Radar detector suggestions

Folks, I am not a speeder and have been driving for driving for 25 years. Well today I got my first speeding ticket. I was not paying attention to my speed coming down a big hill (wife was talking to me, but that is not my excuse). I was ticketed for 35 in a 30 zone. I was probably going closer to 40, the office gave me a break.

Anyway I can have the ticket deferred, but I can't get any more tickets this year. I am looking to improve my odds of this.

What is the best radar detector on the market? I am looking at Valentine 1, but at $400 that is kinda high. Is this unit worth the money?

I figure if I get another ticket it will equal this price anyway, so it maybe worth the investement

The V1 is a very good detector, I have friends with them, the best part is that you get the arrows to know if the signal if in front or behind. I have a passport 8500 that I use (got as a gift) also a very good detector, but cannot tell where the signal is, that would be handy on occasion.

Evidently the ones with the GPS tracking in them are not quite up to par just yet, but the technology is getting better.

I have used whatever walmart sells for $30 or $40 and they've lasted for years and been really reliable. The cheapest ones now all have laser and radar... mine works fine and has saved my bacon a million times. I'm on my second one now. Something more expensive more work better, but i usually stick to the speed limit. if you want to do like a cannonball run you might want a v1 or something. otherwise i say the less you spend on the radar detector the more financial sense it makes.

V1 is worth the money.

The GPS thing is mostly a gimmick.

Here in the Seattle area, cops in planes have the lock on Cannon Ball run antics

Another vote for the V1. I've used it and plenty of others, but only one has had a permanent spot on my dash for more than 10 years, including sending it back to V1 to get updated to current specs.

I've never had a ticket when using it, and I'm not slow. It is getting harder these days with greater prevelance of laser and timing lines and whatnot, but it is still worth it.

V1. There is no other.

Valentine 1 gets another vote. It just works.

Another vote for V1. Have had one for the last 5 years. When I was shopping around, it made sense to get something that was the most reliable. After all, if you can't rely on it, then whats the point of having one?

The only word of caution is to remember that you're shopping for / using a radar detector, not a police detector.

Should I fight this ticket? 5 miles per hour over the speed limit? Since I was not paying attention, but had slowed for the cop who already had someone pulled over 1/4 ahead, it is hard to believe I was speeding.
plus there was a car in front of me who was about to turn into a parking lot.

He never showed me the radar. I know sometimes they do

Thoughts

I almost got thrown in jail for asking to see the radar.

Another vote for the V1. It's worth every penny. Knowing where the radar is and HOW MANY can be a life saver. I can't tell you the number of times I've come up on multiple radars either stacked together or just over the next hill. Without the count and the arrows I'd have never known it.

One ticket pays for your V1

I have received 6 speeding tickets in my life. 1 was without any detection device. 5 were with a radar detector. Radar detectors tend to give drivers a false sense of security and they typically end up getting more tickets than without one. My tickets were about 10 years ago. At the risk of sounding odd, I have never (and I mean never) received a ticket of any kind in a vehicle that included an operational CB. Why? Because when I listen to a CB, I know where every single possible thing is on the road; cops, wind gusts, construction, accidents, the works. Its real-time, grassroots, publicly supported, traffic-related news.

Radar detectors are great, but 9 times out of 10 they tell you AFTER you've been radared. You pop over a hill, your Ka band sensor goes nuts, and all that tells you is that you have already been pegged. Don't even worry about a detector that picks up laser. Consumer reports did a test on laser detectors and showed that many of them don't pick up the laser at all. The narrow beam is designed to shoot one small area of your car. Given the large frontal area of a vehicle, the chances that the laser will hit the detector are small.

But, with a CB, you know where every single cop, sheriff, deputy, city police, ambulance, traffic obstruction, fire, naked girl, truck stop, exit, and restaurant is for the entire state. A CB is like a radar detector, a news channel, and a GPS all in one, but unlike an automated thing, a CB is not only interactive, but its updated instantly and staffed by hundreds of knowledgeable people who are actually experiencing the road at that specific moment. You ask my GPS to find Smith Dr. and it looks for Doctor Smith. You want it to look up WalMart and it returns searches for Walgreens, Walter's flowers, ShopMart, Martin's house of sausage... or you just pick up a microphone and say, "where is the next WalMart northbound?" and you get five truckers who say "exit 225, turn left."

A CB is mostly for highway use, but local info is usually helpful and very specific. Radar detectors give drivers a false sense of security and it tends to bite you in the arse. Plus, radar detectors are only legal in about 29 states. CBs are legal everywhere.

In reply to curtis73:

And don't forget that laser's out there. Yeah, the officer has to get out of the car to hold the thing steady...but that just means he's going to be really steamed at having to plant his foot into it hard enough to catch you. I was using a Cincinnati Microwave "Passport", which lights up for laser, but since the laser beam is so much smaller than the radar one, it's just a "ticket detector".

Lucky for me, until the new "superspeeder" law here in Georgia there wasn't much need for a detector. I quit using one about 10yrs ago, and haven't even needed one until now. OTOH, please recall that I only run about 75-80 on the Interstates, and I've slowed down a lot on the 2-lanes at night. I'm 47yr old, and just can't see at night like I used to.

That being said, I've heard so many good things about the V1 (IIRC, created by the co-founder of Cincinnati Microwave in the first place) that I'd just buy the damn thing if I were still driving quickly enough to need one in the first place.

In reply to friedgreencorrado: Its not really fair to do a radar at the bottom of a hill due to the fact that a car will gain speed because of the hill .Ask the cop to reduce it to a non moving violation politely. good luck

V1 is the only choice.

YES fight it!! Never just pay them. I used to but then lost my lic cause they changed the rules to go back 6 years thus i paid high insurance rate and had to take a "slow the F down driving course".......what a waste of time. Thankfully that was years ago. Now i fight any i get.

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V1. Accept no substitute.

You might also see if you have a defensive driving program. Since you've never had a ticket, I'm sure you'd be eligible. Some places even have a course you can take online, but at most you'll just have to sit through a boring class and watch a video some Saturday morning. After that the ticket is wiped clean, and you don't have to worry about another offense effecting it.

I have used a friend's V1, it is definitely the best out there and one day I will cough up $400 for one. Having said that, from a dollars and cents standpoint I have a $90 Beltronics which has served me well.

I just rely on my cruise control to keep me safe, but I live in a rural area

I've had a V1 since 1992. Currently have one in each car. The arrows are awesome, the radar detection range is great.

No detector is perfect. It can't protect you from instant-on if no one ahead of you is getting hit. Laser detection (on any detector) is just OK. Mostly it alerts you to the 3rd brake light of early Trailblazers and the laser cruise control of Infinity SUVs.

Can't you just pay a lawyer to make it go away? Most cities will just take a bribe to reduce anything to a non-moving violation. However, here in KS, 5 over IS a non-moving violation, and is not supposed to stay on your state record or count against insurance.

You don't seem to remember enough about the situation to fight it, but you could still try.

www.motorists.org

-Brian

Take the half day, go to traffic court, don't necessarily go before the judge, many traffic courts give you the option of speaking with an officer of the court prior to entering your guilt or innocence and can usually negotiate on the behest of the court. Long story short, I got a $250 citation and points reduced to a $40 court fee, but I do have a clean driving record...

Not worth the investment.

$400 for a piece of equipment not gauranteed to lower the amount of tickets you recieve is alot. Instant on really neutralized the effectiveness of radar detectors.

My friend has a Valentine V1 and I had a Passport Escort and we have both been ticketed while using them. I was crusing down the highway at 75mph and all of a sudden I come over a rise and the thing goes ape E36 M3. Busted. My friend got busted going 80 in a 65 by aircraft with his V1.

After that $180 ticket (I HATE YOU CLEVELAND!!!) 3 years ago I decided to do some research and change my driving style. I have a couple tips to lower your chance of being caught: slow down for blind turns and over rises, and stay in the right lane as much as possible. As fighter pilots always say: Situational Awarness is life. Check your mirrors and look ahead (its useful on the race too). I haven't had a ticket in 3 years.

It doesn't matter what detector you have, if youre speeding and you get caught you are still gonna get a ticket. I don't really need to know how many cops or where they are... when my detector goes "beep" I slow down.

Is that really such a hassle?

I'm usually only going about 5 over the limit anyway.

To me, paying $400 for a detector would be enough to have me rethinking speeding in the first place. And with gas prices these days, I'm always thinking about how 65 mph vs 70 means a mpg drop of at least 1 or 2.

I just don't get any joy out of speeding. And with instant on, laser, aircraft, and all the newer technologies being sporadically implemented, and the states around here putting little radar things on every construction sign that set the detectors off, you really can't depend on a detector to save your bacon.

YaNi wrote: As fighter pilots always say: Situational Awarness is life. Check your mirrors and look ahead (its useful on the race too). I haven't had a ticket in 3 years.

+1 make mine almost 5 years now (I have a radar detector, but it is a tool, not a reliance).