Radar Detector.Anyone use them?

Nope...

I don't want to be warned when I'm going to get a speeding ticket...

 

+1 on the Valentine One. It saved me more than once.

Valentine One radar and laser detectors

 

I don't need one. I drive a Prius.

 

I used to have a radar detector but found that it was more trouble than it was worth. Most alerts were false alarms and those that were came too late. Now I simply drive within 10% of the speed limit.

If I am in a real big hurry I use the rabbit technique:

1. Wait for shiny sports car to pass you going your desired speed
2. Pace sports car ~ 1/8 mile back
3. Brake when the sports car brakes

This has worked great for me in the past. It really helps if you drive a very plain and boring car. In college I drove a maroon Cavalier station wagon that worked great.

 

I have had a Bel-Tronics bel975r Component system in my 4Runner since 95. It has saved me from 10 tickets as least!!!. To say it has more than paid for itself is quite accurate. In fact out of all the tickets I have gotten, they have not been for speeding! I am in the process of installing another Bel-Tronics bel975r component system in the Prius. The detector is in the front by the horn, Laser detectors front and rear, and a tiny control head. You do not have to see it, just hear it. Over the years the sound of CHP Radar is quite distinctive. The unit does not false much, but I have learned to filter those out. Different sounds, different radar bands. I just like to know whats going on around me!!! It's a driving game I enjoy playing!!

The trick that most folk have not figured out it you scan for the speeder in front of you. Here in CA the CHP let the units idle, detectable, then trigger a speed measurement, pitch change. or they sit on a onramp and clock you as you fly by them. I can catch the bounce off the cars in front of me, and I know the trick, I slowed down, and by the time I was a "Target" I was fine!!! You learn how radar works and how receivers work and it does wok quite well!!!

You can't beat a good "Threat Warning Receiver"

Check this out, its the system I would endorse having used one for all these years. This ones going in the Prius. Even the Control Head will be cleverly hidden. Photos someday!!!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B000067DK5?tag=priuschatcom-20

 

I've been using a Valentine One for >11 years now and I love it. It's saved me many times. I used to have an el-cheapo Uniden one before that.

Yes, you'll get used to the location of false alarms over your regular routes and will better learn to recognize what detections are real. The police in the Bay Area don't use X band AFAIK and rarely use K. It's mostly Ka and to a much lesser extent, laser.

Besides laser, keep in mind you could still get paced or caught via aircraft.

 

Back in my speeding days, this was my technique too. When I was younger and drove a Honda CRX, I had a radar detector. As pointed out above, the false positives made it dubious at best. Now days with laser, aircraft, and cameras, don't expect miracles from your radar detector.

I like #3 above. Back when I was driving like that, we would form up into a train, with the most daring driver in front. When the front radar detector fired off, everyone hit the brakes. It looked like a scene from Star Trek, with everyone dropping out of warp.

Tom

 

I don't need a radar detector. There's a saying: "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." In this case: "Don't do the crime if you don't want to pay the fine."

Speed limits are among the rather narrow category of laws that are actually there for a good purpose: to save lives, both your own, and the lives of others on the road, both drivers and pedestrians. I've gotten two speeding tickets, both when I was not paying attention, and both reminded me to pay attention, which is a good thing when driving a car.

People who speed endanger others. I have no sympathy for anyone who justifies speeding. Many of us speed from time to time through inattention. Take your ticket, thank the cop for saving your life by slowing you down, and pay your fine. I'm not a "law and order" guy. Most laws are just there to oppress the poor or to create profits for the prison industry. Traffic laws are a notable exception.

If you obey the speed limits you don't need a radar detector. Thomas Jefferson lived in a three-mile-per-hour world. Think about that the next time you think that you "need" to go faster than the speed limit.

 

You Go, Dan! Hear, hear!

Let them honk & gesture -- those honkers don't even know their lives are being saved when they're stuck behind me at the speed limit.

 

+1 to daniel's post... It's not worth it to try to find a way around the laws - just obey them. Especially something like speeding which, as daniel pointed out, has a good purpose.

As for the OP... I'm not sure your incident really does anything to indicate that speeding tickets are on the rise... you were 21 MPH over the speed limit.

I've only ever had two speeding tickets - once for simply not paying attention on day two of 12-hours/day driving out to Colorado. Completely my fault. The second one i have a bit of a problem with... The road in question was 45mph. At least, it was 45 MPH north bound, and 45 MPH one block north and one block south of where i got pulled over southbound... but that one block southbound was 25 MPH.

 

+2 to Daniel's post!
My theory, cruse control locked at the speed limit, right lane, let those that pass you weed out the cops.

edit: one other thing, a police officer friend once told me that if he stops someone for speeding, if they are nice about it and have a reasonably clean record, they usually get by with a warning. If on the other hand they have a fuzz buster, he figures they are used to speeding and get the real thing.

 

This post is full of WIN.

 

I have a Passport 8500. Use it mostly when travelling. Not sure how well I'll like it in the Prius with the deep sloped windshield.

Speed limits are there for safety but many are simply for tax revenue. I don't drive stupid or tail gate but I have occasionally went over the limit in low traffic situations. They are handly around town because just about everybody speeds in the changing from 25 to 35 to 40 limits. If the reality is that I speed then I want to have detection. It usually serves to remind me to slow down since there is usually a cop at every place where I'm tempted.

 

Problem is there are speed traps here that 5 over will cost you $175.

 

You can always hope they install red light cameras
After they put those in, you almost NEVER see speed traps. But you do see a lot of illegible license plates. I have a Beltronics for road trips on the interstate, it works well although you must really bend the suction-cup mount to make it fit the Prius windshield. Prius at 80 mph, only 45 mpg or less

 

As annoying as I find the V1 it does work well. I cannot count the number of time I've ridden in my buddy's Vettr or in the Vipers and the V1 saved them from getting tickets.

I used an Escort Passport 8500 for a couple years and it did it's job but it doesn't tell you which direction the signal is coming from like the V1 does.

IMO if you like to speed regularly then it is a good investment. With a little forthought and an extra cable they are easy to move from car to car yet still be installed cleanly without a dorky power cord banging off your dashboard.

 

Any idea how much the Vette's fibreglass body and angled radiator reduce the radar 'frontal area'?