Thread: Do you run a radar detector?

I used one for about a year around 2001, but I seemed to get way too many false readings and it didn't work when I needed it to. Now I just take my chances!

No - I got lasered (lidared?) in a car many years ago with one on the dash and the cop threw the book at me. "No breaks!"

I have an Escort Passport 9500i that I use in my car. Outstanding device. Not over sensitive. Able to "lockout" known false signals (it has an integrated GPS), and you can even program areas of "known speed traps" to remind you as you pass the location, even if you're not picking a signal up. When I travel on out of town, I NEVER leave without it. Saved me from several CHP tickets driving from Vegas to So.Cal. (I even took it to Mexico and it saved me once down there, lol).

I had a Whistler Cruisader w/HUD on my ZX-14. Worked great. Saved me from no fewer than 6 federal park tickets over the 6 months or so I had the 14. On my Harley I have a Road Tech 75, and it is functional, but I liked both the Whistler for the bike better, and my Passport 9500i in my car.

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

No - I got lasered (lidared?) in a car many years ago with one on the dash and the cop threw the book at me. "No breaks!"

Yeah that sucks. These new devices have Laser detection and diffusers (suspect technology imho) and you're pretty much SOL if you get hit with that. At which point, I would -while still driving-, just drop the detector into the center console as your laser detection is happening. Hasn't happened to me yet, but that is my plan when hit with laser.

Originally Posted by figment

Legal Speeding - radars, radar mounts, windscreen mounts, HARD, wireless electronics for the speed enthusiasts
I have used this with a V1 for years. Works well.

A friend of mine is related to the guy who owns that site. I don't use a detector myself, just try to watch my speed. I can go fast on the track...

My radar detector is me, keeping it clean at no more than 9 over...whenever I remember that is.

Originally Posted by Bikerboy1974

My radar detector is me, keeping it clean at no more than 9 over...whenever I remember that is.

Between my sheep deficit disorder and natural tendency to speed I cannot just be me (I have a VIBE and speed in it ) I am usually good on the RR but TN has gotten a bit psycho recently and I cannot see that change until the governer gets tossed soooo... Just curious as I have gone with the try to be good and when I screw up just admit it theory. Got to plot for toys and gadgets though

Originally Posted by SheepOfBlue

Between my sheep deficit disorder and natural tendency to speed I cannot just be me (I have a VIBE and speed in it ) I am usually good on the RR but TN has gotten a bit psycho recently and I cannot see that change until the governer gets tossed soooo... Just curious as I have gone with the try to be good and when I screw up just admit it theory. Got to plot for toys and gadgets though

I am very supportive of the "new toys and gadgets" theory! Search away.

Wife and I were given a '98 Plymouth Grand Voyager by her grandparents a few months ago, and sad to say, I've already received 2 warnings for "excessive speed" in that damn thing too! Speeding is a lifestyle.

Originally Posted by NinerPilot

Personally I say spend your money elsewhere. If an officer/trooper/deputy is using the radar correctly, by the time it goes off, your speed is already recorded. But I am a bit biased....

Kind of my thought, also having a detector says "I am speeding and trying to get away with it" Of course if I had one that may be true

Originally Posted by figment

Lets put this into perspective: You're riding a machine that can break every speed law/limit in first gear. They know whats up. All the LEOs I've ever rode with are half crazed speed freaks anyway

If the LEO has you in his sites and pulls the trigger, you're caught with either optical of RF. But if its RF and he gets the guy a few miles ahead of you, you now have a chance. Plus, its a nice slow down reminder...

Exactly. They are by no means "ticket proof". If you are the target, and no one around you was getting gunned before you, you're sunk. But the back ground radiation you pick up from them setting it off clocking others, is the "advance" warning you get. And of course, overhead clocking isn't radar based so you can get clipped there. Like I said, it just reduces the likelihood you will get cited; by no means a failsafe.

For me, between LV and So.Cal, the speed limit is 65 on that highway. Not sure if I've ever seen traffic going under 80...ever. And they will cite for that. So, its a great investment on my end, as I take the family to So.Cal quite a few times per year. As for tickets in town, being a no good sons-a-bitchin-rat-bastard lawyer, I can get out of the citations in town via attorney session (wherein the judge and gallery laugh at you, but your case gets dismissed). Good news is, I haven't had a ticket since I was a teen-ager (now that I've said that, I'll get one going home tonight).

In any event, have fun looking/searching out a new gadget!

I do not speed






Yea right, I did not have one on the bike but I do use one in the cage. Escort 8500, it is comparable to the V1, and depending on who is evaluating it one or the other will come out on top in comparison tests. It does work, I drove about 250,000 miles in my 18 wheeler cross country and drive at work all day long and approx 25,000 mile in my personal vehicles and my last ticket was in Michigan in the big truck back in 2003.
Fight Traffic Tickets / Contest Traffic Tickets with the Ticket Assassin: Your Guide to Fighting California Traffic Tickets & Contesting Traffic Citations in California

I try to be good. That's all.

I'm going to have to look up that GPS function. How much memory does the 9500i have to support constant, repetitive cross country driving?

I can't count how many times my 8500x50 has saved my ass on long trips to VT / NY... *most* of the time the cops in the small towns we hit drive around w/ radar on full blast. Granted, a speed trap w/ no traffic around you can hurt you... but the biggest problem we had was getting separated and the 3 in the rear pack didn't get my "tap on head" signal in time so they got nabbed....

This year I'm upgrading to the 9500i and adding a HARD system and Chatterbox and will plug my detector in so everyone who has a chatterbox in my group will get the signal....

It's *well* worth it IMO, and yes, it's NOT ticket proof... but it *will* save your ass enough times to pay for it ten fold.