Radar detectors

[sfleuriet]

I searched and saw some old threads, but I wanted to ask for some new info.

I just bought a Cobra XRS 9330 from CC for about $80.. I know it's far from top of the line, but I didn't want to spend too much. It detects X, K, Ka, VG-2, Spectre 1, and 4 different types of Lasers also. I just wanted some input on how these work, what type of things it goes off on (false alarms), etc.. I barely know anything about it so help me out. Thanks

[sfleuriet]

Also, will it work better in different positions on the window? Should it be higher, lower, pointing up, pointing down, level... ?

[Clutch]

You get what you pay for in detectors man, sorry but it's just the way it is. For example check out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=778Yd096UQs

[Black Hawk]

I have the even more cheaper version than that and it works okay for me. I gets lots of false positives but that's because of the area. Highway patrol leave the radar on on rural and urban roads so you can get a hit anywhere. Mine goes from 1 to 5 so you've got some time to slow down.

[Nomad]

When Thrax and I were hanging around with Prime's friend (Scott was his name I think), he had a detector that was dead accurate. Ran him like $300. He said anything less isn't reliable.

[fatcat]

yes...spend some money if you want a good one. Mine was $249 and it works well driving to Warren and back...especially across indiana where the cops use laser instead of radar.

as far as position you want it to be able to detect out all windows. so make sure you put it high enough on your front windshield to be able to detect out the back.

[jared]

Yeah go big or go home.

Stay away from cheap brands, including all Cobras. They're terrible.

Is you are going to get one, save up and get a Passport 8500 or Valentine. Those are arguably the two best on the market. I personally owned a Passport 8500 and highly recommend it.

[fatcat]

jared...arent passport's the one where they will pay your speeding ticket if you get one while using their radar detectors?

[sfleuriet]

I realize I didn't get the best one, and I'm fine with that. I've been dodging the police for many months without incident without any kind of detector, so having this one should be better than nothing. Plus, if nothing else, it's a gadget - and like most of us on this forum, I like gadgets :D

That video is cool, but that was honestly absolute best case scenario.. completely flat road the whole way, no obstructions.

[tmh88]

still, find a cheap one that could even do that.

[LawnMM]

Keep in mind that even with a radar detector the newer laser radar guns are instant on. There's no signal to pick up on they pull the trigger and you're locked immediately.

[sfleuriet]

Most small local police departments probably wont be using new technologies like that, will they? I might need to worry about that on the Interstates, but it probably isn't an issue in town.

[Thrax]

You shouldn't need one.

[sfleuriet]

Shouldn't need a smoke detector either, but ya never know! ;)

[Thrax]

Most people aren't deliberately setting fire to their homes. ;)

[sfleuriet]

Speeding isn't intentional 100% of the time. PLUS, it will also alert you of on-coming emergency vehicles so you can get out of the way. :D

[LawnMM]

Most small local police departments probably wont be using new technologies like that, will they? I might need to worry about that on the Interstates, but it probably isn't an issue in town.

I'd be willing to bet smaller departments have more of them than larger because the cost of outfitting a few cars with them is signficantly less than outfitting an entire fleet with the same technology.

Besides, like thrax said...you shouldn't need one. Speeding may not always be intentional but I don't know any cop that writes for speeding for less than 10 over. I've you're speeding more than 10 over...its intentional or you're the worst driver on the planet. Either way you run the risk of reaping the consequences.

Most people, barring privately paid for driving classes, are not really aware or capable of handling a vehicle at high speed in anything but a semi-straight line. Thats why we have speed limits, and thats why these young idiot kids with their souped up imports are always wrecking. :rolleyes2 Thats more paperwork for me :mad:

On the upside its humorous when some tool with 20k under the hood wrecks it because he can't drive :tongue:

Speeding isn't intentional 100% of the time. PLUS, it will also alert you of on-coming emergency vehicles so you can get out of the way. :D

Most cops aren't running radar while they're running lights and siren. Besides most people are blithering idiots and don't move till you're right on their ass holding the airhorn button down.

[jared]

Well maybe it is just because I am in a college town but the cops around here are either really cool or complete dicks. There is no in between.

Oh, and the Passport 8500 does pickup "instant on" guns. So as long you are not the only one on the road speeding alone you'll get a decent warning just like the other bands. Besides many departments don't like the 'instant on' guns to due to their inaccuracy in various weather conditions.

[LawnMM]

Uh, its not just the instant on guns that are innacurate with weather. You can't run radar in the rain or snow period. It affects the reading regardless of what band of radar or laser you're using.

There isn't much to pick up with the instant on guns but if you want to risk a ticket based on it, be my guest.

[GHoosdum]

The detector is very unlikely to pick up instant-on laser trained on another car unless it's right in front of you. Chances are if your detector lights up with instant-on, you're caught.

I found that when I had a radar detector in my car, I actually tended to drive slower (about 5 over) than I do without it (about 8 over) because I bought one that cost about a hundred bucks and it picked up leakage from other people's detectors, so it bleeped at me all the time.

Oh, and the emergency warning system never went off. Not once. If you are buying a detector thinking that's a useful feature, don't fool yourself.

[LawnMM]

The detector is very unlikely to pick up instant-on laser trained on another car unless it's right in front of you. Chances are if your detector lights up with instant-on, you're caught.

My point exactly.

[Nomad]

Speeding isn't intentional 100% of the time.

Much like rape.

[fatcat]

You know those signs that say use caution when its raining, or slow down...its all lies...the cops know they cant bust ya for speeding then...so drive it like ya stole it mcfly!

ahem...please drive safely, especially in michigan, because some potholes there are bigger than your car ;)

[GHoosdum]

They call those sinkholes everywhere else, but in Michigan they're just regular potholes.

[Buddy J]

Most people, barring privately paid for driving classes, are not really aware or capable of handling a vehicle at high speed in anything but a semi-straight line. Thats why we have speed limits, and thats why these young idiot kids with their souped up imports are always wrecking. :rolleyes2 Thats more paperwork for me :mad:

Damn those ricers and their 2Fast2Furious cars. If only the kids would soup up domestic cars instead. :rolleyes: Mustangs and Cameros are so much better.:rolleyes2

[LawnMM]

Damn those ricers and their 2Fast2Furious cars. If only the kids would soup up domestic cars instead. :rolleyes: Mustangs and Cameros are so much better.:rolleyes2

I don't really care what they soup up, its all mangled metal when they wrap it around a light pole. I'm knocking their dumping of money under whatever hood they have and then dumping the whole car in a ditch because they can't drive...not the origin of their soon to be wrecked vehicle.

[sfleuriet]

Speeding may not always be intentional but I don't know any cop that writes for speeding for less than 10 over.
That happens a lot here to friends of mine.. I've heard about 4 over, 5 over, 8 over, etc. It all depends how old you are! They target the teenagers.

Most cops aren't running radar while they're running lights and siren. Besides most people are blithering idiots and don't move till you're right on their ass holding the airhorn button down.
The manual for my radar detector...
Strobe Alert - "Special strobes mounted on the light bars of authorized emergency vehicles (fire trucks, police cars, ambulances) automatically change traffic signals as the vehicle approaches an intersection.... will detect these special strobes and give an emergency vehicle alert." It also goes on to say it can pick up signals from (equipped) railroad crossings or road construction vehicles.

Oh, and the emergency warning system never went off. Not once. If you are buying a detector thinking that's a useful feature, don't fool yourself.
Obviously I'm not saying you're stupid and you can't hear, but it may work better on different radar detectors. My friend's semi high dollar ($100-$200 range) radar detector picks up ambulances VERY well. It alerts (with a loud [sexy] female voice) long before you actually see the speeding ambulance. I remember seeing it in action late one night riding with him on the interstate - I was impressed.

[sfleuriet]

What kinds of things do radar detectors give false alarms on? (X band mostly) I've read they go off on automatic doors like at grocery stores (confirmed), microwaves, microwave towers, some garage door openers... what else? I was driving by some businesses today and it was picking up a weak X signal. One was a building with a dry cleaners, insurance office, and cellular sales store. :confused:

[Thrax]

Your radar detector will potentially give false positives in the following range of frequencies:

7-12.5GHz ("X" IEEE Radar Band)
12-18GHz (Ku IEEE Radar Band)
18-40GHz (Ka IEEE Band)

There aren't too many commercial devices that operate in these bands. Microwaves are in the ~2.5GHz range, WiFi is in the 2.4 range, 5GHz for 802.11A, most phones operate at 900 or 1900MHz, etc. You might get interference from high-speed microwave communications towers, but these are pretty rare as the EHF spectrum of the EM band that X, Ku and Ka are in isn't very viable for long-range communication.

[sfleuriet]

So when I drive by odd places like that and get a weak (1 out of 5) X alert, what do you think it could be? Do many cops even use X anymore? I read somewhere they started using X about 50 years ago. I know the automatic doors at the grocery store near my house always give off a K signal when I drive near by, so it definitely isn't just X for false alarms.

[Black Hawk]

IIRC, I saw a radar a few months ago that included a gps for those kind of false alarms.

[LawnMM]

That happens a lot here to friends of mine.. I've heard about 4 over, 5 over, 8 over, etc. It all depends how old you are! They target the teenagers.

Where's here? Teenagers are statistically the worse drivers for a variety of reasons. If I was going to be a traffic car I'd probably target teenagers too.


The manual for my radar detector...
Strobe Alert - "Special strobes mounted on the light bars of authorized emergency vehicles (fire trucks, police cars, ambulances) automatically change traffic signals as the vehicle approaches an intersection.... will detect these special strobes and give an emergency vehicle alert." It also goes on to say it can pick up signals from (equipped) railroad crossings or road construction vehicles.

You're talking about something completely different than radar. That device is called an opticom and it only works on smart intersections that are set up for it. None of the police cars in the entire fleet of my department are set up with opticom.

I've seen them work in person (some of our Fire and EMS vehicles have them) and they only work maybe two blocks out. If you need a radar detector to tell you an emergency vehicle is two blocks away coming in your direction you probably shouldn't be driving in the first place. Thats kind of the whole point of the bright flashing lights and loud noise we call a siren, so you don't need to spend 300-500 dollars on a device to tell you an emergency vehicle is coming.

[Nomad]

Also, if a cop is going somewhere and intends to change the light, it means they are going somewhere in particular quickly. Therefore, unless you're committing murder or piitb atop your car whilst it's spinning its wheels, they aren't going to stop you.

[GHoosdum]

You're talking about something completely different than radar. That device is called an opticom and it only works on smart intersections that are set up for it. None of the police cars in the entire fleet of my department are set up with opticom.

I've seen them work in person (some of our Fire and EMS vehicles have them) and they only work maybe two blocks out. If you need a radar detector to tell you an emergency vehicle is two blocks away coming in your direction you probably shouldn't be driving in the first place. Thats kind of the whole point of the bright flashing lights and loud noise we call a siren, so you don't need to spend 300-500 dollars on a device to tell you an emergency vehicle is coming.

Yes, that's the system that never went off a single time on my radar detector when I had it. I don't think any of my local emergency responders had the system. And yes, flashing lights and sirens were always enough to notice the emergency vehicles coming.

[Zuntar]

If I had one, I'd probably be a bigger idiot with my speeding then I already am.

Just slow down chief. It's not worth it.

[NiGHTS]

Smartest response in this thread so far.

[muddocktor]

I went through the radar detector phase ages ago and while it's nice to be able to know where there are speed traps set up, it's much easier and cheaper to just limit your speeding to less than 10 mph over the posted limit. The one area where I think a radar detector might actually pay off is around towns that are known to be asshats about speed traps and write a ticket for going as little as 2 mph over the posted limit. There is one town down here in south La. that is known for this; Golden Meadow, La. But the only people they catch are out of staters or idiots now because they've been known as a speed trap ever since they got their first radar system (which was when I was a kid, ages ago).

Moral of that little story: If you are driving anywhere around an area known for speed traps or crooked cops and judges, stay at or below the speed limit.

[LawnMM]

Moral of that little story: If you are driving anywhere around an area known for speed traps or crooked cops and judges, stay at or below the speed limit.

:rolleyes2

[GHoosdum]

The next town over from me is a known speed trap. They've got a section where the speed limit goes from 50 to 35 within about 200 feet and there's almost always a cruiser parked right after the first sign for 35MPH.

[Buddy J]

Along the Talimena Drive between Oklahoma and Arkansas, there's a small town with a speed trap where it drops from 55 to 25 in nothing flat right at a bend in the road. The police cars like to park in the shade on the inside curve of the bend, which happens to be by a large barbecue restaurant. The BBQ place has one of those flashing arrow signs in the front over by where the cop parks that says WATCH OUT FOR THE PIG! The arrow points right to where the police park. It amuses me.

[muddocktor]

The next town over from me is a known speed trap. They've got a section where the speed limit goes from 50 to 35 within about 200 feet and there's almost always a cruiser parked right after the first sign for 35MPH.

Yep, that's about like Golden Meadow, GH. Although it's not as bad now as it used to be.

And Lawn, you can roll your eyes all you want but that doesn't change the fact that down here in La (and Tx for that matter) there are places known for their crooked cops and judges and speed traps. I don't accuse all cops or judges of this, on the contrary. Most cops are doing a job that I wouldn't want because I would be too tempted to pop a cap on some of the perps. But the fact of the matter is that they are known to be a speed trap (http://www.speedtrap.org/speedtraps/ste.asp?state=la&city=Golden%20Meadow). And if you were an out of state person, you had to pay up immediately by going and paying the judge or go to the pokey.

[Clutch]

I have road rage to much to not speed. Go the speed limit at least or GTF out of my way.

[LawnMM]

And Lawn, you can roll your eyes all you want but that doesn't change the fact that down here in La (and Tx for that matter) there are places known for their crooked cops and judges and speed traps.

:rolleyes2 and roll my eyes I will...

The entire concept of a "speed trap" is idiotic. Its not a trap. Its a posted sign that changes the speed limit. You are required to drive at the speed limit, period. Driving is a privelage, not a right. If you don't like the speed limit, don't drive. If you choose to drive over the speed limit, be it 2mph or 20mph, you and you alone assume the responsibility for the consequences of your own actions.

I don't know any cops that write for less than 10mph over. Then again I work in the city. I'm sure there are highway patrol or state police that are sticklers for speed and will write for only a few mph over. In most states less than 10 over is zero points, its just a fine. Again, thats a risk YOU run by speeding. Most speed limits, especially those that change in a hurry, do so for a reason. Frequent accidents on a bad stretch of road, proximity to a school or heavy pedestrian traffic, whatever.

How ANY OF THIS makes the cop the writes you the ticket for speeding or the judge for making you pay, corrupt, I have no idea. Its the typical non-LEO reaction to any kind of enforcement action. People only want cops around when somebody ELSE is breaking the law. When its you that's speeding those damn cops outta be out catching real criminals, right?

Short of completely engineering a charge and falsifying themselves in court to say you were speeding when you weren't I don't see how any of this has anything to do with corruption. How a judge is corrupt is even farther out of my reach as they weren't there when the stop was conducted and have no firsthand information about what went down.

If you don't want a ticket, don't speed, it really is that simple. If you want to speed, you do so at your own risk and I have no sympathy for you if you get caught. Do regale me with your tales of crooked cops and judges, please, I'm real interested to hear it. I'd like you to limit the stories to firsthand experience though and spare me the urban legend as I hear plenty of it when I'm at work in my own little part of the world.

Did I mention? :rolleyes2:rolleyes2:rolleyes2:rolleyes2

[GHoosdum]

Short of completely engineering a charge and falsifying themselves in court to say you were speeding when you weren't I don't see how any of this has anything to do with corruption.

This actually happened to me once, several years ago. I really did get a ticket on trumped up charges. I was admittedly speeding, but not as fast as the cop claimed. Of course, who's the judge going to believe, right?

What happened was this:
I was driving home from CB's at about midnight in my old Toyota pickup. There were a few other vehicles on the road, notably CrazyJoe who was driving his car behind me and a Chevy S-10 that flew by me at a decent rate of speed. The whole ride home, I was never going faster than 70 in a 65 with my radar detector on. As we drove down the highway I noticed a pair of headlights moving on the opposite side of the highway that looked like those of a Crown Vic, but I thought nothing of it.

A few seconds later, my cell phone rang. It was CrazyJoe. He said, "Hey that's a cop and I think he's coming after us." I replied, "There's no way he'd pull us over, we're only going 5 over, and my radar detector never went off."

The cop got on my tail and followed me for about a mile about driving 3 feet from my rear bumper. As he followed me, my radar detector chirped once every couple of seconds, I assume from the leakage from his radar gun. Of course by this time I was going exactly the speed limit and not a bit over. As we approached a part of the highway that was a construction zone, I slowed down to 55, which was the speed limit in that construction zone. Then he put his lights on.

He very brusquely gave me a ticket for 75 in a 65, and checked the box that he had measured my speed by radar. How he could have done that when I was never going faster than 70, he was moving in the oncoming lane, and my radar detector never went off until he was right behind me, I'll never know.

I paid the ticket even though I don't think it was justified because there was no way I'd be able to get a judge to believe my word against a police officer.

To this day I give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he mistook me for the S-10 that was speeding like the dickens (since at night the headlight patterns of the '89-'95 Toyota pickup resemble the '94+ S-10) rather than assume he was a crooked cop.

It still rankles, though. :cool2:

Do regale me with your tales of crooked cops and judges, please, I'm real interested to hear it. I'd like you to limit the stories to firsthand experience though and spare me the urban legend as I hear plenty of it when I'm at work in my own little part of the world.

I don't know if that counts as a firsthand tale of a crooked cop, because I don't think he was crooked, just incorrect for issuing me a ticket for 10 over. Roll your eyes if you must. ;)



Oh, and by defining the nearby town as a "speed trap" I'm referring more to the fact that the police there are known for giving tickets at 2MPH over (which is actually within the realm of speedo inaccuracy) and almost always being right there, rather than the sudden speed limit drop, which is for the very good reason of the road entering into the populated part of town after it.

[Buddy J]

I got a ticket for failure to stop at a stop sign on a 3-way intersection while returning to my dorm room one night from meeting with a friend who works with the OSBI. After driving the correct speed through a construction zone which was just to the north of the intersection, I approached the intersection and saw no cars either at the intersection or around mine. I stopped anyways. After making the left hand turn, I saw flashing lights behind me and pulled over.

The officer said I ran the sign, and I told him that was wrong. I told him I stopped properly. He said he was sitting behind the dumpster and did not see my tail lights bob, therefore, I must not have stopped. I told him I knew how to drive, and in my Tercel, the weight transfer in a proper stop would not be enough to make the tail lights bounce. Only if I slammed on the brakes would they do that. I then asked him if he had radar or any other way to confirm his position. He did not reply. He said if I was to contest it, to take it to court.

Due to my class schedule, I was unable to fight the ticket. It cost me $180.

Its stories like mine that promote the belief that Norman cops target students because most can't go to court. Is it any wonder that the ticketing and traffic patrols increase right before school gets out? They can say whatever they want, and the kids are moving back home so the officer's word goes uncontested.

[LawnMM]

For GH: I dunno. Maybe he caught the S10 like you said. He may have visually estimated it and been wrong. Most of the guys I know do both for a check and balance setup. Could very well be mistaken identity especially at night. The radar still works in opposing directions but I think the scenario you described is likely. I've had more than a few occasions where I've flipped around and gone after somebody (not for speeding granted) and actually let the vehicle go because I wasn't positive I'd caught up to the same vehicle.

Sucks that you had the higher fine, you should have fought it. You'd probably win here. Whenever I wind up in traffic court they bend over backwards to let the violator walk even after I've clearly established all the elements of the violation. Keep in mind its on him to prove it was you that was speeding and thats not always as easy as it sounds. Especially if you live in a rural area.

For Buddy Jesus: I'm sorry dude. That guy is just an idiot. Its not corruption, its just stupidity. As much as I would like to say its not true, as with every profession, we have morons walking around with a badge. There's a fair share on my department. To be honest I'll probably test and become a training officer in the future just because it probably drives me nuts more than the rest of the world.

I'm sorry you didn't get to fight it. Are these campus cops or the town/city guys? Again I'll say I don't think this qualifies as corruption unless you got the sense he knew you didn't stop and was making it up. The sense I get from both of you is that they believed what they were saying, but were wrong. Had you asked me if I I was aware of idiocy in law enforcement you would get a different answer. I've not encountered any corruption, I've encountered more than a few people that do some stupid ****.

I feel bad for both of you. Its stories like these that contribute to the comments that I took offense to earlier on. I still say we're talking about different issues but regardless it bugs me. Unfortunately I can't do much about it. I'm not a supervisor and even if I was there wouldn't be much I could do. The problem is its a fairly thankless profession. There are more than a slew of people that openly hate the police and don't mind expressing that.

Worse still is that most departments pay horribly. The obvious result is you tend to attract less than the most qualified candidates and departments are forced to take what they can get. If the people actually make it through field training theres only a short time where they are still probationary employees. Once the probation period expires and civil service protection kicks in it gets profoundly harder to get rid of even the biggest screwups.

There was recently a news article about an NYPD recruit being arrested for welfare fraud. The pay for NYPD while attending the academy is like 25k a year. The woman attending was living in the city, with two children, and couldnt make ends meet. She didn't report the employment to the welfare office and continued to receive the benefits and thus the fraud.

Again, I'm sorry you both seem to have encountered a couple nimrods, I'm not going to say they aren't out there. I will say the stories you describe don't sound to me like a corruption issue, just a common sense issue. If either of them did make up a story, knowingly, then they're scum and they don't deserve the right to wear the badge and serve. If they're just stupid and basing their citations off their own idiotic ideas, I don't know what to tell you. They aren't corrupt, they're just stupid, probably still shouldn't be on the job.

[Thrax]

I like cops. :)

[bothered]

Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do, watcha gonna do when they come for you?

[Buddy J]

Yeah, don't get me wrong. I'm a reporter and cover two small towns. I have great relations with both towns departments and officers and I respect them for the jobs they do. The pay is low, and the stress can be very high. One town had the "speed trap" image, but I know from looking at their records that their officers currently have a 42 percent ticket rate. The majority of the time, they're giving warnings.

I also know that they've been encouraged by the City Council to do traffic stops on more streets than the ones that are easy to work, and to be less lenient. You can't set a ratio officially, but officers are sort of expected to give out more than just warnings. Most don't wanna be hardasses, but there are always a few who seem to get a kick off of it. Black gloves, mirrored shades, and a handcuff tie tack.

I figure the guy who ticketed me that one time was trying to fill the city coffers so they could buy water, or maybe he just wanted to look more effective on his resume. I dunno. But around here, there are numerous small towns that have had their LEOs busted for corruption. SE Oklahoma is currently under investigation by the feds IIRC, and even here in my home town they kicked a handfull of cops off the force for getting quickies with a certain gas station attendant. The joke was "Lick it, or get a ticket."

But enough of my rambling... Dinner time.

[Thelemech]

I like cops. :)


...yeah me too, my great-uncle was a detective for a local for 30 years and my cousin was a RCMP officer for 28 years. Wanted to join ... but I'm too much of a Dirty Harry fan ...and well :wink:

[LawnMM]

But around here, there are numerous small towns that have had their LEOs busted for corruption. SE Oklahoma is currently under investigation by the feds IIRC, and even here in my home town they kicked a handfull of cops off the force for getting quickies with a certain gas station attendant. The joke was "Lick it, or get a ticket."

Out of curiosity are you aware of which departments? I've only heard of a few that actually wound up under investigation by the department of justice and that was only used in reference to some pretty bad departments. New Orleans for example, is famous for its corruption level, and the subsequent DOJ investigation but I couldn't even think of another one off the top of my head. Hopefully everyone realizes how rare it is to find a place THAT bad.

I guess I should apologize for my reaction but I tend to hear the old, "those cops are corrupt!" line quite a bit and my personal experience with it has been zero both professionally and in my own personal life. I do feel ashamed when I hear about an experience somebody actually has had because it really kind of undermines all of us. A couple bad apples cast a dark shadow on a whole community of law enforcement numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

[Black Hawk]

Don't know if you only want to know about the continental US, but here in PR, the state police has had a whole drug/special operations divisions arrested by the FBI due to fabricating cases, planting evidence and doing illegal search and seizures. Police officers are arrested every other week due to corruption (drug related).

A month ago a cop was caught on a camera phone, shooting a civilian without cause, shooting him twice after that and after he's on the floor, finishing him off with another shot.

You can't trust cops here even if your life depended on it and everybody else is losing respect for them if they have any left.

As for tickets, I've only gotten ticketed twice so i can't comment much on that aspect.

[jhenry]

Cops are cool. I just hope I don't run into them. I do drive safe, stop at all signs, and never usually go above 10 over (cept when passing etc). I do live in the middle of California on the 101, so the avg. speed is at least 12 over. Been driving for 2+ years and have never been looked at, so I consider myself lucky.

[sfleuriet]

Well... I'm not going to say you guys were 100% RIGHT, but you were on the right track for sure. You do get what you pay for... My Cobra ($80ish) turned out to NOT be trash... it's been working FINE and definitely saved by butt on many occasions, but oftentimes I find it really lacks the range I would like.

So... I have a Beltronics Vector 955 coming my way. It retails for $199.. it's definitely a huge step up from the Cobra, but probably still not quite up to par with the very high end ones such as the Valentine and 9500i. It DID, however, win the Best <$200 Radar Detector award for 2007 by more than one site!

I think it'll give me quite a bit better warning.. that's all I'm really looking for.

Also.. Beltronics claims this thing will alert me (if the proper equipment is in place on the roads) of over 60 different things such as road construction, ice on a bridge, traffic accident, lane closed, school bus loading zone, deer crossing, blind/deaf children in area, ETC, ETC. There is a huuge list in the instructions listing all the possible things. Has anybody ever witnessed this on a radar detector??

[sfleuriet]

Another somewhat related question... While reading through bazillions of reviews today, I noticed a few people complaining they had defective units and had to send them back to Beltronics for repair. They were enraged to find Beltronics wouldn't repair them since they were not purchased from "Authorized Retailers". Considering I bought mine off eBay (brand new, but clearly not an Authorized Retailer), I bet I will run into a problem if I have issues with mine.

Idea - Say I need to send it in to Beltronics... If I go to Circuit City, buy another one for $199 just to get the receipt, then return it the next day and get all my money back.. would that work?? Ethically wrong, yes, but do you think they'd accept it and fix it? Afterall it shouldn't matter where I bought the thing.. if there's a problem with it that I didn't cause, they should be held responsible!

[Thrax]

Circuity City and BBY both match serial numbers.

[FreeC8675]

Important note:

Radar detectors only work if radar is being shot by the cops. My friend was doing like 20 over and thought he was fine because of his radar detector (I think it was the Cobra). However we flew over a hill and a cop had just flipped on his radar gun and caught us way over the limit. My friend was lucky he didn't get worse than his $235 ticket.

SO BE WARNED SPEEDSTERS!

[sfleuriet]

Important note:

Radar detectors only work if radar is being shot by the cops. My friend was doing like 20 over and thought he was fine because of his radar detector (I think it was the Cobra). However we flew over a hill and a cop had just flipped on his radar gun and caught us way over the limit. My friend was lucky he didn't get worse than his $235 ticket.

SO BE WARNED SPEEDSTERS!
I have a feeling that is a case where the cop used Instant-On radar... I don't think there are many (if any at all) detectors that can pick up Instant On and give you enough of a warning for you to slow down. It's also possible that, since it might have been a Cobra, the detector just wasn't good enough to pick it up ahead of time. I know many of the high end detectors can see around corners (to a certain extent) and over hills.