Does anybody use a radar detector anymore?

So I just packed up my valentine 1 for service/upgrade. Funny thing is, it has sat on the shelf for the better part of 4 years. I thought it worked pretty awesome back then, then the front looking radar sensor stopped working. As it was back then, it's only $45 to send it back and they'll get it up an running again. Yet I never got around to doing it. In that time I don't believe I've been pulled over for speeding. Granted my daily driver in that time has been a non turbo subaru for the most part. Until the last year, my daily one way commute was about 5 miles. Over the last year it has changed to 48 miles one way. In the last couple of months, I've started using the waze app, which does have some redeeming qualities for crowd sourced speed trap warning. So I'm sitting here staring at it in a box. Wife is sick of staring at it. I can send it back for service for $45, or upgrade to the latest version for under $300(mine is a very old version).

Seems silly not to have the most up to date version......but if I haven't needed it in the last 4 years..... I don't drive like a maniac or anything, but I can't guarantee I've always been 100% completely observant of the posted limits.

WWTGRMCD? What Would the GRM Collective do? Upgrade, low buck fix, or maybe sell it off? I'm not a speed demon on the road, so the likelyhood of me actually earning a ticket on the road is slim to none these days. However I could see myself maybe missing a big decrease in speed somewhere, and getting pulled over. That would likely cost as much as the upgrade. So my logic is if it saves me from one ticket, I've broken even.

I haven't used a detector in over 10 years. I've had a couple tickets since then but none recently. I had a couple tickets while using the detector too. Mine wasn't a V1 or anything and I often referred to it as an early ticket detection device.

Personally, I'd ditch it.

I omitted a fairly crucial piece of info. This was a valentines gift from my wife, from the early days of our relationship.

They are illegal to use up here, so I wouldn't use one. They have radar detector detectors and they do work.

If they use laser where you are they are of limited use.

I use my V1 all the time. All four cars at my house are hardwired, so I can move it from car to car as needed.

If you are in a place where cops use Ka, which is most the time, the V1 will work no problema. Laser or lidar, you are screwed.

From a practical standpoint I'd get it fixed for $45. From a relationship standpoint I'd get it fixed for $45. If you have a smart phone I'd download WAZE and use it while driving. The crowd source input works well to alert you of problem areas. Is it perfect, no but I don't go much more than 10 over these days so it's normally easy to get close quickly.

Most Ohio agencies use laser now, of course ymmv, but I'd ditch it living here.

sachilles wrote: I omitted a fairly crucial piece of info. This was a valentines gift from my wife, from the early days of our relationship.

if she's ok with it … make me a reasonable price and I'll paypal you today … I love mine, and with the amt. of cars, I wouldn't mind having another one

Never used or needed one.

I'd rather pay for Waze than have pop up ads that run up data usage or appear in front of the info I need.

I do use waze, but since the population is a little sparce in my part of the planet, it's not quite as effective as more urban areas.

My response to Laser is cruise control.. just saying

hobiercr wrote: From a practical standpoint I'd get it fixed for $45. From a relationship standpoint I'd get it fixed for $45.

+1 for this.

I used a V1 daily in my previous car. I hardwired in the power supply. When I got the Miata I stopped using it due to theft...didn't want my soft top getting sliced up.

Photo radar. Its got to work for that, (right?) and they are buying cameras now around here.

I still use my Escort 8500. I don't speed that much anymore because of the fuel mileage penalty, but I just like to know what is "out there". I also use Waze on my commute.

No point really.....

I used mine (hand-me-down) regularly until the power cord crapped out. For some reason the generic replacment didn't work so well. That was about 2 yrs ago, never replaced it or got it working. I'm pretty mild on the street most of the time, but every now and then it'd be nice to have. Especially on road trips.

For the OP, since it's a significant-other gift, it wouldn't be a bad idea to repair it

And as far as "radar detector detector", I'm somewhat dubious as to how those actually work. Either that, or I'm not familiar enough with radar detectors on the market, but if all the radar detector needs to do is detect the RF from the radar gun, it should be entirely passive. Which means it should't be detectable since it is not emitting any RF.

I borrowed one from a friend once. Got pulled over by a county sheriff that had just upgraded to laser. I tossed it in the back when he told me and I haven't used one since.

V1 to pick up radar off other cars, a bank of LEDs to jam laser (it's in the visible light/UV range and therefore legal to emit).

Not in over 15 years. Iv'ed slowed down a lot since then.

ShadowSix wrote: Most Ohio agencies use laser now, of course ymmv, but I'd ditch it living here.

Ohio was mostly laser 15 years ago.

When I had a detector, it was mainly good at detecting automated traffic lights and some stores' automatic doors. It detected laser exactly once, and that was long after I saw him visually.

In reply to jsquared:

Radar detectors are not entirely passive. That is why they can be detected.

The police can also just blip the radar and watch the front of you car . . . .

sachilles wrote: ...I thought it worked pretty awesome back then, then the front looking radar sensor stopped working...

I'd like to know how the front sensor stopped working, but the rear/side sensors keep working. The V1 only has a single sensor in it with a dual sided metal funnel (lens) that modifies the wavelength coming in from that end. If the sensor detects wavelengths from the front lens, it signals front. If they are from the rear lens, it signals rear. Both lenses give a side reading. Just about the only way to kill the front lens would be to fill it with metal.

Alternatively, you could just have a burned out LED on the front arrow. But if you use a remote display, it would show that.

Upgrade it. I still find my V1 worth while. Now that I am temporarily extreme sport-car-less, I don't need it as much, but we had it on our trip last week to the PRC in the LS400. While the number of trucks and SUV's with CAS spitting out RADAR make it less useful than it used to be, it is still useful. Most of the enemy radar was Ka and most of the CAS was K. If you're going 5 or 8 over, it is still good to know that there is something Ka out there and you should slow down.