I have a radar detector. Escort Passport 8500. It's treated me overall pretty well and has saved my behind a few times now. I only ever use it when I take really long trips and if I know there is probably going to be some dumb stuff that goes down along the way. In town, forget it. It's not going to save you, and most cops get Ive talked to get annoyed by people having radar detectors. Often times it will result in a ticket being issued to you just because you went out of your way to avoid getting pulled over for your driving rather than changing your driving habits. I've never used a laser jammer, however I'lll let you know that laser is not all that commonly used.

 

I bought a whistler cr90 laser/radar detector when I got my charger, and to be honest I barely use it. Like Hemicharged I use it when I am driving long distances, but not around town. I just feel like leaving it on your dashboard is an invitation for a broken window, and its annoying constantly taking it off and putting it back on when driving around town.

 

I've thought about aiding a jammer, too, but I've had a laser alert ONCE since I've had a detector. It simply wouldn't be worth adding in my case.

 

.....From what I've researched it's almost as if putting a non-reflective license plate cover over your license plate.....

So, useless, and ineffective? A myth that people think works?
Seriously, the anti-reflective tape doesn't do any good. We aim for the plate because it's central, and easy to aim at, but the bumper, headlight/tailight, hood/trunk, etc work just as well.
Not to mention Ohio (and likely other states too) specifically prohibit the use of it.

..... I also repeat I am NOT getting this to break the law......

Just giving you a hard time, but in all fairness you ARE getting it to break the law. Speeding is breaking the law, even if it's only 3 mph over the limit. If you never exceed the limit the detector/jammer is a waste of money. Buying one if you don't intend to speed, is like buying a parka, and saying you don't go out in the cold. Why would you buy a coat if you will never wear it, and why would you buy a detector/jammer if you will never speed? I'm just busting your chops man, I knew what you meant. You don't intend to drive like a crazy person. I just saw humor in the wording, and had to give you a hard time about it. > :beerchug: All in fun, no offense.

......Often times it will result in a ticket being issued to you just because you went out of your way to avoid getting pulled over for your driving rather than changing your driving habits.......

Very strong possibility of this. The reason for issuing warning or citations is to affect a change in behavior. If you have a detector/jammer, it's a pretty clear indication of intent to speed. Even if you don't intent to drive outrageously fast, it's still like telling a cop that issuing a warning will be ineffective.


Also as the others have said. In most areas, other than the interstate, lidar isn't used too much. The problem is we've got to be stationary to use it, so some guys don't bother with it. Radar, which can be used mobile, is used a lot more often. I personally like lidar better but I don't do a whole lot of speed enforcement, or work the interstate very much, so even I don't use it that often.

One other thing to add, just for a heads up. Keep in mind that our lasers will tell us when they've been jammed. If an astute LEO gets jammed, they'll immediately hit you with radar (which can't legally be jammed due to FCC regulations). So if you do buy a jammer, just be reasonable like you said you intend to be, so you can adjust to a legal speed before they get a chance to hit the radar.
And I'm sure you've seen it in the AAC thread, but don't forget about the plane. Detectors and jammers won't pick them up.

 

I've got a radar detector mostly because it's just another cool gadget I can attach to my car. My wife gives me crap about it because I hardly ever speed, lol.

I think Central Texas isn't nearly as heavily enforced as other areas. I rarely get lit up, and when I am, it's usually part of a big enforcement drive every couple of months where there are 10 police cars waiting in line on the shoulder a half mile down the road from the guy with the radar.

In Arizona, it's a completely different story. They seem to be much more vigilant with their enforcement there.

From a police perspective, I'd think their goal should be to slow people down. Whether it's because a radar decector goes off or a ticket is issued, if the driver slows down, the goal is met.

I'm more amused by the whole Waze thing. Get a community of people sharing police car location information, and a radar detector is even less useful. As soon as Apple includes this in their software by default, there won't be any more tickets!

 

As soon as Apple includes this in their software by default, there won't be any more tickets!

Only when people stop speeding...then there won't be any more tickets.

For every evading tactic, there will be a new enforcement tactic. It's how the game is played. Waze will never be able to tell you where the speed enforcement aircraft are nor the pursuit vehicles either.

Just wait for the speed enforcement drone aircraft to appear in the next 10 years. They will capture your speed, photograph your license plate and maybe even your face. Your ticket will be in the mail and you may never even see an officer that writes it.

Avoiding being caught will never eliminate enforcement of the law. Only ceasing to break the law will.

 

I'm not sure ticket-by-mail will ever be very popular here for n the U.S. It seems like a lot of states have been phasing out or banning it entirely; Arizona is pushing for a ban now (just read about it a couple of days ago) after using speed cameras and mailing out tickets pretty heavily.

From what I can gather, they're too hard to enforce if the person receiving the ticket simply ignores them. Without properly "serving" the ticket, a lot of places have to just hope that folks pay the money voluntarily, since they can't really force the drivers into paying them if there is no way of knowing if they even received the letter.

In the case of Arizona, it was pretty well known that a speed camera ticket wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. As long as you didn't go to the "helpful" website listed on it and look up your citation information, you could simply ignore the letter until someone came to you and officially served it. Depending on where you lived, there was a good chance that the company processing the tickets would not bother paying someone to serve it. After a period of time (180 days from the when it was processed?), it would just be taken out of the system.

 

Shots... where are you located? I'm in Mentor. If you ever pull over a red R/T with a suggestive license plate, you got me

 

Ha ha, good to know. I don't work Mentor a lot, but I do occasionally. We've got a few members from N.E.Ohio here. I'm surprised I haven't come across one from here or Dodgetalk yet. Then again, maybe I have and neither of us realized it.

 

You might check out these forums for additional recommendations:

http://www.radardetector.net/forums/

https://www.radarbusters.com/

 

Just get a detector and skip the jammer.

I run a detector and I've been pulled over a few times, it's never been a problem. Pretty sure the officer never saw my setup due to placement. In the last few years I've been pulled over three times for speeding and all three times left without a ticket.

I would wager a officer getting a false reading is going to pull you over and be rude. So not sure it would be worth it. The abuse of power these days is pretty big. Probably get a false search and get your car chewed apart. Once all cops need to wear chest cams it might swing back to people power. Until then waze and detector.

 

.......The abuse of power these days is pretty big. Probably get a false search and get your car chewed apart. Once all cops need to wear chest cams it might swing back to people power.....

Really?!?!?!
Abuse of power is "pretty big"? Let's assume a very high number and say 500 officers have abused their authority in 1 year. That's far more than I've heard of so I'm being generous with it.
Per the last figure I can find by the NIJ, there were 500,000 active LEO's in the USA. If 500 of them are abusing power that works out to 0.1% (1/10%). That means 99.9% are doing the right thing.

To be fair I don't watch/read the news. So lets be completely over the top and say 5,000 officers have abused their power in 1 year. That means 99% of them are doing the right thing. I agree any abuse of power is too much, but to buy into the media hype of all cops being corrupt and/or abusing their authority is crap. 1% isn't even enough to consider "a lot".
If it really were a "pretty big" problem of corruption or abuse of power, shouldn't you have been searched or arrested by now? And FWIW a lot of agencies have dash cams, so a body cam won't change anything relating to a traffic stop or search. The body cam is going to address concerns with contacts inside buildings or otherwise away from the car.

Not only do we have dash cams, but people regularly record us on cell phones. There are also security cameras everywhere recording not just the public but us too. The "pretty big" problem that you're seeing is actually the opposite of what you're seeing. LEO's are being held more accountable than ever. The days of the "good ol' boy" system is gone. There is no room to hide from anything, which is why you see every incident of wrong doing. Again, I agree that even 1 incident is too many, but in truth police are less likely to do something wrong now than they were even 20 years ago. So this media frenzy of how the police are getting worse is ridiculous.


Sorry for the hijack OP, but this new social opinion bugs me when you consider that LEO's are MORE accountable than we've ever been. Again, sorry for the rant, back on topic.

 

Recording an officer can put you in hot water. Do read the news you're not informed enough for your rant. Filming can lead to confiscation. Many still think, ignorantly, you are not allowed to film an officer. Just like you hold your poorly informed views. Food for thought.

Last time I was pulled over with my wife and kid, doing 1 mph over the limit the officer was gunning for a reason to search us. I am a typical white guy driving a boring sedan.

Officer had been tail gating a car in the passing lane and made 3 illegal lane changes in the few miles we were next to him. He threatened to take me down town. Want to bet his cam was "off" or "not functioning properly"? Cause he had no cause to pull me over, it was an illegal stop. I asked him why the stop and he confirmed because I passed a semi on the right doin 66 in a 65. Told me passing on the right was illegal, to which I asked him under what state traffic law he was referring to. He never checked my docs or ran my plates.

Then a few years later in the middle of nowhere I get pulled over and the cop asked me a bunch of questions outside the scope of the stop. Looking for a reason to open up my car. I know the law. We parted ways without a speeding ticket.

I am fairly certain both would have gone badly with a jammer.

 

BTW in my state passing on the right is allowed.

 

I value your opinion, but I'm not going to derail this thread. I invite you to continue this discussion on the legal debate thread that I made to pick up the overflow from the AAC thread. As with the AAC thread, all I ask is that we keep it civil and remember that it's not personal. If it gets too heated, I'll either stop responding or ask a moderator to clean it up.
Give me a few minutes and I'll link it for you. I gotta grab the last few posts to give context to the topic change.



So, how about those radar detectors? :grin2:




EDIT 3/9/15:
okay it took a lot of minutes, but here's the link → LINK if you choose to discuss it

 

2fast4u2013 and tanbam...

I currently own a laser jammer radar detector (and just moved from Dallas TX). I own the Passport 9500 CI and can definitely say its worth it!!!

However I use it with intelligence (kind of lol). As the LEO stated, they know when you are deflecting their lidar. I have personally been hit in real life on three separate occasions with lidar and did not get pulled over. However, the key is to not be driving by yourself with no other cars near.

I got hit with liar while LEO was on motorcycle and peeking in between a construction zone slat on an on ramp......no ticket (garland, tx)

I got hit twice on highway going into Dallas from Rockwall, TX while driving one of the left lanes. LEO aiming down from on ramp hiding spot...no tickets

Anyone that has one will tell you it is designed to warn you so you slow down. Most LEO's can spot your speed regardless just by eye alone, so doing 130 mph with a laser deflector is not recommended anyway.

Now I do not condone breaking the law in anyway, but I do not see why leveling the playing field with early notification is bad. Do I speed? Yes. Everyday. Just make sure you spend the money on the system for the right reason.

 

...... so doing 130 mph with a laser deflector is not recommended anyway.

Ha ha. Good call.

...... Do I speed? Yes. Everyday. Just make sure you spend the money on the system for the right reason.

This is reasonable advice.
I'd also add, that if you get caught anyway, don't get all pissy about it. You sped, you made the choice, deal with it. I got a tint ticket when I was 19. I knew it was illegal when I put it on. So I didn't blame the cop for profiling, harassing me, or wasting time by not arresting real criminals. I broke the law, I manned up and took my lumps. End of story. If you can accept that the detector won't always alert you in time, and you're mature enough to accept responsibility for your own actions, then it won't let you down. If you expect it to prevent you from ever getting a ticket you'll likely end up regretting your purchase.

 

I honestly have almost completely stopped using my detector since I got it. I'm considering selling it too. I stopped using it while driving just in town which is most of my driving because A) I'm not typically mobbing around stop and go traffic unless I'm mad and need some anxiety relief... and B) they beep at every damn speed thing on the side of the roads that let you know your speed.

I figure I would keep it for use on the the highway and when I go on trips or go intentionally spirited driving on the weekends. But I have yet to hear it go off and see a cop waiting there for me. It's like its a magical deterrent haha. Watch the second I sell it I will see cops pointing their radar guns at me all day though ha.

Another thing I consider is something Shots mentioned about if you get pulled over with one. If I go out on the weekend to do some canyon running or whatever and get pulled over with a radar detector, he knows I've already been speeding today and is probably not going to give me a warning.

 

...and B) they beep at every damn speed thing on the side of the roads that let you know your speed.

There are units out there (like mine) that will learn your routes and turn off certain alerts and only warn regarding new ones. Some radar detectors just beep and some are super accurate, and still others give you a complete coverage for all alerts and are very smart in learning and update alerts online through a PC.

 

Nice. I definitely know what you mean regarding fumbling with it.

Escort has a Live feature now that links your radar with other radars in the area and gives you updates on what's ahead! It is great in major highway and city situations.:nerd2:

 

I had a Cobra unit back when I had the Daytona (09-11). It set me back about $100 at RadioShack, but it proved useful. No, I wasn't a speed demon, but it saved me a few times when I was just driving without paying attention at my speed. It was never more than maybe 5-10MPH over, but enough to warrant an Officers attention I'm sure. It paid off in the first 1-2 beeps it let off.

I have no clue where it is now. I'll be honest, after a while, I just forgot about it. The hassle of taking it out and putting it away again just turned me off from it and I just learned to pay more attention and/or use the cruise control.