misal1091

stealth install kit?

skylolow

I understand radar dect. have there place.

But reality is 99% of the police use instant on. Also any officer that has been on the job a few years can just by sight can guess within a few MPH of your speed(if you don't believe me ask an officer). So they just sit there and when they notice someone coming at them a little quicker they just hit the button and your done. No radar will save you from that. Very few officers just sit there radaring every couple cars unless there a newbie just learning. Really the only time the radar dect. is going to save you is photo radar set up and if it just so happens the cop radar's a car under 2500ft. or so in front of you and your lucky enough your radar dect. picked it up.

I'm willing to bet many times when you thought your radar detector saved your ass chances are quite high you just didn't meet the speed the officer was looking for to pull some one over. Many won't waste there time until your a full 10+MPH over in most areas. If your in an area(45MPH speed limit) that is known for people whizzing by at 60+ MPH and your doing 57MPH chances are he or she is just waiting for the idiot that will come by at 65 MPH or whatever.

In todays world you really need a jammer system to go with your radar dect..

obacht545

Instant on (POP) measurement *only* is not accurate and may not be admissible in court. Check out this info here:

http://www.valentine1.com/pop/whatispop.asp

Basically once they tag you with POP, they need to determine your speed with the "always on" radar for an accurate read. With the V1 you have a fighting chance with POP if you slow down the instant you're tagged.

I believe I've gotten off a few times that way, where V1 goes instantly to strongest signal (this being the POP signal), I brake to the legal limit, V1 goes silent for a second and come back to strongest signal (regular radar signal).

In my experience most cops fortunately seem to be lazy and leave their radar on all the time, which makes it pretty easy for us... YMMV.

EuroCarFan

I disagree. It may depend on where you drive but I've been saved over a dozen times, mostly on long trips, where the V1 has signaled a radar in front and gave me plenty of time to slow down before coming up on a cop parked along the freeway or coming the other way (on freeways with no center divider where he can easily turn around).

When I first got my V1, 4 of us were heading out to a meet in Central California (San Luis Obispo) about 200 miles away. We were probably doing about 85-90 and all our V1s went off. We slowed down and about 2 miles down the road, saw a CHP sitting there on the side. As we passed him, the arrows pointed behind us but as we were about to pick up speed again, the signal got louder so we slowed down. Sure enough, the officer had pulled out and caught up to us and just followed us for about 5 miles before he exited.

Also, about two weeks ago I was going at a high rate of speed and the laser and instant radar warning went off. I literally slammed on the brakes and looked far ahead to see a motorcycle officer on the side of the road pointing his radar/laser at traffic. I thought for sure I was nailed but as I approached him, he was still targetting other cars. Much to my relief, I passed him and he didn't even look at me.

Instances like these are more than enough to justify getting a detector.

Of course, there are the other cases you've mentioned where the officer simply gauge speed and the only thing against that is just being alert; and plenty of luck. hahaha

skylolow

During my training we used instant on all the time(got my degree in it but didn't do that for my career). All of my intern hours every cop I rode around with used instant on. They just have to make sure before they use the radar it is calibrated to be accurate by them (using a tuning fork) and documented by them. Newer radar guns don't admit any singal until you press the button was my understanding of it. Just sitting there with the radar always on and pointed down the road is what isn't admissable in court. Reason being you don't know for sure what vehicle its hitting. If a cop is doing that he then needs to reaim at the car he suspects and pull the trigger to get the accurate reading. Many guns basically have what I guess you'd call a sleep mode and all you do is pull the trigger and its instant on.

Like I said radar dect. have there place. But like I said earlier chances are many times you think it saved your butt it didn't.

skylolow

Like I said they have there place and will save you in instants that you gave. Many times though if a cop is just sitting there hitting every few cars he is more or less just there to slow down traffic/presence. If an idiot comes blowing by and they do he'll go pull them over. But if there actually truely running radar for the sole purpose to catch people they usually use instant on. At times some cops do just drive around with there radar on for the purpose of just slowing down traffic sense many people have radar detectors.

But if you really want to be safe V1 with a quality jammer is the way to go.

misal1091

whats a jammer?

theXman

You use it to spread jam on bread or crackers.

EuroCarFan

First off, I should say sorry. I didn't mean to be abrupt in my reply to say I disagree with everything you said. I just think detectors have a lot more benefit then what your initial statement seemed to indicate. Most CHP officers out here drive with their radar on so having a detector greatly help alert drivers to slow down when they pick up the signal. This is mainly on the freeways. I see more cops use instant on radar on inside streets. The one in my second example probably used that POP thing that obacht545 mentioned because my V1 instantly blurted out the highest alert and went silent and did it again. He didn't use Ka band which most CHP officers use on freeways around here.

I do agree with what you said about cops being trained to estimate vehicle speed by sight. I was in traffic school a while back and the instructor said they tested that method and the person they used got 9 out of 10 right on estimating vehicle speed just by standing on the side of the road and looking at the cars and markers on the roadside.

At the end of the day, it sure wouldn't hurt to get a detector as a couple of saves would pay off the unit. Just get a good one like the V1 or Passport.

As for jammers, it's illegal here in CA.

EuroCarFan

Certain states do not prohibit the use of laser jammers and there are lots of companies selling them. Escort is one but I think the most popular one is the K40 (forgot who makes it).

Laser jammers shouldn't be confused with radar jammers which are actually illegal in all states and they're regulated by the FCC.