Looking into buying a radar detector
 

Can someone recommend a good all-around radar detector. I see there are detector that range drastically in price. I’m assuming the more expensive ones are more reliable?

Also, can someone advise if there are certain bands I should look into getting over other ones? i.e. do the police in Canada use radar that emit certain bands and not others? I don’t want to get one that beeps all the time where I end up not using it because it’s unreliable/annoying.

Certain brands you recommend? Others to stay away from?

Not a useful tip, but get a good modern one. My wife had one from years ago that I would occasionally use. It would go off all the time due to modern cars use of ‘radar guided cruise conteol’ Or lane mitigation or whatever. Audi/vw/Porsche were the worst. I plugged it in for fun for the diamond rally. Passed 10x speed traps and it didn’t go off once. Threw that shit in the electronic recycle

Passport or Valentine One are your two options. They aren't cheap, and you will still get false hits from time to time but if the software/firmware is up to date they're decent.

Also, be prepared for popo heat if they pull you over and see it.

I've a Uniden R3 and like it a lot. GPS, firmware updates via USB unlike V1's which you have to pay and send in, excellent range, and price just works.

Current lineup of Escorts are excellent as well. Just depends what you need - GPS, false alert filtering, long-range, firmware updates, red light/speed camera alerts, etc.

Vortex Radar, Radar Roy, kmph.ca are all good resources.

I have a Valentine1 and it's been awesome for the last 15 years LOL. I like the arrows showing me where the radar is coming from. I still use it today but have to turn it off to detect certain bands as a lot of modern cars uses radar for various safety features.

But right now I would not recommend a V1 because it looks like the company is dying. I wanted to send mine in for an update a few months ago but the customer response is almost non existence. I think the company's slow demise might be due to their patent of the arrows expiring in 2015 or so. Even if you wanted to buy one, the website list it as "Temporarily out of stock" for a long time already.

Since then other brand are now able to incorporate the arrows feature into their products. If I was to buy another detector today that has arrows, it would probably be the Escort Max360 or Max360C.

But remember most police departments today uses laser so even if your detector goes off with laser being detected, it's too late. In that case you might want to also look into a laser jammer which I think might be illegal here.

If you live in GVR, a Radar is almost useless since it's all laser.

I have an R3 as well. Reasonably priced all-rounder. It's used only when I drive south across the border; no point using it in town. I don't think it filters Honda/Acura BSM. Escort / Radenso are the only ones that trap Honda/Acura?

It's not all laser, my detector do sometime pick up Ka band over RCMP speed traps in Richmond.

You need to find those that have IVT filtering functions ( with constant firmware updates provided by the manufacture )

Yes. but for every 1 you pick up you're going to get 10000 false alerts and get rammed in the anus with a Pro Laser 3 or Dragon Eye.

For the cost for a good Radar you may as well double down and get a ALP.

I would say 1 in 3 were false alarms, mainly due to automated doors, which I could set GPS lockout.
It really depends on the model of the detector and the firmware that you are using.

I also realized mine could detect Laser that wasn't targeting my car, which kind of act as a warning :considered:

I use the V1 with the YAV1 app and it's been great to me. Been able to lockout everything on my regular visited destinations so it's pretty quiet for the most part. It's decent around town but especially useful on road trips and going to Seattle.

I was deciding between the V1 and the Uniden R3 at the time of purchase but ended up getting a refurbished unit directly from Valentine and saved a few bucks. You'll need to call in to get the refurbished units. And every time I've called I've been able to get someone right away. So they've been pretty good to me

V1's customer service is top notch. Makes sense since Valentine only makes direct sales. They don't have any retailers/dealers. This however means you have to pay for customs when they ship it to you and the shipping time can be longer. I don't recall waiting that long to get it, though.

And I can't remember if you can just purchase one through their website. I called them to buy my then new unit.

I have one with the SAVVY OBD2 add-on, which acts as an easy way to power the unit and it enters quiet mode automatically under 55 km/h(adjustable).

One reason I picked it is because, as Valentine mentioned, it's super simple to use.

I have the Passport 9500ix (radar and laser detector) that I've owned for about 5 years. You can upgrade the firmware and it has GPS that notifies you when there is a red light camera at the intersections. It also mutes false alarms using the GPS. The 9500ix has saved me many times and so far it has been a good investment. I got 1 ticket in the last 10 years and that was by laser. Can't really do anything about that unless you have a laser jammer.

The only issue I'm running into is newer Honda and Acura vehicles use KA-band for the blind spot systems and newer Nissan vehicles are using K-band which triggers the 9500ix and is quite annoying.

Hmm, I don't think I ever picked up any of those BSM system radar with my V1.

I think V1 is set to have a smart filter out of the box. You can program it to pick up everything, and there is a more advanced smart filter that filters out more junk signals. I just left it at the factory setting because I am a lazy degenerate LOL.

The lazer can sometimes pick up certain cars' brake lights as lazer signals, but it happens pretty rarely and I am not bothered by it.

anyone have a jammer? seems like thats probably the way to go locally since detectors seems less useful against lasers

Not sure if this got mentioned before, but a jammer carries a big risk.

You gotta make sure you shut it off right after you use it every time, or a police officer can argue that you are interfering with a peace officer's work, and that's a criminal offence, which is worse than any traffic offence.

The problem is that there is no law that specifically covers a jammer, so things can escalate if the officer wants them to.

The sheer price of the jammers also puts me off.

lol... so to avoid a possible 100-200 dollar fine, you are going to risk a possible criminal record, thousand in costs fighting an obstruction charge, and possible jail time of up to 2 years?

stop fear mongering,police will have no idea you have a laser blocker unless you're a retard who set it block 100% of the time 24 hours the entire year with a massive fucking switch right in the open,your best bet is somewhere hidden with the micro switch :pokerface:

most systems have a 3-4 second window enough for you to stomp the breaks,that's suppose to be fool proof than shuts off..the other "legal" loophole is that its a parking warning system :troll: i never bought it for the laser blocking officer,see the box it says parking assistant because the my car doesn't have it :troll:

radar systems now a days are slowly catching up to detect laser hits on other cars or if it's in the area.


There was an active android app that allows warnings of police checks & hidden laser speed checks till news stations picked up on it & police fear mongering themselves saying drunk drivers MIGHT use it to get sneak around,you would gain a reputation and others would be allowed to vouch for you on reporting area' so there wasn't any fake reports.

Everyone says this but there is never been a proven case of this happening. Like ever. Stop parroting what you read on a tread from the Jurassic period.

Fear mongering? The real question is why are you suggesting people should be breaking the law. Especially going from a simple Motor Vehicle infraction to the Criminal Code.

Also cops aren't stupid, if a reading doesn't come back within a normal time, you are getting pulled over and it is not hard to look inside your grill, window, glove-box to find the jammer and unit. At a minimum if the officer wants to be nice to you, you are getting a Box 1 VI.

The trade off is not worth it, but if you want to be an idiot go ahead and see how it plays out for you.

That's why I said risking it. A police officer can choose to recommend criminal charges but it's their discretion, a box 1 VI is more than enough punishment as is.

Just like if you are caught drinking and driving over the limit, a police officer doesn't have to go the criminal code route and they usually don't.

Their gun doesn't say "JAMMER ALERT". No cop is going to pull you over because it took 3 secs to get a speed read instead of 2.
Are familiar with how the jammers work?

This is called Waze and the specific police department is New Jersey. But funny enough, NJ laws clearly state that any roadblocks/DUI check points must be reported in the newspapers ahead of time. So it completely vetos their argument.

You can still get a ticket based on visual, so even if they don't get an exact speed when you're first targeted they can tell you were going faster than when they target you again. Maybe I'm just lucky but I have to wonder just how many tickets someone is getting to justify buying an expensive detector or jammer that only partly decreases your odds of a ticket?