you like(red or blue), and whether you want/need red light camera/false warning GPS detection or want bogey directional indicators.

I've had the Valentine products for 10+ years and have been saved more times that I can remember

Laser, unless you're in tight traffic, is pretty much just an indication that you want to start pulling over, since the guy you see jumping into his cruiser in your rear-view will be lighting you up shortly... Laser jammers are illegal in CA, but if they weren't, I'd have them.

+1 valentine v1...

I'm a big fan of V1. Passport seems to be the other good option.

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Rocking the V1 for 15 years now. No complaints. It uses standard phone cord hardware so it's insanely easy to build custom wires for a hardwire install without forcing your location or having tons of extra cable running around. The last ticket I got (knock knock) was a laser. I came around a corner where they sometimes like to sit and I rolled craps. He popped me at 85 in a 55. The laser warning went off so I immediately pulled over. The conversation went something like this. Cop: Do you know how fast you were going? Me: Probably a little fast. Cop: What's that? (pointing to V1) Me: Radar detector Cop: You know those are illegal in VA? Me: Yes Cop: Didn't do you much good did it? Me: You didn't have to get in your car and chase me did you? (I stopped about 10' in front of his car) Cop: He let me off with a 74 in a 55 (not reckless, didn't have to go to court, and 3 points instead of 6) and the rest of conversation we had was pretty good and I learned something (why they touch the rear of your car as they approach). Chances are if I wasn't so honest I probably could have gotten away since I also illegally run without a front plate and there was enough traffic that I would have been able to take a few alternate directions before he could have gotten in and caught up to me. He got me dead to rights though and I'm OK with that.

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so what was that? I have the 9500ix and its been great...paid for itself many times over already. i get monthly updates i can download...as in the latest red light camera location or speed trap locations (although I dont run red lights or speed too much in urban areas so i tend not to update very often). Even helps when theyve pulled you over when your alarm didnt go off...you know theyre just making a point in front of other drivers and they cant charge you (they dont have your speed recorded). jammers are neat...illegal in a lot of places. so you have to be careful.

I have been watching the radar forum for the past 3 months in anticipation of a purchase. Frontrunners there are V1 and Escort Redline. Both have equally ardent fans, but Redline is supposed to give best detection range.

The Valentine 1 seems to be the best one. All of the various Cannon Ball Run record holders in the last few years used a Valentine 1 and Waze app. The complaint about the Valentine I is that it has too many false alarms. The top of the line Escort has software that is supposed to be able to tell what is real and what is a garage door opener or whatever. Valentine's response to that is that you are risking legal jeopardy on the effectiveness of those programs. They are not fool proof. Valentine 1 is the only detector that tells you in which direction the signal is coming from. If it is coming from the side or rear, it is a false alarm since you can't a car's speed from the side and it is very unlikely a cop you missing is gunning you from behind. The thing goes off a lot, but you can tell what is false by where it is coming from. If you are looking to use it driving the same route every day, the top of the line Escort might be better since it will learn all of the false alarms. If you are looking to use it on long trips, I would go with the Valentine I. One thing everyone agrees about though is don't bother with anything besides the very top of the line ones. The cheap ones are worse than no detector at all since they have poor range and give a false sense of security.

I own 3 valentine ones (one in each of my "fast" cars and one in my wife's car) You are a fool if you use anything else.

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I saw him touch my taillight as he approached and asked him if something was wrong with it. What he explained is that they actually don't want you to notice and try to do it surreptitiously. Should the stop go wrong and the officer ends up dead, their fingerprints on the car is just more evidence that it was that car the officer encountered. Do you have 3 drivers? Why not just one for each driver and then move them between cars? That's what my wife and I do (3-4 vehicles, 2 drivers, 2 V1s). Back in the day the V1 was light years ahead with the ability to do that as hardwiring wasn't as "hard" as the competitors back then.

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I may be a fool, but I'm a fool with no tickets for YEARS, thanks to the Beltronics' AWESOME KA detection. I KNOW of at least 5 tickets I've avoided - between the 911, the Corvette, and my lead-foot wife's car, that number is more likely in the teens or twenties. I get about a half-mile range if the cop is behind; a little more if it's ahead, and of course much more on straight roads with no traffic. I put one in each car - the day I forget to move it will be the day I get tagged. I use mirror mounts in all 3 cars - California Highway Patrol can pull you over for using a suction cup mount for your radar/satnav.

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I've used a V1 for 15 years and the only thing that might get me to switch is the lack of a crowdsourcing feature. The future of detectors is just getting enough of them in people's hands that automatically locate LEOs and report them to everyone else. Like an automatic version of Trapster. Escort has it (for an annual fee), but no idea how well it works. I personally find that moving the detector from car to car is kind of a pain, so I don't bother unless I'm taking a long trip.

I use the Smart Cord Live functionality in my 911 to get the realtime speed trap alerts, but the LEO has always moved on by the time I get the warning. If you have red-light cameras in your jurisdiction, the software also reports those - saved me from a couple of tickets before the cameras were banned in San Diego.

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Escort Live hasn't quite caught on like wild fire. They have been extending the subscription that comes with the smart cord. I installed one a year ago with my StiR+ and still have yet to actually renew my subscription. The other thins is the police reported on EL is shared with Waze. If Waze reports a LEO, it will also show up on EL and vice versa. The only difference is EL will continue to show the marked LEO even after they moved on (a configured time in the settings). In Waze, if enough people mark the LEO as not there, it gets removed. This results in EL reporting in way more falses. I just got back from 3 long trips over the past 2 months and I ran both EL & Waze together. The EL picks up on Ka/K/X/Laser reported by other EL users, which aren't shared with Waze.

+1 on the Passport 9500ix. The feature I really like is that it uses GPS to store sites where you constantly have door openers and such. Then suppresses that particular signal at that particular intensity at that particular GPS location. This has done WONDERS to decrease false positives in the areas I normally drive. I understand that if a LEO parks there running radar he'll probably get me, but how is that different than me ignoring the fact that it always raises hell at that corner? I'll take the trade-off for the massive reduction in false positives. (Not really false as the radar is there, but false as in no LEO!) Mine is hard wired in, but I still have the standard coiled cord that I use if I want it in another car. PROTIP: the V1 and Passport 9500ix can use the same hardwired power plug.

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Most door openers operate on the X band. I see that you are from Mississippi, check out this link to see what bands are used in your country. You can probably disable X band and eliminate all that noise around malls. RDF Geographical Survey Depends if the lockout is the same band as the LEO is using. The lockouts also get reinstated if you drive by the same place and the detector doesn't see the same signal. Really good info over at RDForum .

I have the V1 in four cars and the 9500 ci hardwired into two. The V1 is starting to false everywhere these days (even upgraded mine). I also don't like them in the dash as thefts are going up. for roadtrips the V1 is great because of range, so that's where I mainly use it now. the 9500 CI is a really nice detector, but $2600 pricey. (installed). The laser shifters on it have saved me from two tickets so far, it gives you that one chance to hit the brakes before the cop tries a second lock. when you get under 800 feet he'll get you, but at 1000+ he can't lock you, so it's pretty cool. The ka and k band are very sensitive and I like them. lots of folks like the red light camera warning, but I wish I could just fully disable that, I don't run reds, and hearing the stupid warning at every overpass/underpass when I'm on the highway blows. you can unmark each location, but it's still a pain. so for everyday driving I like the 9500ci, for road trips the V1

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I will admit that I've gotten lazy the last few years so mine stays in the Cayenne and her's is in the BMW. That means I end up driving the 996 without one. I haven't even so much as seen a cop in it though, but every time I start questioning why I bother in the Cayenne it will go off and save me a few $$$.

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If you have an android phone, you should try out YaV1 with the V1. I don't have a V1 so I can only go by the rave reviews by other forum users. Which laser jammers are these? There is a new compact guy (Dragon Eye) that uses a variable pulse that only one system is able to jam currently, ALP . I had Laser Interceptor and recently switched over to ALP. You should be able to turn this off in the radar config.

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because THIS I put one in my 911 and one in my RX-8 - my Miata and Gray Jetta barely go fast enough to worry about speeding tickets. My wife has her own Jetta (also Gray) and its the only car she drives - that's where the third one lives.

For anyone interested, Escort Radar is having a 40% sale with promo code CES15

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looked everywhere - cannot find it. Not jammers, shifters - the ones that come with the 9500ci, two up front, one in the rear. have them on my 430 and my cayenne, they are a lifesaver, although I wonder how they affect distronic cruise on the cars behind me, and if i'm ever gonna get rear ended.

+1 on V1. Although I need to send mine in for the upgrade. Just got the wife the new "Escort Passport". She likes it, therefore I'm happy (sent in a 12 year old Passport for a bit of a discount).

Also, Blinder HP-905 is a good addition to the V1.

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I don't know if that's as bad as my situation where my V1 has been tucked away in my door pocket for the past 4 years! One of my neighbors is a state trooper though so I just carry his card instead. As someone said and what I was trying to say earlier, either top two detectors is good, just depends on which features are more important to you.

I have the Escort Passport Max and am happy with it. I like that it uses GPS to learn areas where there are false alerts. I had a V1 but found that it alerted so often that it became useless. I should point out that I use it all the time - in town and freeway - because where I live, LEO are always writing tickets for doing 37 in a 35, etc... I see that Escort now has a Passport Max 2 with built in Bluetooth so that it gives you the Escort Live functionality with your phone.

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Looks like Escort disabled the promo code. I think it was intended for CES attendees only. I called in and placed the order via the phone and gave them the CES booth number - #1221. That will get you the 40% off.

Last time I was a fan of Escort radar detectors is when they were made by Cincinati Microwave and designed by Michael Valentine... Since then, V1's on all my vehicles. Still have one of these floating around somewhere...

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Yep!

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WOW, That brings back some memories. One specifically where I was busted going 130+ mph in S. Georgia circa 1985/86, LOL. P.S. i agree on my 3rd Valentine 1

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is this a laser jammer? They tend not to use much laser around here . . . . although I kind of want to run a laser jammer ALL THE TIME in all my cars just to drive the sensors on other vehicles insane, because they keep setting off my car's laser sensor (I'm looking at you Volvo, Infiniti, and Mazda in particular). I wonder if one of those cars with auto braking/etc would flip out if their beam hit the jammer?

So would something like the k40 d5 defused work as both a laser jammer and a detector?

I assume you mean g5. Those are laser jammers only. Would not help with radar. I haven't heard much about the k40 ones. Right now the jammers that dominates the market are ALP . They are the only one capable of jamming the new variable pulse guns (i.e. Dagon Eye).

but still - can I **** with autonomous driver aids on other cars by running a laser jammer?

I have the 3 driver aids (ACC, LDW, LCA) on my CTTS and the laser jammer on my car doesn't interfere with the operation of the aids nor do they trigger false alerts on my ALP. If you are asking, if the jammers mess with other cars, no. The jammers are smart jammers , meaning they only emit when the receive a recognize laser pattern of a matching gun. It's not a brute force approach.

Since we are on the topic of jammers, I have a question. My car came with a Blinder M20-X-Treme jammer. I understand that this is useless, old technology and plan to remove it. Am I right?

I haven't heard great reviews on the jammers. The 2 top dogs are ALP and LI. ALP if you are seeing the new VPR guns in you area or if you aren't, then LI will suit your needs. I switched to ALP as there were reports of the VPR guns showing up in CA. I still have the old set of high powered quad LI that I haven't gotten around to selling. So depending on your budget, either get a newest tech (ALP) or get a used set of LI.

If you need a radar detector to save you......you're driving to slow!!!!

Thankfully all the local departments seem to have 'moved on' from their laser fascination... Now they just keep the radar running and catch the ones with no detectors (or awareness) rather than hunting down the 1% that always runs radar detectors. Since it's all about revenue anyway, it's a much better business plan .

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Random acts of taxation.

The P!g had to go to the dealer so I put the V1 in the 996 for a change. Getting on the highway on the way home from work I passed a Statie that was setup for laser under the bridge. --aside-- In VA radar detectors are illegal and the Staties are the only ones (at least in my area) that run the sniffers that pick up the V1. --aside-- A mile or so down the road I pick him up in my rear view flying down the road towards me. Having been popped by them before, I unplugged the V1 and sure enough he slowed down as he got up next to me. After a few minutes he went on his way (which included cutting across 3 lanes of traffic with no signal to get off on an exit ). Even though he caught up to me doing 70 in a 55 he was clearly more interested in my "dangerous" radar detector than the fact that I (or others around me) were doing well above the speed limit. I find it funny that it's been a long time since I ran the V1 in the 996 and I almost get a ticket for it the first time that I do...

Thread bump - if I had any doubts about owning a radar detector (I don't - but if I did...), yesterday would have obliterated them. I successfully foiled the nefarious schemes of no less than four LEOs (3 CHP, one Sheriff) yesterday courtesy of my Beltronics RX65. In one case, a CHP cruiser eyeballed me from the eastbound lanes when I was going westbound, plowed across the unpaved median (I saw the cloud of dust before the KA started pinging), hauled *** to catch up to me, and paced me for some time giving me the stink eye...my poor detector was on the verge of a panic attack. I don't know if CHP was out in anticipation of drunk Superbowl partiers, but this was all before 8 AM on the 8 all the way out at Sunrise Highway. I gave up on my Julian run due to the law enforcement presence and motored back home... While I don't condone reckless driving, I enjoy those early Sunday drives, since the roads are quiet and it's a chance for the 911 to stretch its legs. It's hard to even guess how much money I've saved by installing a detector in each car, but it is substantial.

Valentine One ftw! I have had so many saves over the years. Lost count after the first few months of ownership. A detector + awareness will get you out if 99% of tickets where I live. Take away either one and it's not worth speeding IMO (although I would say that situational awareness/instinct is much more important). I have had a few good saves after thinking "up ahead looks like a GREAT spot to hide". And then BAM I was hit with instant on radar after slowing down. This has happened maybe once every year or two for me. The last ticket that I got could have been a save with the V1. The V1 laser went off... So naturally I looked for a Volvo/Infinity. By the time I realized that there were none it was too late. He pinged me a solid 5 seconds the first time and then the second time is when he got my speed (I'm thinking he was too far away when he first pulled the trigger). Luckily I let off the throttle as soon as laser went off the first time. Braking would have saved me.

I have a V1 that was installed by the previous owner. The unit is hidden somewhere in the car and a remote control is mounted between the heated seat buttons in the lower center console. The display is built into the rear view mirror. I don't know how old the unit is and it probably needs to be upgraded. This may be a dumb question, but does anyone know where the actual unit may be?

I've used V1 for what seems to be like 25 years. I was an early adopter of the first unit. I've since upgraded and bought additional units for the other cars. HOWEVER, the continuous false alarms is crazy! You do get used to it and then subconsciously realize when it's "real" or not. Despite that, I now travel with the V1 + Waze GPS on my cellphone. For those that don't know, Waze tells you via social media if a cop is up ahead... The combination has been VERY accurate in my long commute.

I don't go anywhere in the 996 without my Passport 9500ix. Yes, it gives some false alarms but it has paid for itself many times over. Then again, I do like to drive fast.