Radar Detector False Alarms

[Rover]

Uniden R3 works good - saved me 3 tickets in 6 months. I know but, that's how the car is meant to be driven ! And speed limits are set for idiots who can't see, can't judge distance, don't understand physics, oh - and can't drive. Grrrr.

X band can be annoying. Every gate opener is X band and so is the blind spot detection on newer cars. So alot of people like to turn X band off but I googled it and my county still use it so yeah- saved me twice out in the twisty stick roads. Once when I was about to pull out for a pass, I went back in and here comes the sheriff (behind the fire truck I saw down the road) running constant x band radar. That paid for the unit right there.
Another time the The R3 announced laser detected as I rowed gears up a wide open street in town. Well shit - didn't take me long to hit the brakes and calm it down. Result no ticket that day either.
I wouldn't drive this car without it. Thinking about laser detectors - Hmm?

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[MikeHTally]

People still use radar detectors?

You betcha.

 

[frank s]

I have a then state-of-the-art detector from quite a few years back. Either I didn't recognize alerts, or didn't pass through radar-enforced areas. The machine was said to check alarms versus falsies and eventually mute the falsies. The neighborhood "Your Speed Is..." radars took about five episodes before doing its thing. It never did mute a couple of spurious signals alongside the local airport. That mught have been the police helicopter's home beam.

Any road, I changed tactics and eliminated the detector and its obnoxious plug-in routine, while obeying speed laws. Usually.

 

[FruityJudy]

I gave up the radar game and just use waze and my eyeballs. Paying a good chunk of change for a lot of irritating false alarms seems counterproductive.

I run waze plus the uniden R1. False alarms very few. I know where most stationary false alarms are now and honda blind spot vehicles give me a false if Im within 10 car lengths but once I pass them it goes away. But waze alone around here wouldnt cut it. My uniden paid for itself the first month

 

[Jmtoast]

You only need to run Ka, MRCD, and Laser. The Uniden R3 is a great one. Barely ever makes a sound but will pick up a cop at 3 miles away easily. Even in NYC picked up a cop over half a mile away through a winding road and concrete buildings on both sides.

One I just got best thing I’ve bought. If you like really Drive your car I don’t know how you can do it without one. Especially with an aftermarket exhaust.

You just have to learn where false alarms are usually generated and mark it.

 

[GTFURY]

I run Waze and a Uniden R7. The trick to minimizing false alarms is setting up the detector for what you need it to detect in your area. In most states, KA is almost all you need. This will get rid of a-lot of falses, most of those are caused by Honda's and Acuras with radar systems leaking out past the K frequency they are supposed to be at or automatic door openers on Band. The R7 actually has a setting to block a swath of frequencies where these cars typically drift. You can also try using city mode to cut down the sensitivity as well but that kind of defeats the purpose. One of the best things I stumbled upon when looking to get back into the detector game was www.vortexradar.com and his youtube channel. He's an absolute fountain of knowledge (including how you need to set your detector up by state) and I learned a lot very quickly. Check it out when you have time.

 

[MikeHTally]

... You only need to run Ka, MRCD, and Laser.

Around here, K & X are still used by the "revenuers". We encountered K & X on a resent trip to Savannah. As far as laser, it can be effective. Generally if it goes off (and it isn't the Sun or laser DRLs), you're done.

 

[Little Guy]

I got the Max 360. It works great. All the false alarms are gone. I even passed a police car which came up as K band (at least I saw it as K band. My eyes are not what they used to be). The directional arrows changed immediately from front to rear when I passed him. I am liking the 360 so far.

 

[Norm Peterson]

One I just got best thing I’ve bought. If you like really Drive your car I don’t know how you can do it without one.

When I "like really drive my car" it's on "roads" that look like this ↓↓↓

Once that's where you start doing your really hard driving, the sort of driving that would make best use of a radar detector isn't even worth a good yawn, so I just don't bother going more than maybe 5 - 8 over.

Back in the days of that 55 mph max speed limit, I did use a detector for longer trips, but not otherwise.


Norm

 

[Jmtoast]

I got the Max 360. It works great. All the false alarms are gone. I even passed a police car which came up as K band (at least I saw it as K band. My eyes are not what they used to be). The directional arrows changed immediately from front to rear when I passed him. I am liking the 360 so far.

The only issue I've had is cops who don't have their alarm on. I don't see them but they hear and see me. Have to be careful where you light it up.

 

[offroadkarter]

I am currently using a V1 and have dabbled with YaV1 before to set custom scan bands. I need to play around with it more. I also use Waze on long trips with my V1. Eventually looking into laser jammers for the mustang and M5.

When I "like really drive my car" it's on "roads" that look like this ↓↓↓

Once that's where you start doing your really hard driving, the sort of driving that would make best use of a radar detector isn't even worth a good yawn, so I just don't bother going more than maybe 5 - 8 over.

Back in the days of that 55 mph max speed limit, I did use a detector for longer trips, but not otherwise.


Norm

If I could drop a few dollars and show up at a road course on scheduled nights to have a few laps (you know, like test and tune nights at literally any drag strip), I would gladly do that. But I'm not going to drop a few hundred dollars and register with some club or SCCA event any time I want to legally go over 70mph. Watkins Glen has a "season opener" where you pay 25 bucks and get 3 parade laps around the track. That is as close as I can get to hitting a road course for the price of a test and tune night.

The whole "take it to a track" mantra works less and less as it become more expensive, more complicated, and less accessible to even do any sort of track driving, be it 1/4 or road course.

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