2 weeks ago a trooper with radar was set up on US 27 (Lake County) by a Lowes where you normally get extraneous detector beeps so a daily driver might ignore them. This morning the same thing happened on US 441 (sheriff, Marion County) by an electronics store. Coincidence or maybe planned?

 

How much over were u?

 

fortunately normal day time traffic around here - both lanes blocked by Q-tips driving 10 mph under.

 

They are probably using a radar detector to figure out where to shoot radar..... That's like shooting over a baited field.

 

Do you guys have luck with radar detectors? I noticed my dealer was selling $2500 Escort detector, which they said is really good. I was wondering if a sub $500 model would work just as well???

 

Some really good threads on radar if you go to the search feature.

An older Car and Driver test is at http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparison_test/radar_detectors/the_great_detector_test_comparison_test/(page)/1

or try http://www.guysoflidar.com/index.html

Have no idea what your dealer was trying to sell you. Newest Escort 8500 X50 red is $309, 9500ix blue is $499, or the top of the line radar detector and laser diffuser 9500ci is $1599 + installation. www.escortradar.com. They are just down the road from you in West Chester. I have a 3 year old Escort which has saved my *** a bunch of times but believe the Valentine V1 is better. The real cheap ones have not been recommended by anyone.

 

I only trust the V1.

 

It could be the 9500ci, as he mentioned the install labor was almost as expensive as the unit. He said they hard wire sensors all over the car.

Nick

 

Nick: could be. I think it's 2 sensors and 4 scatterers. Nice feature about this is that it's mounted above your steering column rather than hanging on the windshield with the power supply wire flopping around. regular 8500/9500 can be hardwired too. I'd check with escort before I'd let the Porsche dealer do it - I was thinking about upgrading last Summer and the Escort distributor in Indy quoted $200 for the install and would have it done in 3 hours. There's a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of any anti-laser protection, which is why I have not added it yet. I do know if you get hit you have to jump on the brakes immediately because there are now "double pulse" guns or the cop can just pull the trigger again when he gets a 'fault' reading. The "we'll pay your fine" gaurantees are kind of meaningless because they are limited to 15 or 20 mph over and you still get the points, plus I'd bet it would be about impossible to collect.

By the way, you are not supposed to be speeding !

 

I hate to say it, but I am to cheap to buy the built in 9500ci. I wired my 8500 to the courtesy lights near the sunroof. Works great because it turns off the radar after 2 hours of non use and comes on when you open the door. Also hard to see detector from outside because it mounts high on the windshield where its darker glass.

 

Part of the problem with the laser protection units is that you can't really tell if they're working.

I have an older Escort SRX; built in like the 9500ci, but pre-dates the GPS logging of false positives.

Several times the unit has responded to a laser source while I was over the limit, but never so far that it would have assured a citation. Did it work? The LEO didn't come after me and I wasn't going to stop to ask.

IMO, using the right strategy means you don't have to buy the absolute best detector. If I'm knowingly above the limit, I try to stay within a range where even if the detector doesn't work, there's a reasonable chance that I wouldn't get a ticket, anyway.

I think they're most effective behind a group of cars so the front runners are measured first--and you detect that event.

As such, I Welcome (!) any car on the freeway that wants to pass me. If someone starts following me, I'll do what I can to politely encourage them to pass me. (No point in getting clocked from behind or have someone run into me if I unexpectedly slow.)