LOL This old song popped into my head when I read that.


On my commute, I have been well served by my 9500ix. I generally despise adding yet another distracting electronic device to the driving environment but I may give waze a try on my next road trip.

 

Nice ... Time to set up another Pandora radio station!

 

Has anyone tried Escort Live?

I swear by it. https://www.escortradar.com/escort-live/

 

Word has it that Escort Live data is shared into Waze. I'm not sure if this is really true since it seems one sided and contrary to Escort's interests. Has anybody else heard this?

I am looking into a radar detector as well. The network drops out in West Marin (and thus Waze) but the LEOs remain. And without a large community Waze falls flat. Just not sure which detector to spring for.

 

For congested city driving, hands down, a Passport Max. Hard to beat it's GPS ability to cancel out false alerts.

For highway driving, either a Escort Redline or Valentine 1 would be my call. Both are very sensitive and have excellent range, however that sensitivity becomes a liability in the city

 

I think i am going to have to get the redline as it is cloaked. I travel in some areas that are not radar/laser "friendly" if you know what I mean. Love the idea of the laser jammer like ALP, but there is so much out there about them being fairly worthless.

 

Police fight Waze back - link HERE. LEOs should have better things to do.

 

This should be diminishing returns. The more times a LEO reports unconfirmed spottings, the faster formulated algorithms could end acceptance of those inputs. Maybe Waze can spot these quicker if they are faulty from inception. That would be some fun math to define.

 

I think it it's interesting that the officers attention has helped push the apps notoriety and it's popularity. Seems like they are getting the opposite effect they were hoping for.

 

Re: Escort Live

In ATL, 80% + of the Police Spotted reports are n/a but the time I reach them. :-(

I don't know why but waze reports were typically there when I arrived?.. So yes, I wish there was a two way merge with waze or better legitimacy on the Max2 human reporting. Maybe Metro Atl cops are simply very fast with their stops and just disappear too quickly! I like the MAX 2, and I am not too annoyed by the K,Ka collision alert falses.

The auto learn and manual lockout is good.

 

Waze isn't everything, in the same way a radar detector isn't everything. They are different. I think they augment each other.

Driving north against the commute traffic is better than bumper to bumper stop and go, but this is also the direction the LEOs track. Either they are out on a specific day, or they are not. When I get "false" warnings they generally occur every half mile until the LEO shows up writing a ticket or picking out the next victim.

This works this way for me because the south bound lanes are congested and offer few speeders. The LEOs tend to migrate north writing tickets up to the last exit before the county line.

To make matters worse, I have seen them pull out without the radar gun in hand to pick up someone behind me that I just passed. So picking the victim may or may not involve radar.

Waze for me offers data. Data requires evaluation. Waze works well. Waze depends upon a reliable community and frequent updates. Waze is not absolute. But Waze does offer data a radar detector can't.

Waze falls down when you fall off the network or there are few local users. Both of those are the case on the days I drive the West Marin roads north in the morning to avoid the freeway. These are fantastic roads but there is always a lonely LEO somewhere along the path.

That is why I am looking at radar detectors.

Escort Live, I believe, requires you to dedicate your smart phone screen to Live only and takes Waze away. And Escort Live requires community participation and network as well. I suspect it will have the failures of Waze without the participation level. It won't do me much good in my commute.

So for me, 9500, Redline, or Max (not Max 2) seem to make the most sense. Maybe.

One Rennlister suggested Redline. I've got another valued endorsement for the 9500 built into the car. I have read that the Bell built-in is exactly the same for less money. I have read that, essentially, the only major difference within the Escort line is stealth, or not. Even the sales person I called said as much. So I've got a bunch of noise in between my ears on what to do (I would like portability between cars as well).

I know radar detectors have been covered big time on previous threads, but if anyone wants to chime in with their thoughts again or for the first time ...

 

You like to analyze data... I agree, data analysis leading to situational awareness that's what's all about. Then V1 is for you. Nothing, I repeat nothing, beats the arrows. Get V1 with the new phone app and bluetooth dongle to fully program the detector.

 

Thanks. I do prefer the V1 website. Easy access to Manuals, more detail on the technical end, and fewer options to obfuscate things. Also seems like I'd be supporting the little guy this way, which I confess is a weakness of mine.

But I keep hearing about problems with false alerts that keep me nervous. Most of my driving is freeway with potential nearby cars creating havoc. This pushed me toward Escort (or Bell).

This search is exploratory still so I haven't ruled anything out.

 

Spurious (not false) alerts are part of the RF field. In the new V1 a lot of that clutter can be turned off. For instance in CA LEOs do not use X or K band so those can be turned off on a nice iPhone or Android app. I just upgraded my 10-yo unit and have now the newest version, and with the bluetooth adapter I can program it. Directional radar detection is essential. Non-directional is problematic.

Mike Valentine is an engineer and he designed an RF detection measuring tool. Measuring tools need to be understood. Most people are not engineers and complain about spurious detections. It's all part of the process. The V1 always gives me the readings I need. It is a priceless RF measuring tool. I do not leave home without it.

 

Saw 2 State Highway Patrol cars parked, either side of road, North of Manteo. Entered it into WAZE. my sighting was erased from my app in about 10 seconds. Absolutely, the police have downloaded it.