I should have known what I would be doing with this car. No idea why I did not buy a blocker and a detector. Given my situation, it would have paid itself off in one incident. At 4AM on a Sunday night on a 12 lane highway, what exactly am I supposed to do with this car?

Any of you guys using radar/lidar defense?

 

I won't leave home without it. If I fly out of town I take it with me for the rental car. Paid for itself a few times over by now. Escort 360 Max

 

I'm running an escort max 360c. Honestly I'm not incredibly impressed with the detection range. If I get an alert I slow down immediately. Sometimes I get alerts and the cop is there within 1/4 mile of where I first got it....That doesn't give you much time considering this car....

 

LIDAR jammers are illegal here in Cali and the CHP has a knack for spotting and confiscating them. To be effective they also have to be placed near the license plate and/or headlights, which usually means cutting out a piece of the grill or bumper. They have to be mounted visibly, otherwise they don't work. I've gotten pulled over only once with LIDAR. I do have a long range radar detector, though, which I use when driving outside my immediate area and has definitely saved me a few times. Around my home area I know where the cops are hiding. They are always in the same spots and after a while you get an eye for places they could hide or spotting the patrol cars in general. It's always the same kind of thing. Be careful around overpasses for example. Anywhere they can be hidden. I bought my current detector after I discovered in 2019 that my old Escort wasn't up to snuff anymore and got pulled over for doing 85 in a 65. The ticket ended up going nowhere, though, because the cop failed to file it properly and the statue of limitation expired 12 months later.

Having said that, I don't really go crazy on highways, definitely not over 100 mph as that is reckless territory here. Anything more than 25 mph over is problematic, so I rarely go over 90. Below that, if I don't get away by contesting it, I can always do traffic school and keep it off the record. The LIDAR incident above was actually 28 over, and was the only speeding ticket that ever made it on my record.

Knowing where and when you can let the dogs out is half the solution. I generally reserve exploring the limits to the deserted canyons with no cops anywhere. Anything off the main drags and thoroughfares really. Also, having done European Delivery gave me the opportunity to see what the car is capable off, so I got that out of my system. Straight line speed doesn't really do it for me anymore.

 

Superswiss what make and model long range you have?

Also was considering getting a valentine ...any good?

 

I have the Uniden R3. If I were to do it again, I'd probably get the R7, which has the arrows like the Valentine. The Uniden seem to be the top runners these days. The R3 came up as having the longest range and it really alerts me way in advance, so the arrows would actually help to know whether the source is ahead of me or behind me.

 

I also have the R3 and it is the best detector I've ever owned. Yes R7 has the arrows but WHY? Does it matter where the cop is? Detector lights up, just slow down regardless where the cop is until it mutes itself. Another thing to run is Waze app.

 

I had the Uniden R3 and then replaced it with the Uniden R7. The R7 arrows are very helpful as to know where the police are, especially with instant on radar (coming up from behind or stationary in front of you.) I've had experience through the years with Valentine and Escort. All make great detectors just depends which one suits your needs. I believe the R7 has a slightly longer range than the R3. No radar detector can help you with LIDAR other than tell you you've been busted, only an expensive jammer works but I have no experience using one. Thankfully LIDAR is not used too frequently in Louisiana. Now days the good detectors allow you for free to download and update their latest firmware so you're never missing the latest features. These upgrades can be a significant improvement. I like the GPS feature in the R7, it alerts you to red light cameras and school zones. Dark mode is also a nice R7 feature as the detector has a dark screen until a signal is received. The Waze app further alerts you traffic conditions such as police locations but its only as effective as the user reports.

 

I have the R7 and highly recommend. R7 with Waze on carplay has been pretty good for me. Ive spec'd a AI priority laser system but i feel like that would make me way too confident to drive fast. In Michigan most use radar still except for certain areas and times. Just stick to driving fast on roads you know and have clear sight.

 

Here is a good comparison with the Uniden R7 vs Valentine One Gen 2

 

Vortex Radar videos on YouTube (above) is a good unbiased source of the latest radar detector information.

 

Uniden R7 hardwired to passenger side above rear view mirror. Amazing range and very reliable on west coast I5 corridor. So impressed I bought a second for my wife’s gle580 which is predominantly our road trip vehicle of choice. Has been pretty easy to update and latest firmware update added auto gps lockouts and further bsm filtering that make it almost silent when no real threats exist. My old escort was so noisy I just ended up turning it off because it was always yapping about something it wore me out.

no Laser here but I’ve thought about it. Problem is, haven’t seen it used...it’s rare in PNW and NorCal but not frequent enough for me to fork over the big bucks for it.

 

V1 + V1 Driver (or R7 if you're so inclined) + Waze. The best protection you can get.

 

With my years of experience having owned many state of art radar detectors, a smart cop who wants to bust speeders and sees you speeding, will bust you, no matter what detector you have.

 

I just wanna revise this statement, based on my actual experience (no offense to any cops out there):

"With my years of experience having owned many state of art radar detectors, a motivated cop who wants to bust speeders and sees you, will bust you, no matter what detector you have, whether or not you were speeding, irrespective if he caught you on radar or not."

I've had several instances where my perfectly functioning V-1 never went off = radar wasn't on, or never hit me, and the cop claims to have clocked me at a certain speed. Or cops "visually estimating" my speed in the pitch black of night, without any frame of reference, while traveling in the same direction they're parked (ie they're visually estimating through a rearview mirror), without the rear facing radar on.

And traffic court is a joke; it's guilty until proven innocent, as unlike criminal court where the evidentiary standard is beyond a reasonable doubt, civil court only requires a preponderance of the evidence.

What preponderance of the evidence means is that the burden of proof is met if there is greater than a 50% chance that, based on all the reasonable evidence shown, the plaintiff’s claims are true. That 50% is established just by virtue of the cop being considered honest and an expert at his job by the court. So unless you have irrefutable proof (dash cam, etc), it's just a matter of the good old boys' club, and the court collecting its fines.

Don't get me started...

 

Does anyone have an Escort Redline 360c or Radenso Pro M radar detector? Any comments would be appreciated. I have seen the excellent reviews from Vortex but would also like to hear forum members observations.

 

I have a Redline 360c ordered last week but they are backordered, so I don't expect until mid/late April. My usual radar is a V1 Gen 2 and I like it a lot but it really works best if you always run V1Driver (I'm on iPhone so can't use the Android-centric other app I'm not remembering at the moment). The Redline 360c is for my wife's car, and she will be much happier to have something that contains everything it needs out of the box, no additional app-running required. Once in hand and used a bit I can report back.

 

I've twice been busted by highway police shadowing me (hidden) in a row of a number of cars behind me. I pulled out in left lane to pass and accelerated and the police simultaneously does the same – shot by instant on radar. Saying I had to accelerate to pass didn't hold up in court. An attention getting car (bright color) can hold the interest of a police officer and he waits for a moment to nail you. I'm now very cautious if the cars behind me move to the right lane instead of the normal 'free for all' where there is no observance of the left lane for high speed.

 

I'll preface this by saying that laws and procedure don't matter in civil traffic proceedings; the Judge can literally dismiss everything and say "well I believe the Officer did observe you speeding" and that's that.

Having said that, check your state's administrative code. Some states (IIRC Virginia was one of them) require that they can use instant-on to obtain a preliminary estimate, but then had to turn on the unit (constant) and obtain an accurate reading. So instant-on in it of itself wouldn't be admissible.

 

I have the Escort Redline 360c. I’ve been using it for about 6 months. It is as good as it gets with radar detectors. I upgraded from the Max 360, which was good as well. This one has even longer range. The range is awesome. It gives you plenty of warning as long as the radar is on. If you are familiar with radar detectors you’ll know the main issue is not detection as it is filtering. False alert tend to make the radar detector useless. This one is fairly good. It still gets the false readings from some Hondas, Chrysler, etc.
I personally run the radar detector and Waze simultaneously. It has worked for me.
mid you get the Escort, visit the page of the Vortex guy for the settings. Default is fine, but he explains better how to use it.

 

Does anyone have the Uniden R7? Looking at purchasing one of those mainly for highway use.

 

yes i have it. in Michigan it works very well! You need to learn what your local and state police use. if they use laser, its not going to work well. If they use radar its very good.

 

Don't want to step on any toes but anyone in the market for a Radar detector should watch this video from Radenso. New technology that could be revolutionary to the industry. IMO the fact that Vortex is doing the interview, gives validity to this technology.

 

Wow thanks for that. Signed up for the preorder notification. Very impressive.

 

I’ve been waiting for it for almost a year. They had committed to release the product in 2020, now they say soon.
Current Radenso radar detectors are really good, but after you have one with directional arrows (Valentine, Uniden, Escort) there is no going back.