Radar Detectors

[RandyWayne]

Does anyone here have any experience with them? What is your opinion of the best? I've been going back and forth between a Beltronics GX65 and Sti. I know they WORK, but do they HELP (as in, help avoid tickets)? I already know that the cheap Cobra detectors you find in most department stores like Walmart and Target are worse than worthless.

[Scotty]

No matter what kind you get. They only work if the officer is "actively" clocking speeds.

Most police have learned, they used to just sit in their spot and turn on the radar or laser. In that scenerio it will work great. However; now days most officers will just "shoot" you when they see you then turn it back off till the next car comes. In this scenerio there is no cure. You may get a beep or two from one ahead of you "shooting", but it will be hard to determine if its radar or the usual interference beeps you will get from time to time.

[angelindesguise]

My advice is to stay within the speed limits and you won't need a fuzz buster.

Should we try to out with the troopers? :eek:

[Dordt]

Years ago, before becoming a Christian. I was a speed demon.
On my motorcycle as well as in the car. I used a radar detector and it sure worked like a charm. The thing warned me miles ahead that there was a speed trap set up. It saved me from many tickets.

After becoming a Christian I found it to be a bad thing to disobey the law.
No need for a radar detector any more!:yay!:

Btw, they are now illegal in British Columbia.
If they catch you with one they take it away and give you you steep fine.

I got rid of a few other bad bikers habits, but there's no need to get into that.....:D
( no need to give satan any glory)

Speeding in BC is very costly recently. At certain speeds they take your vehicle and your license away. I think at 20% past the posted limit.

[RandyWayne]

I tend to keep it under 8-10 over most of the time. The issue are the speed traps where due to a need for increased revenue they park at the first city sign that says 30 MPH -which is a couple of hundred feet from where it was 55 -which itself is a few hundred from where it was 65.

After doing a bit of research, these things have gotten good! The "turn on the radar gun for a few seconds to get the speed then shut it off again" is referring to as "popping" and even though the gun is off there is still a slight amount of radiation that the better detectors can get in many cases. Also, the good ones claim to be undetectable to radar detector detectors that some cops carry.

Again the 79-99 dollar Cobra you see in the automotive section at Walmart is going to do nothing more than let you know your getting a ticket 1-3 seconds before you would have known anyways.

Oh yes, the good ones also have built in GPS and have a database (updated weekly) of all stop light cameras and popular speed trap spots. They ALSO use the GPS to mark areas of known false alarms.

[Dordt]

They are not 100% dead on, but sure can save a lot of fines.
Before I owned one I had been clocked at well over 200km/hour (motorcycle), not sure how many miles that is.

[Just wondering]

I tend to keep it under 8-10 over most of the time. The issue are the speed traps where due to a need for increased revenue they park at the first city sign that says 30 MPH -which is a couple of hundred feet from where it was 55 -which itself is a few hundred from where it was 65.

After doing a bit of research, these things have gotten good! The "turn on the radar gun for a few seconds to get the speed then shut it off again" is referring to as "popping" and even though the gun is off there is still a slight amount of radiation that the better detectors can get in many cases. Also, the good ones claim to be undetectable to radar detector detectors that some cops carry.

Again the 79-99 dollar Cobra you see in the automotive section at Walmart is going to do nothing more than let you know your getting a ticket 1-3 seconds before you would have known anyways.

Oh yes, the good ones also have built in GPS and have a database (updated weekly) of all stop light cameras and popular speed trap spots. They ALSO use the GPS to mark areas of known false alarms.

Yea don't you just hate the traps. Kind of reminds me of Roscoe P. Coltraine in Dukes of Hazard. I have gotten tickets twice on those traps. There is a place where if you are going east the speed limit is 45 but if you are going west on the same stretch of road the speed limit is 35. Go figure. LOL

[Dordt]

Dukes of Hazard, to bad they are gone.

[searching]

Dukes of Hazard, to bad they are gone.

Not if you get the right channel on cable! LOL!

[Dordt]

Old reruns?

[RandyWayne]

Yea don't you just hate the traps. Kind of reminds me of Roscoe P. Coltraine in Dukes of Hazard. I have gotten tickets twice on those traps. There is a place where if you are going east the speed limit is 45 but if you are going west on the same stretch of road the speed limit is 35. Go figure. LOL

"Go git em Flash! Kee keee kee!"

[RandyWayne]

Most of us who live in Arizona know about the speed trap in Payson. As your heading North it goes from 65 to 55 and then to 35 with a permanent speed camera right at the 35 mph sign. Most people are still in the process of slowing down to the "just under 10 over" point and it gets em.

[RandyWayne]

The other issue with speed camera's is the tendency for some people to panic when they see one and slam on the breaks and/or creep by at, or just under, the posted limit. I just laugh out loud when people say they are there for safety.....

[Scotty]

Those the ones that send you a picture of your car/license plate and a ticket ?

[Dordt]

The other issue with speed camera's is the tendency for some people to panic when they see one and slam on the breaks and/or creep by at, or just under, the posted limit. I just laugh out loud when people say they are there for safety.....

I own a Cadillac Coupe De Ville, a white one. All cop cars in BC are white.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3425/3738147932_d524319f0c.jpg

When I am parked at a rest stop, all traffic slows right down, lol.
On the highway oncoming traffic sticks right to the speed limit.
It's funny. People seem to panic when they see large white cars!

BC police car:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5167/5310633432_9c424d4c65.jpg

RCMP "Ghost Car" pulling over a speeder in British Columbia:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/3427697854_39377b9313.jpg

(They also use pick up trucks as "ghost cars"!)

In Europe they have camera's, set up on posts, making photos of speeders.
They send you a photo of your plate, with date, speed, and a ticket!!!
Same at traffic lights, all traffic going through "red", gets a photo and ticket in the mail.

[Scotty]

I heard a comedian talking about getting one of those, he said he wrote a check for the fine then took a pic of the check and sent it back to them.

[Dordt]

I heard a comedian talking about getting one of those, he said he wrote a check for the fine then took a pic of the check and sent it back to them.

I was on vacation in Europe and borrowed a cousin's car.
Four weeks later, when I was back in Canada again, my cousin got four tickets in the mail.....I did not even know they had camers set up on poles along the highway.

[RandyWayne]

Those the ones that send you a picture of your car/license plate and a ticket ?

Yes. It was probably the most ridicules picture of me that I ever saw. I didn't know I looked so stupid when I am driving.

http://apostolicfriendsforum.com/picture.php?albumid=225&pictureid=1217

[John Atkinson]

I have never gotten a speeding ticket. In fact the only ticket I have ever got was for running a stop sign hidden by a tree.

[RandyWayne]

I have never gotten a speeding ticket. In fact the only ticket I have ever got was for running a stop sign hidden by a tree.

I've never been actually stopped by a cop and given a ticket (but have been stopped and given warnings). I was even in an accident once where I ran a red light and T-boned another car and told the cop exactly what I did when he arrived less than a minute later. A few minutes after that a firetruck show up and they all talk for a bit, then a fireman comes over and shakes my hand and says "your the first person to ever admit running a red light in this town". Granted my insurance took a hit for a year but the officer never wrote me a ticket.

I just got the one from the stupid photo van.

[angelindesguise]

Can't give any advice on radar detectors, never owned one,
nor has my hubby that I know of.
I've never got a ticket, thankfully....though, I've had the blue lights
sort of flashed suddenly, as a warning to slow down, a couple
times though. I happen to know this one trooper who is
from my neck of the woods.....known him since he was a boy.
He sort of knows my car....LOL :nerd2:

Does that mean you have liberties? :D

[Just wondering]

LOL.....hmmmm.....mebbee! :p
I only got one light flashin warnin...
ok, maybe 2!
pushin my luck ain't I??

My hubby says my lead foot's gonna get
me in trouble though!

I do try to remember to set the cruise control,
but when I'm runnin a little late for church it's hard
to stay in a 55 mph range....
I tell you what though....I really have slowed down
lately, coz there are some BIG deer I've
been seeing that look like buffalo! LOL

I hit my first one a few years ago going 65 mph....MERCY!
Hope I never experience that again. For the record
my hubby said I did hold the car well! LOL
But, there was pieces falling off it all the way back to
the house!


I almost hit a deer the other night. I was driving a very curvy road. My hubby was asleep in the front seat, with no seatbelt on. I put him under the dash when I hit my brakes. My little grandson was in the backseat strapped in his carseat and he never even knew I stopped. I told my husband if he had been wearing his seatbelt he wouldn't have went under the dash. LOL

[RandyWayne]

I almost hit a deer the other night. I was driving a very curvy road. My hubby was asleep in the front seat, with no seatbelt on. I put him under the dash when I hit my brakes. My little grandson was in the backseat strapped in his carseat and he never even knew I stopped. I told my husband if he had been wearing his seatbelt he wouldn't have went under the dash. LOL

During the years I lived in Wisconsin I totaled two cars via deer. :shy:

[MawMaw]

During the years I lived in Wisconsin I totaled two cars via deer. :shy:

My husband hit 2 deer within 5 months time a couple years ago.
Don't let anyone tell you those little warning whistler things that
you can put on the front of your vehicle, work.
They don't! :grumble:

[RandyWayne]

My husband hit 2 deer within 5 months time a couple years ago.
Don't let anyone tell you those little warning whistler things that
you can put on the front of your vehicle, work.
They don't! :grumble:


Sure they do, at least according to their own numbers of being "95% effective!". I probably had 20 deer jump out in front of me and if I "only" hit two then the percentage is spot on!

[Just wondering]

Sure they do, at least according to their own numbers of being "95% effective!". I probably had 20 deer jump out in front of me and if I "only" hit two then the percentage is spot on!

LOL That is about the only way that they would be 95% effective.

My daughter had one on her car and just about totalled her car when a deer ran out in front of her.

Both of my daughters have hit deer. My son hit one with his new truck. My husband totalled a truck when a several ran out in front of him and he couldn't avoid them all. I almost totalled a van when I hit a deer. Then my husband did a good bit of damage to his truck when he hit another deer.

Guess maybe we should start doing our deer hunting with our vehicles. We would have a lot better luck. :D

[Dordt]

ummmm, oooookay! :p

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2656/3873789212_55b2ab9bd1.jpg

[RandyWayne]

LOL That is about the only way that they would be 95% effective.

My daughter had one on her car and just about totalled her car when a deer ran out in front of her.

Both of my daughters have hit deer. My son hit one with his new truck. My husband totalled a truck when a several ran out in front of him and he couldn't avoid them all. I almost totalled a van when I hit a deer. Then my husband did a good bit of damage to his truck when he hit another deer.

Guess maybe we should start doing our deer hunting with our vehicles. We would have a lot better luck. :D

Goofus stumbled through the door
He says he got a buck
He was coming from the wayside
And hit it with his truck
Musty cracked a beer and said
It's time to celebrate
Goofus got the first buck
Since 1968

It's the second week of deer camp
And all the guys are here
We drink, play cards and shoot the bull
But never shoot no deer
The only time we leave the camp
Is when we go for beer
The second week of deer camp
Is the greatest time of year

[Jay.Benson]

The other issue with speed camera's is the tendency for some people to panic when they see one and slam on the breaks and/or creep by at, or just under, the posted limit. I just laugh out loud when people say they are there for safety.....

When living in the DC area I received a ticket in the mail. I immediately recognized where it was taken and knew I wasn't speeding. Luckily you can go online and view the photo shots. Right next to my car was another. My car was traveling along while the car next to me when photo was taken had brake lights on and front end was tilted down.

I appealed the ticket noting the facts of the picture and the ticket was withdrawn. I wouldn't doubt that a ticket was sent to both of us and they were hoping to get $$$ from two drivers. Scam.

\o/

[RandyWayne]

I actually know someone who works in a photo van and he says they CAN tell which car was speeding and which were not when multiple are present in a photo. I'm not entirely sure I believe him.....

[meagain]

Those the ones that send you a picture of your car/license plate and a ticket ?

When you mail in the fine, just send them a picture of your money!! http://www.goodnewscafe.net/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Dordt]

Monopoly money works too!!

[PawPaw]

When you mail in the fine, just send them a picture of your money!! http://www.goodnewscafe.net/images/icons/icon10.gif

I like that approach (albeit I'm quite certain the ticket issuing agency would not think so)! Thanks for the laugh....