jonnybgood

I have driven a Porsche for all of 2000 miles now and I have my first speeding ticket. Driving up to the ski area at 8:30am and I see the 40mph sign so I down shifted and kept it at 45 for a while... Then I see this SUV on the side of the road and as I get closer I read Highway Patrol on it. Bustedfor 55 and he didn't ask how fast I was going he knew from the radar.

So do detectors work? My knowledge of radio waves makes me believe that reading a reflected radio wave travelling at the speed of light will take a lot less time than a human hearing a beep and responding with braking (avg human reflex response is about 200msec) and then deceleration time on top of that.

What is your experience and which one do you recommend?

Mighty Shilling

my dad got a V1. INCREDIBLE! I discovered that the local shopping mall has 9 different radars. and it's nice cuz it tells you if the radar is in front, behind or next to you.

Myself, I have a Cobra el cheapo. cost me $60.00. it's alright. but it tells you how close it is with beeps instead of a little meter thing. and if the radio is up, you cant really hear it.

that sucks. same thing happened to me. although, mine was a school zone and within a week of buying my 924S

good luck and keep the speed down

jonnybgood

Before anyone flames me I did a forum search on radar and the Valentine V1 seems to be the popular model. Apparently it is effective and I will buy one and hopefully save myself some fines.

Thanks Porschephile.

Mighty Shilling

No prob. whenever I can steal...er..um...borrow my dad's, I do

Also, if ya want one for a couple hundred off, call up their customer service and ask to buy one that's been returned. I guess a lot of people buy em just for a road trip and then return them. 99% of the returned ones work perfectly. I think it cost my dad $300.00 as opposed to $500.00

Good luck man!

Brian McCoy

I'm a HUGE fan of the 'polish' radar detectors (my appologies if this seems racist - it's the only name I've heard for this). It only works if there's other traffic but the natural reaction for any given human is to hit the brakes when they see a cop. I've been cruising along at 100+ on 65mph roads, seen a few people hit brakes and slowed to under 70 before rounding the bend and finding the LEO on the side of the road.

With instant on radar, it doesn't really matter how good the detector might be. As soon as you get the warning, you've been had (if the operator has any training ~ normally they're out of date in my experience). In anycase, I don't own one and probably won't ever buy one. I try to get my speed fixes at the racetrack or out in the mountains where LEOs don't have a reason/need to patrol.

Jonas Goldsmith

V1 is the absolute best!!!

BeerBurner

Like so many other things, radar detectors are only as good as the person using them.

Case in point, in college I had whatever the then-current Passport was. My roommate had a V1. Of course, the V1 was better, but he kept getting tickets and I never did. One time he borrowed mine because his was somewhere else. He came back from that trip all huffing and puffing about how my radar detector didn't work. I asked what happened...

He said "I was driving along and the radar detector momentarily went off full blast. About a half mile later, it went off full-blast again and I was being clocked and got pulled over!"

"Did you slow down after the first blast?"

"No..."

"Hello, McFly..."

If you have one, trust it when it goes off, but assume it won't always. And it's always a good idea to pace somebody ahead of you and let them "sniff" out the speed traps.

Oddly enough, I have stopped using my radar detector because with the way that I drive, I'm more likely to get pulled over for having the radar detector than I am for speeding. But then, that's one of the nice things about DC-area traffic... it's pretty much going 20+over the limit anyway!

BB.

Matt H

V1 - very few (read no one) uses instant on in Texas. It is their favorite toy in Arkansas though!
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washington951

HOORAY! HE DID A SEARCH!!! the search function works!!! yay!!!
yes...V1 works. very well.

BeerBurner

While on this topic, does anyone have anything to say about laser detectors? It's my opinion that they are pretty much worthless since there is so little scatter with the laser that if the detector goes off, you've already been clocked.

Is my assumption correct?

BB.

Z-man

The only radar detector I rely on is the color of my car: guard's red. Due to the fact that I drive a red Porsche, I know I am on the Policeman's radar: if there's an SUV driving 20mph over the limit, and I'm doing 10mph over, chances are he'll stop me.

Seriously, I drive my Subaru Legacy faster on the roads than my 944S2.

I used to have a radar detector while I was in college: helped a little: maybe saved my butt a couple of times. Not worth it these days with instant on and false alerts.

Oh, and I've haven't gotten a ticket while driving my Porsche EVER. (Planning on keeping it that way....)
-Z.

kevin Dubois

i made a really big post about this a few years ago.

first, yes laser detectors to work. they do detect lasers... but you're also right that once your hit with a laser, they know your speed. so, having a laser detector will only tell you when the police are going to pull you over.

next, laser jammers also work. these devices emmit an infrared signal constantly. thus when the cop hits his laser to clock you, he/she will get an incorrect signal back. laser jammers i have been told are legal in all states, because there is no law stating that you can't emmit an infrared signal. however, don't take this as the truth because radar detectors are illegal in some states, and they don't emmit any signal.

now to the radar detectors:

yes they absolutely work. if anyone tells you otherwise then they clearly have no understanding of science. how they work: radars in order to detect the speed of the target send out a packet of radio waves at a certain radio frequency. the packet of radio waves fly in the general direction of where the gun was aimmed. Once the radio waves hit something, they refect following the laws of physics. this means that more then likely the radio waves will not reflect back to the gun. however, so many radiowaves are sent out, that some do come back. the key to measuring speed is that at least two radio waves must be sent back to the gun. this is why radar guns will "pulse", i assume that the pulsing effect is so fast that you can't even notice it, but what it does is, the first wave reflected back to the gun is a reference. the second wave coming back is the second reference, and by the time difference the two waves were sent out, the gun can deteremine the time difference they were recieved back at, and then judge speed. (and if you want a mathmatical explaination of that i would be more then happy to). So we now know that for a radar gun to detect your speed, at least two radio waves must be sent out and received by the gun. each packet of waves more then likely will have the feature of emmitting a long enough signal to get the first reference signal, and the second, and tell you your speed. but remember that the radar waves scatter after reflecting... this is key to knowing how the radar detector works. now, in order for your detector to work to the best of it's ability, and hopefully keep you from getting a ticket you need to follow these rules.

1. if your by yourself (i.e. no other cars on the road around you), don't speed. the cops will have no one to shoot with their radar gun, until you come. this means that your detector will only detect the radar when it is aimed and fired directly at you. that means to late, the cop will have you speed before you can react and slow down.

2. only speed when there is other traffic on the road. the traffic can be very light, just as long as you can always see a car in front of you. what this does it: cop sees car in front of you, fires radar gun. radio waves reflect and scatter. some of these waves actually scatter in the direction of your car and your detector will detect these waves. so now your detector has detected the cop, and your not the one being targeted. so slow down! before your the one being targeted.

keep in mind that there are some radar guns that cops will leave continously on, meaning you can detect them even if your the only one on the road (usually these radars are used by the "your speed is XX" police trailers). these signals can be detected sometimes miles in advance and slowing down will save you if there is in fact a cop there too.

also know that some detectors are much more sensitive then others. the common rule, you get what you pay for, should be followed in choosing a radar detector.

the rest of avoiding the police is just common sense. not speeding will obviously render the radar detector useless. and speeding at 150 mph wont mater even if you see the cop a mile in advance because you will never slow down in time to avoid the radar. if you are speeding, always slow down when peaking tall hills and rounding blind curves. those are both places that even having a detector wont really help. speeding in a pack also wont help you because the cop even though he doesn't clock you, he can see that your speeding with the rest, and can pull you all over.

my experience: i have a beltronics 985 (rated better then the V-1) and i have not gotten a ticket. i sped from michigan to wyoming (1400 or so miles) and saw every cop way before they could clock me. on the way back too, speeding the entire way, only one close call, it was the semi directly in front of me that got the first signal, and i slammed on the brakes before i got radared. i drove past the 3 police cars parked in the median behind an overpass with no incident, keep in mind it was about 2 in the morning in nebraska (ONLY the semi near me...). the day after that trip i drove to philly from michigan, another 700 miles, speeding almost every mile. also no incededents, but penn police have hundreds of those stupid "your speed is XX" trailers, of which i slowed down for every one, because occasionally it would be a cop. for city driving they are pretty useless, but i don't speed in the city so it doesn't matter to me. i know for certain the radar detector has saved me from at least 3 tickets, and most likely a few more then that. i haven't had the detector that long (about 5 months) and don't really drive that much either (those two trips account for more then half of my driving for the year). i have had only one speeding ticket in the 6 years i have been driving (and the ticket was when i was 16 and just got my license), and i am a cronic speeder and common sense has kept me safe even without the detector.

RSflared72e

V1 rocks. Get one.

Matt H

next, laser jammers also work. these devices emmit an infrared signal constantly. thus when the cop hits his laser to clock you, he/she will get an incorrect signal back. laser jammers i have been told are legal in all states, because there is no law stating that you can't emmit an infrared signal. however, don't take this as the truth because radar detectors are illegal in some states, and they don't emmit any signal.

Not this again. There are two different types of laser jammer. Active and passive. Active would work fine but it is governed by FCC rules (which have actually loosened some recently). Passive jammers dont do diddly. I have confirmed this through testing it myself. However, you can read it on the internet all day long. It *may* give you a hair more time to slow down, that is all a passive jammer will do (that and take up window space).
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turbo944

I used to have one....after the power cord died 3 different times and was replaced, it finally gave up the ghost. It saved me a BUNCH of times as once I'd hear a chirp away from any urban areas, I'd start slowing and watching. Of course I've also read the book, "A Speeder's Guide to Avoiding Tickets". Yes, the first rule to avoid them and the best one is to not speed However this is written by a former patrol officer and he has some hilarious stories about people with detectors and how poorly they use them. One of the biggest things you can do is keep your car in the right lane. The further you are from the center of the road the higher the angle is that the radar has to work over and the more chance for errors that is has. Don't hog the inside lane.... There are great other tips in the book that were already part of my regimen in driving.

As mentioned, instant on is hard to defend against. Lasers can have their range shortened by things like having your headlights on, not having to have a front plate, and not having good shiny things up front for the laser to reflect off of. Newer radar though can pick out fastest speed of several targets, so being beside an 18-wheeler doesn't work with those.

Best radar detector is your eyes and driving smart....beyond that I hear that the V1 is really great, though I hear from others that they are terrible....I think there is always some personal preference in how they operate as to whether one person or another likes them. As to the directionals, that really only works if you have it high enough to pick up signals from through your rear window. Sides come on when it picks up through both front and rear the same signal from the same source, so the arrows may not be 100% accurate, however I've not used one to know for sure.