Radar Detector

[Matthew III]

Are these still useful nowadays? last time I was in a car with one, it gave false positives every 10 minutes. at that point it's useless. any recommendations?

[Evo13]

Originally Posted by Matthew III

Are these still useful nowadays? last time I was in a car with one, it gave false positives every 10 minutes. at that point it's useless. any recommendations?

Depends on many things. Which radar do you use? I've been using a Valentine V1 (Gen 1) for some time now. I got the bluetooth adapter and bought an iOS app called V1 Driver so it has GPS lockouts and it helped a lot with getting rid of false positives but now you can fine tune with the app a lot easier.

[kyippee]

Useful with all bands disabled except for Ka band - using a Max 360

[shimmy23]

I've had my v1 for 10yrs and it's been very helpful

[Matthew III]

thanks I was looking at the uniden dfr7. good price range at $200 and seems to have all the bells and whistles

[Cyberdemon]

The answer here is "it depends on your jurisdiction and where you're driving".

In general, I rarely bother putting my V1 on anymore. LEO's in the NYC area are all using exclusively laser at this point for speeders in which case the detector will just say "congrats you're screwed". If I am going on an interstate drive, I'll sometimes throw it up as a backup since small town jurisdictions might still run older radar hardware, but like others say X band or K band radar is basically useless. I'm pretty sure my unit I disabled X band but left K band muted until high up.

https://www.valentine1.com/v1-info/h...dar-detectors/

This is a useful reference for V1 owners.

These days if I was really looking to get away with a lot of speeding I would trust Waze and a set of Lidar jammers much more than a radar detector, but in my old age generally speaking I just try to keep the speed reasonable and look as far ahead in the road as possible to look for spots where officers could hide and slow down when it's not obvious.

[akkando]

Originally Posted by Matthew III

thanks I was looking at the uniden dfr7. good price range at $200 and seems to have all the bells and whistles

I think that's a good one based on reviews by I think that most police in Bay area are using laser instead of radar, so it might not help you at all.

[br2wdc]

As others have mentioned, it's a tough question based on the type of driving you do, but more importantly WHERE you drive and the types of roads you drive, and how heavily they are patrolled, and if the LEO is using standard radar or laser (lidar) and since you are in California, there is a possibility from the sky using aircraft.

To your point on false positives, the newer detectors have GPS and the ability to lockout false positives from "real" sources like automatic doors and even some newer cars. Of course, prices go up as you add additional features.

This may qualify as overkill for what you are asking, but I think your best bet would be the guy at Vortex Radar who seems to be the most knowledgeable and has an engineering background, and he does independent Radar Detector testing and reviews for every situation and price range:

https://www.vortexradar.com/

Originally Posted by Matthew III

Are these still useful nowadays? last time I was in a car with one, it gave false positives every 10 minutes. at that point it's useless. any recommendations?

[joshmkb24]

V1 in my Z06 and Uniden R7 in my M3. Like others have said though, its probably best used as more of another tool in the tool box rather than just trusting it completely. I have Waze up for when I'm going to be out on the highways as well and try to limit my spirited driving to areas I know are wide and flat and I can see for a ways off and in areas that aren't as heavily patrolled. Ironically the last speeding ticket I got was in my daily driver Acura TL, oh well

[amrazM]

I have A k40 with diffuser in my e90, it works and it’s concealed

[slcook54]

Search Youtube for Vortex Radar

I run the uniden R7 + Waze. It's a powerful combo, but common sense trumps any of these tools.

Being a former Valentine user, the Valentine 1 Gen 2 was in a very close second, but I wanted GPS functionality in unit and didn't want to run an external app.

[mrspecter]

I bought the original V1 back in 2014 after getting my first speeding ticket and I can say that it has saved me more times than I can count. Best 400 bucks I ever spent.

It was annoying dealing with the constant false alerts after 6 years though which is why I upgraded to the new V1gen2 and WOW you'll immediately notice how much more quiet it is.

I actually tried the Uniden R7 for a month before settling on the V1gen2 and without a doubt the V1 has better filtering and is quieter.

Of course when the new Radenso Theia comes out, it will most likely trump all of these detectors and will be the best radar detector on the market. It sounds like Radenso Theia will be something you're looking for, but be prepared to shell out close to 1000 bucks

[///M3Fresh]

Originally Posted by mrspecter

Of course when the new Radenso Theia comes out, it will most likely trump all of these detectors and will be the best radar detector on the market. It sounds like Radenso Theia will be something you're looking for, but be prepared to shell out close to 1000 bucks

2 more months.. Earlier this year I was feeling good about having it come out in 2020 but now, not so much.

[mrspecter]

Originally Posted by ///M3Fresh

2 more months.. Earlier this year I was feeling good about having it come out in 2020 but now, not so much.

At the beginning I was also very excited to hear them say it is still on track for a 2020 release, but at this point I'm pretty happy with the performance of the V1gen2 and I'm glad I picked it up instead of waiting on Theia.

Hopefully it does get released this year and all the early adopters can test it and work out all the bugs/kinks.

[Evo13]

Im interested to see how the Theia performs but definitely will wait until it has some links worked out. Plus, my V1 gen 1 still doing well and seeing how the gen 2 has some QC issues doesn't have me wanting to go out and buy one anytime soon.

[DRLane]

I always run my V1 (KA and laser) in conjunction with Waze on the highway. Hasn't failed me yet.

[GotV8?]

I actually been using the "WAZE" app and it save me many times from hidden Troopers with laser guns!! I do have my Escort MAX 360 but again, its not 100% full proof....I like to see that there are many other drivers in Ohio and even when driving to other states using WAZE and you at least have an idea that the trooper is in the area to help control our foot pedal!!! I'm proud to say that my last speeding ticket was back in 2014!!! when I was caught by Air Traffic RADAR @ 95mph in a 65 mph zone!!! ***knock on wood***. I have driven in the last month in open road of course over the speed limit many times.....again... imo, WAZE helps a lot....I haven't rely on my Escort as much....may put it on EBAY. lol

[Cyberdemon]

I took a ~200 mile drive the night after posting this and given that there was little traffic my speed was mostly gated just by discipline, but I only had Waze at my disposal, in general it was very good, but certainly didn't stop me from blowing by a few cops that were just patrolling and not checking speed. It caught about 75% of the cops that were just hanging out in parking lots and since this was very much a "one road in, one road out" part of Long Island (driving out to Montauk) Waze is definitely a much better asset especially in more trafficked areas, but once you get into rural areas with limited numbers of people on the road it becomes a bit harder.