Made a drive from the Bay Area to Orange County and back this weekend in my VW Passat commuter. Doing about 90-95mph most of the way with V1 in 'A' mode. The V1 tipped me off every time there was a patrol car lurking ahead or behind. Closest call came on my way back on Hwy 152 west. Doing about 95 when the 'ka' band went off. Quickly slowed down and without fail a waiting CHP car was parked on the roadside about a 1/4 mile ahead with radar gun on. Cruised by him innocently at 65mph. I hope this is not a false sense of confidence but after this trip I really trust my V1. Thanks, Mike Valentine!

 

Speaking of V1, I always keep mine on "L" mode. I tend to get so many false alarms that sometimes I get agravated and turn it off. What mode should it be in?

 

I also keep it in 'L' mode 99% of the time and change it to 'A' mode for long distance drives.

 

V1 is the best!

 

The V1 is a great detector, but remember it won't help you in a single car encounter with an officer using instant-on radar. Against laser, it is useful in telling you you're about to get a ticket.

 

That's cool John! Good'ole V1

 

Beware of INSTANT-ON.



That's good, Dock.

 

How do you know if you may be a target of instant-on? On a few occasions the 'ka' band would sound for a second then go off but no cops anywhere. Is that a sign of being hit with instant-on or just interference from misc. devices?

Besides driving below the speed limit, is there a way to guard yourself from instant-on radar?

 

There are two keys to early radar detection; 1) the officer has to transmitt, and 2) you have to be in a position to receive the radar energy at a sufficient strength to generate an alarm by your detector.

An officer using instant-on radar can wait until the approaching car is well within radar "lock on" range (speed reading range) before transmitting, and he only has to transmit long enough to acquire the speed reading before going silent again. In this case if you happen to be a single car, and your visual lookout is poor, you're out of luck with any detector.

Your indication of an instant-on radar ahead could be no indication at all (especially if you're in a single car encounter), or if there is a car ahead of you that gets illuminated you MAY get a short alert followed by a blank display. The farther the car is ahead of you, the less likely you'll receive any of the radar's energy, and you'd essentially be "single car" again.

What are some tools you can use to avoid getting tagged by instant-on? You can watch cars coming the opposite direction and if you're lucky they will flash you to warn of the officer ahead; you can watch for brake lights from the car well in front of you, you can make sure you're always close enough to the car ahead to receive the signal when he's illuminated, or you may get a "tally-ho" of the officer if your visual lookout is good.

 

Mine had a QC problem that I learned about the hard way, 90 in a 50 (a pretty deserted road). $276 and 4 points. I returned it, and it was fixed, but paying that fine sure did sting. I enclosed a copy of the ticket when I returned it, but I suppose they didn't frame it for their waiting room.

 

do laser diffusers work effectively against instant-on technology? are they are worthwhile tool to have installed on a car?

 

Beware the fast Sunday AM drive ! This past Sunday AM ( 7AM-8AM ) I stumbled upon not 1 but 2 CHP motorcycle cops perched invisibly at the tops of two on- ramps ,hidden by trees on very fast empty sections of 101 near Brisbane and 280 near Farm Hill. I'm sure they would have roared down the ramp and paced for a few seconds and gotcha - no radar needed. Who would think smokey is out at 7am looking for speeders ? On 101 , the cop followed me onto the freeway and paced me for several miles , 100 ft behind me , then got off ( probably snickering )

 

Thanks, Doc. Sounds like awareness and luck are keys to not getting tagged by instant-on.