radar detector? how many of you have it?
 

anyone using it? is it legal in BC?


http://www.escortradar.com/passport8500x50-details.php


thinking getting one....


the 8500 / 9500 seems nice, does the cheaper model means it wont work as accurate?

I had a Valentine 1 but I sold it cuz it got friggen annoying with all the false alarms.
I find common sense and awareness works a lot better.
For the 8500s i think youre paying a premium for the color.

i thought the general rule is the more $$$ the radar the less false alarms it gives. any one have a radar jammer? im curious if those work

my friend said he is able to get 20% discount ish down in the states, asking me if i want one or not

8500 can be had for $200

9500 can be had for $400

which is a pretty good deal IMO

website and other places list a lot higher

hm... thought about getting one too but it's a lot of hassle to get radar jammer then laser jammer ... too busy inside.

let me know when you have one up n running, i'd love to know how well these things work out

i'm running the 8500 and it does give false readings sometimes BUT its definately given me a heads up from a pretty good distance most of the time.

i have an old school Whistler one ... saved me about 5 tix already..

so it does work afterall than


and not illegal


despite being legal, i wonder if the cops harrase u for having the device

its really situational based, most of the time when ur radar detector is warning u, it is picking up the radar readings thats bounced off of the car infront of u. if let say ur the first car in a pack and speeding, by the time ur radar goes off, the cops already got a reading on u.

so dont solely rely on it when u do have one. common sense beats the radar most of the time.

Have my 9500i for quite a year now, I score it on craiglist for $250 it was an EXCELLENT deal. anyways here's my thought:

the accuracy of the radar depend on the location and if you have place it correctly (totally flat the ground)

I have the detector on the suction cup mount for a while in the middle of the windshield. I was able to get notice farer away than now when i have the detector up on the rearview mirror hardwired.

Again depending on the position and which detector the best result is when your on a highway. In the city you are mostly catching rebound from other cars / reflective surface. so you might suddenly get a strong burst and than suddenly none at all.

If you get a model that doesn't have false signal lockout, be prepare to get hit with false signals EVERYWHERE. you will be driven crazy and you will trust the detector less and less.

imo, it is only worth it if you do alot of highway driving, which i do, i have been saved a few times on the highway. I don't think cops use lasers on the highway, its probably too hard to get a reading safely. In the city you get the real warning once in a while plague by 1000000000 other false alarms from electronic construction sign, auto doors etc. Get one with false alaram lockout, being able to lock out the false signal > slightly greater accuracy.

I notice police mostly use Ka bands, so i'm on high alert everytime i hear Ka band detection. But i have seen a few police use K bands.

the detector i have have laser detection but everybody knows that is useless.

and yes common sense still triumph. I got pull over by a cop because he was tailing me to get my speed instead of using a radar, it was dark and i didn't realize. He clearly saw my detector and didn't do or say anything about it.

There isn't much point in getting a radar detector only. Most speeding tickets are from:
1. Standing speedtrap
2. Police cruiser following behind you/You passed a police cruiser in the opposite way and he u-turns.

Situation 1 is bad. No detector can save you reliably in this case. Only a laser jammer can.

Situation 2 is bad. Most cops don't run with their radar on, they go by pacing instead. Detectors won't work.

how much for these laser jammer?

a cop thought my air freshener was a radar detector :lol

i'm pretty sure a few of my friends had their detectors confiscated after getting pulled over.

Where do you drive?

If you drive mostly highway get it, otherwise don't. Driving around the streets of richmond/vancouver/burnaby, any shop with an automatic door that uses radar to detect people will cause your radar detector to go off. It is a sweet thing to have though if you do a lot of highway driving.

I coulda sworn the jammers were illegal???

Quite expensive. Because lasers speed guns are instantaneous, the only way to give yourself a grace period to slow down is to get a laser jammer, and jammers work by sending out rays of infrared light to confuse the laser speed gun. To get a laser jammer setup done on your car it'll require 2 infrared beams out front, and 2 in the back if you want to be covered from the rear as well. They're definitely into the 4 figure numbers ($1xxx installed)

They're also illegal as they tamper with police equipment (jamming their speed detectors).

They're legal here, I don't see why they'd do that

remember, they are ONLY LEGAL in BC. Skip down to Washington state, even Alberta - and it's illegal.

Cops don't confiscate radar detectors when they pull you over, they just laugh in your face and think "wow, you HAD THAT AND STILL DIDNT SEE ME COMING? LOL NOOB"

i used to have one but it didn't work so great

Got search?
http://www.revscene.net/forums/radar...radar+detector

No it is not illegal in BC, I've just heard that it's frowned upon, but in the thread I just posted one of the officers said that he doesn't mind people using radar detectors.

I myself run a radar detector but I don't find it always that great. I've been saved twice on the highway and never had a problem with false alarms in the city, as my detector has a highway and city mode, which does a pretty good job filtering out everything, except those things that tell you your speed like on No 5 road, and the ones they put in construction zones. My radar always goes crazy around there.

But however there were a few times where I saw a cop already and my radar wasn't even beeping. It's a good tool to have but don't 100% rely on it if you ask me. I heard that most cops now don't used radar, they use laser or other kind of technology, so try to get the newer detectors, but also be prepared to use common sense.

Radar detectors are legal in BC, and radar jammers are illegal.

I own the Escort Passport 8500 X50. I've used it for 3 years now, and it works pretty good.

I use the passport 8500 x50 in blue. I like how it displays the vehicle voltage when it's not detecting anything. It's saved me countless times locally and a few times in the states. I had no clue it was illegal in Washington LOL

never had one, and never got a speeding ticket

It is legal in Washington State, illegal in Washington D.C.

I'm sure cops love the false sense of security people get with them, thinking they can zip around as long as it's not going off... then tagging them with laser.

Many many years ago, I was zipping down the south end of Cambie when a motorcycle cop stepped out from the curb around 75th and waved me over... it was a bright, sunny day, and I had the windows down and the tunes cranked... he saw the detector in the middle of my windshield and asked if it had picked him up. I said I didn't know, since the music was too loud to hear it and the sun was too bright to see the LEDs. He just laughed, told me to slow down, and let me go with a warning. I was probably doing about 70k (speed limit there is 50) but with the good visibility and lack of other traffic, plus the chuckle, he was probably in a good mood.

I've only gotten one speeding ticket in all my life, and that was when I had a radar detector :o