MrCanuck

It's been over a decade since I've had a radar detector, mostly because I've lived in the SF Bay Area where the CHP can't use them due to the traffic volume. (Instead they creep up behind you in your blindspot to see how fast you are going.) But, I'm moving to a lesser populated area where rader is frequently used, so I'm contemplating getting a radar/laser detector for my 993, and would probably go with the Valentine One. But this isn't a post about what radar detector to get, but rather, are they worth it?

I agree that they will work in those instances where a cop just sits there with his radar on... but given the number of detectors out there, I don't think there are many cops who do that anymore. More often than not, whether they are sitting in one spot, or coming at you in the opposite lane of traffic, the cop's radar/laser is turned on for only a very brief moment. Now, your radar detector will go off, but it's too late, he's got your speed.

Now maybe it will save you some tickets, for instance if your detector picks up the guys in front of you that are being checked, but if a detector gives you a false sense of security, and doesn't protect you almost all of the time, I think they are a detriment. Then again, maybe detector technology has come a long way in 10 years and the scenarios I outlined above no longer apply.. dunno.

So, after this long winded post, what is the consensus, yay or nay on them protecting you often enough to be worth it? Polling should be enabled.

ca993twin

I think you've nailed it.... if a cop wants to single you out with radar or laser, you're basically toast. But if he is getting the traffic in front of you, and you can pick up the scatter, you may have saved yourself a conversation with the CHP. I hace a low-end Bel in my Cobra, and the Valentine has at least twice the range... from actual experience with a stationary radar-emitting "you are going this fast" sign that seems to be a permanent resident in my neighborhood (been there about a year).

Sailswish

My V1 has saved me at least three times from reading forward scatter of other cars. Only ticket I've gotten was from the old "got behind me and matched speed" trick this past Sept. Even with the detector, I watch my speed and try not to stick out of the crowd too much, but the guard sometimes gets lowered when the stereo is blasting, etc.

fevans

It's true that, as a friend once said, "They don't make you invisible." Especially in a 993. When I used to make the trip from SC to Memphis to visit my (now) wife - a trip where saving even a few minutes seemed vital -despite having a detector I scanned oncoming traffic - every car. And still I feel fortunate not to have been stopped.

Here in SC it seems that the local constabulary often will keep the radar on constantly if lying in wait, unlike the SCHP.

Forest

User 4621

Hmmm, I live in the Bay area too and I see CHP's using radar guns all the time.

Pete K

Are they the end all to getting a ticket? NO!

But I very seldom drive without mine because of all the times it has saved me from a 10 over type ticket.

Pete

Mark in Baltimore

I feel naked without my V1, even if I just go "up the street". I suppose I never know when the speed frenzy will take over and I'll want to go "15" (or so) over the limit.

Bill P.

Equally important is "knowing" that you have been nailed, thus, giving you the opportunity to quickly back off. Certainly better than being walked up the ladder. Eg: a lessor ticket is a good thing...

Have a great evening. It's simply beautiful here in Laguna.

Bill

Carrera Mike

IMHO, driving my Porsche which is a car that wants to go fast... I got to have my V1. Just like Mark said, I feel naked without it.

Saved me so many times. Besides, there's been more than a couple of occasions where the pack of cars I'm with, slows down 'cause we can see the patrol car in a distance sitting under a bridge, then after passing him, everyone starts to speed back up except me 'cause my V1 arrow is still going crazy and pointing an additional forward bogey, and sure enough around the next bend, the second patrol car was just waiting.

Ruairidh

V1 rule. But they do not make you invisible. And round here (Plano-Dallas Texas) traffic offenses seem to constitute a big part of the local police revenue so it is simply safer to stick to the limits until you get out of the built up areas

Rob993

Are any of the radar traps that your detectors are saving you from, Laser? Laser is heavily used where I am from. My detector (decent Bell) basically tells me when I have been caught when it comes to laser.
We also have a huge number of photo laser radar, which is a real pain, except no demerits. The one that I am interested in is the jammer. No idea if it works.
Thanks
Rob

Mark in Baltimore

The laser detector on my V1 saved me once; luckily, I was in traffic and don't think I was the one being targeted.

Pete Lech

The California Highway Patrol leave their radar on all the time, so you get plenty of warning that they are ahead. I thnhink they feel that it causes people with detectors to slow down, which is their objective, and they can catch the careless unprotected folks.

It's the stupid little towns that see tickets as a source of revenue that frost my butt. I even take my Valentine One with me on my infrequent trips to use in the rental car. Like Mark said, I feel naked without it.

tabasco

Everybody seems to have a V1 here. I have an Escort 8500 which works great too.
I thought the V1 was much better and I was thinking I made the wrong choice with my 8500. But I had the V1 from a friend for 1 week while is 'vette was being serviced. The arrows are great (but not *that* precise), but the V1 is either much more sensitive or it misses the DSP thing that the Escort has, anyway, it was detecting way more doors and other annoying signals, and at the end I missed my Escort which was more quiet but still efficient.
So if I had to buy one now, I'm not sure which one I would take... The V1 has the arrows, has probably a better range, but really annoying in a city environment, it beeps everywhere... And it's 50% more expensive.

But that was not the original question.

On the burst thing that the cops do, switching their radar on just while you pass by. I was nailed one in Utah this way. At night, I crossed a car and the detector went crazy. I braked, but it was too late. The cop made the u-turn and got me... I was not going fast, he said he measured 8mph over the limit. He was just happy to catch someone with a detector (he said he saw me braking hard and then he knew I had a detector). Finaly he let me go.

I saw another radar KA burst while I was alone on the highway in New Mexico, and the only other car around was a SUV on the other lanes. Did not look like a cop car, but it surely was.

Last week I also had another radar burst on me. And it was at night again. Its much easier for them to do that at night. A cop car was driving the other way, we could not see it... Hopefully I mostly drive within the limits in town.

So as others said, the detector will not save you all the times. Especially at night. Don't count on it at night, the cops can be everywhere waiting for you...

I use my detector to add some safety when this little voice says it's time to exercise the engine *a bit more than usual*, and also as a reminder to look at my speed when a radar is nearby.
And I have the same "naked* feeling when I don't have it !

My feeling is that most (>90 %) of the radars are always turned on. But the other are there just for us, detector users.

-Guillaume

Ron_H

The cops in the SF Bay Area don't use radar....

Is this what I really read? Sir, I have been saved at least 20 times in the last year in the SF Bay Area by my V1. Today, in a 30 mph zone over the crest of a hil in a desolate area outside Saratoga with a Smokey sitting behind a bush illegally too close to use radar without first visually estimating my speed, I heard a solid radar hit with a continuous (locked on) hit and tossed the anchor. But of course it was too late in his mind and he even had the gun set on a speed over what I was doing. How do I know this? I instanly saw my V1 remote and speed and know what I was travelling. This is not the first time I have been hit by a gun that was preset with a "speed" and then stopped. The last time I questioned the other defendants in court and they said they had also been stopped by the same guy at the same place for the same speed as me. Sure! Not Guilty, and the prosecutor dropped the charge.

Hey! Take it from me. Get a V1. Radar is used all the time here in the Bay Area.