Radar Detector

[Diesel Freak]

Which one is the best at warning you that Smokey is on the loose?

 

[777 MECHANIC]

Im using the Bel 980. It is rated one of the best detectors out there. It gives advanced warning much further away than my old Cobra.

 

[Briar Hopper]

Valentine One. Nothing else even comes close. Tells you how many of them there are, if they're ahead or behind, or to the side, and which kind of radar band it is... Mine has detected at over 3 miles before.

 

[JB @ C and L Machine]

Valentine1... . period

 

[GTop]

I agree with Briar Hopper on the Valentine One. There has been many times I've picked up a radar signal way before I had a visual. We're talking over hills and around curves also. Out of the many detectors i've had this has been the only keeper out of them all.

 

[Devildog]

Judge for yourself

http://www.radartest.com/DS4HEM.html



I have the Bel 980 and the Escort 8500 both are great units.



Valentine 1 is a dinosaur.

 

[Reb.B]

Call Rocky Mountain Radar, ... . i think they are the best, and they carry a complete line of radars and Scramblers. I'll never go back to a regular radar again.

 

[Forrest]

I used a # of different detectors & then stepped up to the Cincinnati Microwave stuff. Theirs was the best for the $ at the time. I did the Escort & Passport. Great rejection & sensitivity. Then they lost their best man, Valentine, who started his own company. No doubt that is where they were getting their technology that was beating the rest in the tests. And his product is the Valentine 1 detector.



Now this is from an old test, but one of the magazines got detectors from all of the mfg's for their annual test. One of them worked the same as the Valentine 1, which was blowing everyone away. They took off the cover & that mfg had swapped guts with the Valentine 1. Busted! :-laf



It's been awhile since I read any detector tests, so I don't know who has independently tested better, but I went & got the Valentine 1. I still drive the same roads as I did years ago with the other models. This one truly blows all of them away. You can see him coming long before he can see you ...

 

[illflem]

I'm not up on radar detectors but doesn't it mean it's already too late once you detect it?

 

[DEZLPWR]

There's only one choice...

The Valentine 1! It has saved my a$$ so many times. With K band I often get up to a 1 mile warning depending on the terrain. It is $400. If you want the best, you gotta pay for the best.

 

[Forrest]

Hi illflem. Nope, you can see them long before they see you. That's the beauty of those kinds of signals, they bounce off things. Now, there is an exception. If he's not driving with it on & you're out there by yourself, you don't see him until it's too late. What we're gambling on is that you're typically driving in some kind of distributed traffic & he's either driving with it on, or he's 'pulsing' people. Pulsing is when he's 'fingering' the trigger just for a quick on/off. If you're watching, you'll see it come on & then go off. The signal strength of those will get stronger as you get closer, or he gets closer to your rear bumper. The Valentine 1 detects from the rear & sides & tells you where it's coming from.

 

[TxDieselKid]

Valentine1's are great if you want to break the bank account.



I have an old Uniden that I got as a gift about 4 or 5 years ago that was bought at a Radio Shack, that can not be beat. It will pick up K band up to 2 miles away. If I could buy one like this today, I would no doubt, just to have as a back up. Now they don't make that kind any more, I don't know how Uniden is now days, but they use to make one heck of a rader.



Andrew

 

[Koa Man]

Originally posted by rebsram

Call Rocky Mountain Radar, ... . i think they are the best, and they carry a complete line of radars and Scramblers. I'll never go back to a regular radar again.

This is from a radar test from the website noted above:

Passive jammers transmit nothing and are perfectly legal. Passive jammers were invented by Mike Churchman, proprietor of Rocky Mountain Radar. We first tested Churchman's magic boxes in 1993 and have since tested all his products, including the best-selling Phazer ($200) , claimed to jam radar and laser and Phantom ($350), claimed capable of both detecting and jamming lasers and radar.

In reaction to past stories we've written for Automobile Magazine, the BMW Roundel, Mercedes Star, AutoTronics and Car Audio & Electronics, among others, the resourceful Churchman quickly renamed these same boxes--the new appellations include Illusion, Shadow, Eclipse, Patriot and Avenger among others--and continued doing business without missing a beat. He's also produced several private-label versions with names like Barrier-RDR and Barrier-LSR.



Except for the Phantom, which contains rudimentary radar-detection circuitry, each is essentially an empty box with a 12-volt power cord, a cheap cast-plastic waveguide assembly, one or two front-mounted LEDs, a basic power-supply circuit and a button or two. Press the button and an LED lights up, accompanied by a tinny bird whistle. ("Our patented 'FM Chirp', " company salesmen proudly proclaim. ) We've tested these products a dozen times against every front-line police radar gun and laser, finding all of them utterly worthless.



Interestingly, while we were riding with Texas Highway Patrol trooper Mack Wallace near Houston recently, he stopped a Dodge minivan with Colorado plates. On the dash was a spanking new Phantom jammer. The van pilot was told he'd been speeding. "Impossible," said the agitated driver, "my Phantom jammed your radar. "



"Didn't seem to be doing much jamming when you came by me," deadpanned the trooper. "I got you at 69 mph in a 55 mph zone. Maybe you should take it back for a refund. "



This is quoted from the Radar Reporter website:

Scams. And there are plenty!

Over the years, the Radar Reporter has received many reports from readers that have purchased useless jammers, and junk products. Price is no indication of quality, in the radar industry.

We already have substantial reports on the now infamous Rocky Mountain Radar products.

And then of course there is the 360 Degree laser detection myth, promoted by all makers of radar detectors??



There is much more on this detector here: http://www.radar.co.nz/nz/driver.html

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

Uniden has a new one out called GPSRD. It has a gps in it that remebers false alarms and passes them up. I haven't seen one yet but I have an old uniden that has saved me a thousand times.

I'm with you Andrew. I wish I could get another one.

 

[Diesel Freak]

Passive RADAR jamming? hmm well, anyone that has a clue knows that you have to radiate something to jam RADAR. .

 

[Briar Hopper]

The old Uniden RD9XL, which I had, was fantastic at the time. Well built, worked good. But that was 6 years ago... .

I've never had cause to regret buying the V1. The $399 it sets ya back, has to be weighed against the fines, and higher insurance rates. Sort of like transmission upgrades pay a little now, or a LOT later... .

Of course, like another member noted above, it's scant protection against "instant on" moving radar. NO radar detector out there can protect you from that. It's excellent protection on the interstate, though.

As for Escort, and Passport, those were the original inventions of Mike Valentine and his partner, before they disagreed on the direction the company should take, and he left to found Valentine Research.

 

[emarsh]

valentine one, period; end of statement!

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Car and Driver has reported radar detector tests periodically since the 1970s. Recently they did another test, and the Valentine 1 beat them all badly. . . again. I think it got high 90s and the next was something like 73. Numbers could be wrong, find the issue at your public library and decide for yourself. Sickly won't leave home without the trusty Val.

 

[Koa Man]

Here is the link to the test that Joe D. mentioned.

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caranddriver/features/2002/february/200202_feature_detectors.xml

 

[Reb.B]

here's some info about the passive radar, by rmr. Phantom II's scrambling device blocks police radar and laser, making it virtually impossible to detect your vehicle's speed. Phantom II detects X, K, and Ka radar frequencies and works instantly on radar/laser guns and has the ability to scramble any signal it receives. Our jammers do not transmit radio frequencies. The radar portion is a receiver not a transmitter. *This is why our jammers are legal! They have an FM chirp, a mixer, and a waveguide antenna for all radar bands the FCC allows the Police to use ( 7GHz - 38GHz ). The lidar ( laser ) portion transmits a specially modulated field of light from the vehicle with infrared diodes that cover all three laser guns in use today. The radar and lidar portions of our jammers confuse the radar and laser guns which prevent a hard reading of your speed. This makes your vehicle electronically invisible to police radar and laser guns. The radar jamming circuit mixes a doppler FM chirp with the incoming police radar signal and reflects it back to the radar gun. The computer in the radar gun must receive eight identical, consecutive readings before it will display your speed. All the different speeds contained in the FM chirp confuse the computer in the radar gun so it does not display any speed. This effect duplicates the normal operation that the officer usually sees. Since it is normal to occasionally lose the target speed, the officer is not suspicious. Reasonable care should be used as flagrant violators could still be caught visually with an estimated speed.