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Let me say first off I am not a lead foot (I have had one speeding ticket in 33 years of driving)and generally stay at or near the speed limit, but there are some roads in my locality that are nothing more than speed traps with ridiculously low speed limits. I am about fed up with it and thinking of buying a radar detector.
I know next to nothing about them. Are you satisfied you got one? Does it do what it is advertised to do?
I have had a Valentine detector for 20 years. It looks like it was used in a hockey game. I still use it. It helps sometimes. I find it most useful on long highway drives. I seldom use it in city and local driving.
The speed enforcement (police) devices used now are more varied than years ago. Mine doesn't detect them all. Modern detectors are better. All manufacturers are integrating GPS and other technology. Speed enforcement devices used by police continue to evolve. It resembles the virus vs anti-virus software situation, with leapfrogging detector and enforcement 'updates' and improved tech.
Car mags usually run tests every year or three. They are worth reading to understand the limits of the technology and compare the various manufacturers and models.
Because of the constant evolution, no device will be permanently perfect. They are a tool that can help in some situations. If you speed a lot, vigilance, care and common sense are the best protection for avoiding tickets.
Whether or not a detector will help you is an "It depends".
I've only had one radar detector in my time (wife had it when I married her). The one time I really used it, it didn't really work for me, just told me I was busted. Because the cop was sitting way off in a cemetery on a back country road, I saw him but couldn't make out if he was a cop or not (just saw a white Crown Vic) so I started slowing down just in case. Next thing I know the detector went off as I was still slowing down, but he still nabbed me for a 67 in a 55.
So they can work, but not always. I think now more and more cops have instant on radar. However one of the best brands to have is a Valentine 1, though they're pricey. The V1 shows what direction the cop is sitting in, and not just what's ahead like the Whister I had, did.
I bought one and then immediately returned it. Felt like R2D2 was in the car with me.
Just pay attention to your surroundings, learn the cop patterns, and just be a careful driver.
I used to have one and I stopped using it. There were so many false alarms that it took all the fun out of driving. I was constantly having to slow down, look around, etc. I'd rather get a ticket occasionally than have to drive in that paranoid fashion.
Generally, paying attention to the surroundings is as good as a radar detector in avoiding a ticket. Watching the behavior of the cars in front of you is key. Radar detectors help if (a) there's almost no other traffic; AND (b) the cop is continuous radar. If traffic is very light and he's using instant-on radar, or if he's using lidar, a radar detector won't help. I sat right beside my buddy once as he got a ticket for speeding while using an expensive radar detector. And my last ticket was from lidar, so a radar detector would not have helped.
Definitely yes. I bought my Valentine 1 a while back and it's 100% paid for itself at least 5x over. It's not that you'll speed more with the detector, but it certainly will save your butt if you are speeding and there's radar ahead. Police tend to leave their radar running while at accident scenes, or at other road hazards so when you pick up their signal you knwo there's something going on ahead. As for the "false detections" people are talking about above,... Valentine one RARELY alerts to false detections. There are even custom settings on there you can program for your area if you are picking up an unsual amount of signals. It alerts to mostly only K and Ka bands, but because it has the ability to alert to multiple signals and radar bands it's never a problem figuring out what you're detecting. There are fanboys of all the brands, but the bottom line is Valentine 1 is the best out there. All other brands make their comparisons with Valentine for a reason. Way too many things about the Valentine 1 that is to love to describe here, I promise you won't regret owning one. OH and farthest KA detection to date is 17 miles
I got my first one back in the late 70's or early 80's and finally ditched them permanently sometime in the mid 90's.
Why? Because I got more tickets WITH a detector than I ever did without one. They breed a false sense of security and then, when it does go off, your first impulse is to slow down. If that is a radar hitting you, that slowing down informs the cop that you have a detector and they universally hate the things. The presence of one will get you a ticket when you otherwise might have been ignored or gotten a warning.
I wonder if one would receive 'more' tickets WITH one of these detectors than WITHOUT....simply due to the false sense of security it would give you.....
Only had one once, and the first long-distance trip I used it on I got a ticket. Like stillkit said, I think it lulled me into a false sense of security. Or maybe it was just bad luck. I dunno. After the ticket (during the writing of which the cop said something along the lines of 'Well that worked well for you, didn't it?' pointing at the detector), I yanked it off the windshield and haven't seen it since. That was the last last speeding ticket I ever received.
Mike
Last edited by whiteboyslo; 07-14-2011 at 08:16 AM..
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