What kind of radar detector do you have on your m3

[ersin]

Obioban and xyd LI installations are very slick. Unfortunately, I don't think putting the heads in the headlight will work well with the E9x M3s. The headlights are harder to take out and much harder to get apart than the E46 headlights. Plus, when you look at their profile from the top they are angled too far and there doesn't seem to be much room left to get the heads pointed as straight down the road as they need to be. Still, I wish someone would try this and prove me wrong. I'm not brave enough to be the guinea pig.

And to answer a previous question: yes, I take the V1 down when I park. Most of the time. (I am a bit lazy when it comes down to it.) It is a pain sometimes to get back in and make sure it's level but it keeps thieves away and doesn't let the V1 get too hot in the sun. I place it under the passenger seat, and don't use a box. If I forget to put it back up it slides forward when I brake reminding me.


Cheers.

[M4Now!]

Originally Posted by jimf15e

Not far away, just on an axis to measure closure.

+1 The larger the angle, the slower the reported speed (because radar is measuring the closing speed of the vehicles). Side-by-side at 90 degrees, it should show a speed of zero.

Cheers

[TVMA Doc]

Originally Posted by LarThaL

Why can't someone develop a system that detects a signal, then based on the doppler shift principle, locates the source and displays it on your nav screen.

The Valentine one has a rudimentary version of this. The issue is that the doppler shift isn't accurate enough to pinpoint the signal when it is bouncing of multiple objects like buildings/SUVs/mountains, etc.

[TVMA Doc]

Originally Posted by jimf15e

Your "jammer" didn't save you. If the only alert you received was Ka then your *detector* warned you. However, you also hit on the reason why those who think detectors won't help you in instant-on encounters are wrong. If your detector went off when you were abeam the LEO, then he was likely targeting someone else and your detector sensed the signal. There's no way he could get your speed abeam you - there's no range change to derive speed off of. You need closing or opening range to accurately measure velocity.

Instant on can be problematic, especially since that type of radar detector is not supposed to be used for traffic enforcement due to its inherent inaccuracy.

If you are the first car to be hit by instant on, you are only warned that you just received a ticket. However, the cop may have hit the guy a half mile ahead of you, so it's always imporant to keep situational awareness with a radar detector. That momentary warning may not have been a random glitch/door opener, etc. It may have been instant on ahead that is now lying in wait for you.

[cwg]

As I unerstand it - they only use laser here on oahu - what are the best options?

[cosmicdust]

Passport 9500ix ... well worth the investment!

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by highyo

passport 9500ci (which has the shifters) along with the LI BMW Dual in the front. so basically i'm a black hole.

How do you like the LI? I've wanted some for years, but havent had many encounters with lasers,mostly radar here.

[paulbrenneman]

Laser veil anti laser coating seems to do a great job of fending off laser. Better than nothing for sure! Jammers are illegal here in CA so veil is the best laser protection I can get, and its under $100!

As for detectors my Valentine 1 blows everything else out of the water. Say what you will about other detectors having greater range but the arrows make the information it provides so much more usable.

Ex:
If it goes off I quickly slow down and set cruise to 76-77mph (gps clocked speed) and watch signal strength and arrows on the V1 to see where the LEO likely is. More often than not signal strength ramps up with forward arrow lit then it switches to the rear arrow and signal declines. Indicating he passed going the other way. The whole encounter usually lasts less than 20 seconds from initial alert to LEO passing me. When he passes signal will often drop off quickly, indicating he has his forward facing radar on and i immediately return to cruising speed even tho the V1 is still flashing with a low level signal strength! This is the value of the V1, since the arrows allow me to deduce he has passed going the other way I can immediately speed up instead of having to wait for the alert to finally go away.

[highyo]

Originally Posted by xfirer1guy

How do you like the LI? I've wanted some for years, but havent had many encounters with lasers,mostly radar here.

it has been tested once (95 in a 65 and shot) and passed with flying colors. im sitting on an 11 pointer thats currently being delayed. can't afford to have another ticket.

[track_warrior]

v1 there is no substitute!

I own 2 V1'S and they have both saved me and my wife many many times.

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by highyo

it has been tested once (95 in a 65 and shot) and passed with flying colors. im sitting on an 11 pointer thats currently being delayed. can't afford to have another ticket.

Thats awesome! Good luck with that. I had a 12 pointer in one stop from a prick state boy in 2007!

[MMM3PWR]

Valentine is the best hands down...laser is laser nothing out there will save you accept the k-40 but if you don't wanna hard wire and taint your electrical system your outa luck...m3+valentine = better license .... Once you master the V1 your brain will react faster and your instinct of common hideouts will be second nature .... Paired together you will be fine, just make sure you turn the volume back up after an important phone call, that's usually the only time I get pulled over ... The unplugged detecter mistake....

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by MMM3PWR

Valentine is the best hands down...laser is laser nothing out there will save you accept the k-40 but if you don't wanna hard wire and taint your electrical system your outa luck...m3+valentine = better license .... Once you master the V1 your brain will react faster and your instinct of common hideouts will be second nature .... Paired together you will be fine, just make sure you turn the volume back up after an important phone call, that's usually the only time I get pulled over ... The unplugged detecter mistake....

The k40 doesn't have a good reputation amongst other laser jammers. LED diode technology is where it's at regarding jammers.

[highyo]

Originally Posted by xfirer1guy

The k40 doesn't have a good reputation amongst other laser jammers. LED diode technology is where it's at regarding jammers.

k40 is garbage. LI is the gold standard.

[ole85]

dose anyone know if theses work in australia

[isakhnov]

Had v1 for 10+ years and this year changed to 9500ix. v1 has a better sensitivity but gps based filtering on 9500ix is the reason I decided to keep it over v1.

[paulbrenneman]

Originally Posted by isakhnov

Had v1 for 10+ years and this year changed to 9500ix. v1 has a better sensitivity but gps based filtering on 9500ix is the reason I decided to keep it over v1.

There is one MAJOR flaw with the whole GPS filtering thing...

When you start applying any filter to your radar detector there is always a risk that that filter, no matter how sensitive, will filter out a radar source that is actually an LEO. The risk of this happening can be reduced by clever computer programming done by the technical wizards who build radar detectors for a living. Still occasionally even those advanced filters filter out a real radar threat.

The first major flaw with the GPS filtering thing is when you start adding false positive locations to your detector basically what youre doing is telling it not to alert you at certain locations. So if one day youre driving past the local grocery store (K band door opener) and you have previously told the GPS to filter out an alert at that location then if there ever were to be a LEO running K band in that radius youd be had.

The second flaw is if you tell your detector to ignore a lot of different "false positive" locations, then eventually you could imagine your local area would look like swiss cheese (kinda?), what I mean is if you plug in a whole bunch of false positive locations you're essentially gambling that there won't be an LEO with that radar band in any of those radii, ever. Thats not a gamble I'd want to take.

Personally, filters of any kind are counter productive to the very reason I bought a radar detector in the first place- to give myself the best possible defense against tickets. The end. When you start adding filters or any kind, especially the GPS variety which are particularly bad, youre turning a very dependable device into something that you cant be sure will alert you.

If you can't trust something to work 100% of the time it might as well be useless, just giving you a false sense of security.

My suggestion is to not drive balls to the walls all the time, no need to risk it if you're not in a hurry. And when you are in a hurry take speeding very seriously. Remove all the electronic filters and get good at reading a detector's alerts and determining for yourself if you need to slow down. You will always be the best filter, you may not be as quick at determining a false positive but once you get good you'll be much more confident.

[Obioban]

It keeps track of the number or radar sources at a given location and the frequency of each. If there's and extra source or a frequency change, it pings you. If a former false positive goes away, it also automatically unlearns it. The chance if a false filtering is very very very very low-- cop would have to be on the same band at the same frequency as a closed store in the first three times you drove past the store since it closed.

The GPS filtering is an awesome system... Just not awesome enough for me to give up the V1's range and arrows. I'd gladly add it to the v1 if i could. As is, it's perfect for my fiancé who would ignore or turn off a v1.

[M4Now!]

Originally Posted by paulbrenneman

There is one MAJOR flaw with the whole GPS filtering thing...

When you start applying any filter to your radar detector there is always a risk that that filter, no matter how sensitive, will filter out a radar source that is actually an LEO. The risk of this happening can be reduced by clever computer programming done by the technical wizards who build radar detectors for a living. Still occasionally even those advanced filters filter out a real radar threat.

Agree. But the part you're missing is that the Escort filters out a SPECIFIC FREQUENCY at a GPS location, after it sees it three times. It doesn't kill all signals in that areas.

So, it's extremely effective in filtering out only the signals you don't care about.

Cheers

[LarThaL]

Originally Posted by M3Now!

Agree. But the part you're missing is that the Escort filters out a SPECIFIC FREQUENCY at a GPS location, after it sees it three times. It doesn't kill all signals in that areas.

So, it's extremely effective in filtering out only the signals you don't care about.

Cheers

So when my V1 picks up a K band alert, is it picking up a specific frequency or is it picking up something within a range of frequencies?

Can a frequency that is not absolutely identical to police radar be picked up as a false positive? If yes, then the filtering is very beneficial, but if you are blocking out actual exact police radar frequencies, then that can be dangerous, no?

[M4Now!]

Originally Posted by LarThaL

So when my V1 picks up a K band alert, is it picking up a specific frequency or is it picking up something within a range of frequencies?

Can a frequency that is not absolutely identical to police radar be picked up as a false positive?

It's picking up a specific frequency within a known range representing that radar band. And if you run into the exact same frequency multiple times, it's either a) a REALLY dedicated officer or b) a false signal

If the frequency is outside the known range for police band radars, presumably the detectors will ignore it completely (I don't know this to be true, just assuming).

Cheers

[Ezio]

I have one (passport), but stopped using it once i got my M3. I hate the way it looks just siting there. I mean when i was 16 i can see how it would be cool. I have leather and wood trim having that LED plastic gadget is a trashy touch IMO. You can get them built into your cluster.

Although IMO they work in a way that you know when police are around, but that goes both ways if you know what i mean. They can save you at times! but most of the time its more of a awareness thing.