Anyone know any good brand radar detectors?

anyone? been wanting to install one in my taco for some time now, but im a little to skeptical on radar detectors for cars. this purchase will save me a lot on speeding tickets.! ive heard escort was a good brand. any thoughts?

 

I own the Passport 9500i and won't leave home without it. A bit expensive, butt... if you drive alot of miles it's a good investment! The built in GPS feature is new this year. read up on this one if you want the best! http://www.escortradar.com/9500i.htm

 

I've used a bunch over the years. Escort, Uniden, Beltronics. They're all about the same in performance for whatever price you want to spend. But I've given up on radar detectors because they arn't much protection against speeding tickets if there's active enforcement in place. It's also hard to talk your way out of a ticket if they notice a detector because if you have one you've obviously planned in advance to ignore the law.

Around here the police use highly directional laser speed guns. They sight on the victim, squeeze the trigger and read the potential cash collection amount. The gun fires a tight beam for such a short time you'd have to be very lucky to know it's being used nearby. Usually the alarm goes off just a millisecond before the cop has your speed.

The coolest one I've run across was speed enforced by aircraft. They painted lines on the side of the highway and determined your speed by timing you from mark to mark. Then you get pulled over down the road by a trooper who has your speed over a distance before he even sees you. Just try telling him you were only passing that little old lady in the blue civic when he knows you were doing 90+ for at least the last couple miles.

 

Laser jammers are legal in texas. I've been wanting to install one for a while but just havn't wanted to spend the money lol....probalby would have just about paid for itself by now anyways haha. oh and unless you are walking aroudn the front of teh vehicle purposely looking for the jammer you wouldnt notice it.

 

the passport 8500 X 50 or the new 9500 I hands down the best one out there I still have the 8500 X50 coupled with a Phaser II Jammer and have no trouble .If your gonna spend the money on a new one might as well get the 9500 its like $450 +

 

I just got a cheap Cobra. Suits my needs. Get some false alarms occasionally but has saved my butt a bunch of times too. And the Laser detection are pointless. As soon as a laser is detected it already has your speed. So the only benefit is that you know you will be pulled over before you even see the cop. My cobra cost me $20 bucks. My brothers was like $60. Not the greatest but they serve the purpose and didn't cost too much.

 

Valentine 1

 

Used Radio Shack, Whistler, Uniden, Cobra, Bel, and Escort.

Escort 8500 - Best one I ever own (want to get the 9500 but this thing won't die on me)
Cobra - Sucks (too much false alert)
Bel - Sucks (too much false alert)
Uniden - Sucks (melted by heat of sun light)
Whistler - Sucks still using it on my motorcycle (too much false alert and remote helmet led used too much batteries if you forget to turn it off)
Radio Shack - it was actually ok but the beeper no longer beep

 

Valentine 1 is imo the best detector on the market. I have yet to get a ticket (and I drive my truck like I stole it) with this, 98% of the time it gives me over 15 seconds of reaction time and the other 2% are when I was coming out of concrete tunnels and the like. I tried the passport but found it wasn't as accurate but these are all biased so just go with what works for you but any upper end model should work.

 

This is a good site for radar detectors and reviews:
http://www.radarbusters.com/

 

ok so i have the general idea of what i want now from your guy's input. but ive heard that some cops have detectors that dectect cars equiped with detectors! *sounds funny. are one of those detectors you guys mentioned immune or resistant to detection?

thanks for the website rob, its everything i was lookin for!

 

Just do not do over ten over and have a joke for the cop.
If you make a traffic cop laugh they have to let you slde.
Believe me after working some TA`s a laugh is what you need.
This is my rule.

 

Escort 9500i wins here as well.

 

Ditto

 

the passport/escort models have whats called VG2 I believe it does make it so the police cant tell ya have it however they can still clock your speed and they could certainly see your radar detector hanging on your windshield . I have owned a detector pretty much since the day I started driving I have to say they are not fool proof you still have to pay attention the police can hide and instant on ya and they do try this trick often knowing so many people have radar detectors . I got a ticket last summer because I didnt /wasnt paying attention to the radar detector it was going crazy beeping in an area that it can be prone to do so "false signal spot" I then noticed a cop in the median pointing me to the shoulder he got me 83 in a 55 luckily he dropped it to 74 in a 55 cut me a break . If I had the new 9500 I instead of my 8500x50 I could have marked the fake signal spot there and then I would have paid attention to the radar detector however I didnt own the 9500 and got the ticket . Hope this help if I were you I'd buy the 9500 I from escort

 

That's VG-2. Pretty much every detector has this tech now.

As dan said, the best way is to not go 10+ mph over the limit. I used to have detectors but then I learned the hard way that they aren't infallible. As mentioned above, one laser and you're done.

 

I do not write cites much anymore. But I see plenty of violations.
You could spend a whole shift writing instead of patroling.
Which is not what I want my officers to do.

 

I see plenty of violiations. You don`t have to lie in wait.
And I want road patrol to patrol.
Our spedos are calibrateted.
I don`t need no stinking radar,

 

I don't know, maybe I'm getting old but I just don't see the need to go 10+ mph over the limit. I guess I could see if you're out in the desert or something but I don't know.

 

I have had a few tickets. All with a radar detector. Most of the time it never even went off. I've been running without one for 3-4 years now without changing my driving habits. I've been pulled over once during that time, and he let me go. I was looking around trying to find a store and missed the drop from 45 to 30. I was still doing 46, and a cop just happening to be going the other way at the same time. He understood that the drop was easy to miss and just gave me a warning. First cool cop I've run into. Even told me the DMV around the corner has short lines so I could change my address quickly.