So you recently got pulled over for speeding and you didnt like the requested amount of money the officer put on the citation. Furthermore the 2 points that are on your liscense will put your insurance through the roof. Now you are paying over $100 for your fine, paying almost $100 more on your insurnace(i had to), and now you need to buy a new roof on top of that. So now purchasing a radar detector has become Number 1 priority to prevent this from happening. Well here is a guide to help you figure out what brand to get what kind of coverage they provide. Alert time, distance, 360 protection, etc.



What is a Radar Detector?

a Radar Detector is a passive electronic device used by motorists to determine if their speed is being monitored by law enforcement agencies via a radar unit, thereby potentially avoiding prosecution for speeding.



What kinds of Radars are there?

There is X which is Laser, Then there is K and Ka band which is a type of doppler radar. And with X the most common form is found in a hand held gun style where law enforcement can pull a trigger and get your speed reading right then and there. and the only time your radar detector will detect it is when the officer pulls the trigger to get your speed. which is not enough time to slow down safely and not get caught.



What is a Laser/Radar Jammer?

It is what you think it is. It jams the laser or radar detection so they dont get a clear reading of you speeding. it DOESN"T detect it it JAMS it.



Are detectors and jammers illegal to have?

Yes/No they are legal to have in your personal vehicle except if you on a military base or in Virgina Washington D.C. they are also illegal in commercial vehicles/motor carriers. laser Jammers and Radar jammers are illegal in Nebraska, Minnesota, Utah, California, Oklahoma, Virgina, Colorado, Illinois, and Washington D.C. Now in Canada there are three provinces that ALLOW radar dectors they are Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. Now states where the these are illegal law enforcement has a radar detecting radars called a Spectre. Which is know as VG-2, they detect almost any radar detector. the only real way to beat it is turn your radar detor off. or to MINIMIZE detection point it downwards slightly so it will still pick it up radars yet have a less likely chance to to be detected.



Now your asking which one offers the best protection?


The number one compliant of Radar Detectors is False Alerts. The most common radar to date is the Ka band. About 60% of radars are Ka. Because they are more affordable than K or X band. Laser Jammers are not recommended because of their price and they are unreliable. Most do not work good enough to be worth purchasing. The good brands out there are Escort, Vanlentine, and Beltronics. Now which one offers the best protection do you ask?? Well now Beltronics and Escort are owned and operated by the same company. The Escort 8500 X50 and the Beltronics RX65 are virtually the same except for astetic reasons, which changes their price. Now for the Valentine 1 has dual antennas that work with directional arrows to show where the radar is coming from. but through reviews on filtering through it. The Valentine does not compare to some other detectors in its price range that offer better protection. The radar that was tested over a 2300 mile speed trap by Laserveil.com they reviewed and said that the Beltronics RX65 performed the best. And some radar detectors now have compasses built into them to remember and store where false alerts are so it does not happen again.



Now if your on a budget what is best for you??

Now if you are on a budget like the most of us nowadays, you dont wanna spend a whole lot of money to help prevent you from spending a whole alot of money. Well my suggestion is if you can't afford a good radar to meet your needs then dont speed!! The ones about to be listed are the ones that offer the best protection/detection in its price class.

For the $300 and up range you can get the Escort 9500 ix which alot of people have and reccomend on this website and provides Preloaded with a database of thousands of safety camera locations, Auto learn software automatically eliminates false alerts, Blistering all-band protection, 360-degree radar and laser detection, New variable-speed radar performance, Web ready for location database updates, GPS-powered Truelock Filter, Built-in Earphone Jack, and Limited one year warranty. this is by far the best radar detector out there. Many can vouche for it.


For the $200 range is the Belteronics Vector 995 its features include 10X range- radar alerts in advance of the "ticket" zone, Detects all bands of radar and laser including Ku,
Complete VG-2 immunity, Voice alert so you can keep your eyes on the road, Digital signal processing virtually eliminates false alerts, Built-in Earphone Jack, Includes Smart power cord with mute function, Also includes soft carrying case, and
1 year limited warranty.


And finally the $100 range and below the best pretection in this price class is the Cobra XRS-9540. Which is a company we haven't talked about. but for this price range and protection/detection this is it.


And for those of you who are curious or intersted in the laser jamming portion. the best protection is the the package Betronics offers called RX75 plus radar detector. it is a kit that includes Combination remote mount radar detector and laser blocker, 2 front and 1 rear laser blocker/jammer heads, Complete VG-2 immunity, Digital signal processing (DSP) eliminates false alerts, Clear digital voice or audio alerts, Easy-to-use controls and includes remote control mute and volume, Ultra bright high definition display, and
1 year limited warranty. But the price for this is just over the $1000 mark.



So there you have it, i hope this is use and informative to those of you who are on the fence about buying one or after you read this are deciding to upgrade to a better one. but like i said earlier if you cant afford one that fits your needs for the right price then you cant afford to speed.


Disclaimer: Be safe when driving, i dont condone speeding/reckless driving. Yes i like to drive fast but i am old enough to owe up to my responsiblilties such as speeding. if your not mature enough to know better or deal with the responsiblites that come along with speeding then dont blame me if you get pulled over/arrested/or worse.

 

Nice right up!

I have a cobra 9345 and it does just what i need it to do. I live in louisiana so the cops arent really on top of their game. I have had very minimul false alerts...

 

i hope this gets stickyed i am virgin still

 

sticky worthy

 

check out my f/s thread for radar detectors...

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/stuff-137/fs-brand-new-radar-detector-183371/

 

Nice write up. I have an Escort 8500 X50 and it has saved me countless times. Even though the new 9500 may be newer, the 8500 is still a nice pickup and works flawlessly. I definitely recommend it.

 

i felt the need to add some things to this thread. i thought X-band was radar, not lidar (laser). the difference between radar and lidar is the wavelength. lidar, or lasers (police guns) emit a much faster wavelength, but they are directional. lidar uses the light wavelength, radar uses radio wavelength (i believe). basically, unless you have a sweet radar detecter, once it detects a laser its probably too late to react.

X-band is not really used for police radar anymore because it is much slower than the popular Ka signal. however, to not interfere with the police bands, the x-band is still used for motion detection. this is commonly seen at intersections that have cameras for people running red lights. it's also used in dealerships and large parking lots to alert business owners when people are in the lots after hours.

Jammers work by sending out a similar signals to the police radars. The way radar works is a signal gets sent from the cop to your car, which bounces off your car and hits the cops radar detector. The difference between the times the radar detector logs is your speed. (velocity - change in distance over time). So if you have a jammer, the cop will think you're doing 200+ mph or something off the charts. therefore they cannot really pull you over (unless it's obvious the jammer is coming from you!!) because they cannot verify your speed.

!! TIP !! by law, if you are pulled over by a cop using a radar gun, you have the right to request to have the laser tested. if it is not calibrated correctly, the ticket will be dismissed. this happens a lot.

One last thing. I see this all the time and it still bothers me. If you have a radar detecter, do not try to hide it by wedging it between the dash and the windshield. If you do this, you will not have 360 radar! Radar detectors work by receiving a certain frequency. They can only receive frequencies if they have line of sight since radar bounces off of solids and passes through glass. Therefore, the best place to put it if you still want to hide it is higher up the windshield next to the mirror.

 

Good write up.

I'm running the Escort 9500i
It saved me more than once on my trip across the US this summer.

It's not perfect (none of them are) but it was nice to have on roads like this: