Dec 15, 2014, 01:08 PM
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Radar detector
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 705
Likes: 6
From: california
i have 3 radar detectors. latest one i got is the escort passport max. the passport is awesome and i have the bluetooth cable to connect with my cell. my detectors saved me a bunch of times. get one
Lead Lap
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 453
Likes: 16
From: Texas
I pretty sure Car and Driver tested the Escort and Valentine 1 recently, as in last month. Check out their website. I believe the Escort won because it was more user-friendly and gave less false alarms. I've had the Valentine 1 for nearly 10 years and I'm happy with it.
Rookie
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 98
Likes: 1
From: Texas
I have an Escort Passport 9500ci Radar Laser Detector installed in my 2013 GS 350 F Sport and it works great. Here is my setup:
- The radar detector is installed completely hidden behind the front grill.
- The front laser detectors are installed behind the front grill but open to front sight lines.
- The rear laser detector is installed on the front license plate (to increase front protection).
- The GPS receiver is sitting on the rear shelf.
- The controller is adhered to the front dash on the right side of the steering wheel.
- The warning LED light is in the top of the steering wheel cover.
- The indicator panel and USB connector are both located in the coin bin left of the steering wheel.
Years ago, in a different car, I had my window smashed and my radar detector stolen. Ever since, I have only used hidden built-in radar detectors.
There are a fair amount of Internet arguments about which kind is the best--my [insert make/model here] is the best ever because it has a xyz heterodyne filter and abc wavelength and it scored 123 on some test somewhere----all I can offer is my own experience: I've been using them--the completely hidden built-in kind--for about 15 years without a single ticket in any vehicle with one installed. In that time, the only speeding ticket I did get was when I drove my wife's minivan for three weeks (it had no radar detector of any kind).
The best thing I like about the newer generation Escort/Passports, like the 9500ci, is that they added a GPS-based false alarms lockout feature. It is completely automatic (don't have to program anything) and it works amazingly well; so much so, that after I used it a short while and drove my normal routes, I now get zero false alarms. If it goes off these days, then I know there's a police using radar nearby.
As far as I know, here's how they work: if you pass the same frequency radar in the same geographic area 3 times, then after that third time, it locks out that frequency at that location. As an extra safe measure, if in the future you ever drive by that location and the frequency is not detected, then it immediately re-activates that frequency at that location (i.e. deletes the location from its internal database of ignored frequencies & locations).
- The radar detector is installed completely hidden behind the front grill.
- The front laser detectors are installed behind the front grill but open to front sight lines.
- The rear laser detector is installed on the front license plate (to increase front protection).
- The GPS receiver is sitting on the rear shelf.
- The controller is adhered to the front dash on the right side of the steering wheel.
- The warning LED light is in the top of the steering wheel cover.
- The indicator panel and USB connector are both located in the coin bin left of the steering wheel.
Years ago, in a different car, I had my window smashed and my radar detector stolen. Ever since, I have only used hidden built-in radar detectors.
There are a fair amount of Internet arguments about which kind is the best--my [insert make/model here] is the best ever because it has a xyz heterodyne filter and abc wavelength and it scored 123 on some test somewhere----all I can offer is my own experience: I've been using them--the completely hidden built-in kind--for about 15 years without a single ticket in any vehicle with one installed. In that time, the only speeding ticket I did get was when I drove my wife's minivan for three weeks (it had no radar detector of any kind).
The best thing I like about the newer generation Escort/Passports, like the 9500ci, is that they added a GPS-based false alarms lockout feature. It is completely automatic (don't have to program anything) and it works amazingly well; so much so, that after I used it a short while and drove my normal routes, I now get zero false alarms. If it goes off these days, then I know there's a police using radar nearby.
As far as I know, here's how they work: if you pass the same frequency radar in the same geographic area 3 times, then after that third time, it locks out that frequency at that location. As an extra safe measure, if in the future you ever drive by that location and the frequency is not detected, then it immediately re-activates that frequency at that location (i.e. deletes the location from its internal database of ignored frequencies & locations).
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Driver
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 181
Likes: 0
From: AZ
Would you mind asking why 2 installed? I always wonder if those detectors work every time! they are quite expensive to install 2 of them. If you do not mind sharing a pic with us to see where they are located.
Lead Lap
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 495
Likes: 2
From: NY
The stir plus is a normal radar dector. It's just built into the car so I don't have anything on he dash. The laser interceptors will jam lidar gun so the cop can't get a reading. This only works if he is using lidar.
Rookie
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 98
Likes: 1
From: Texas
For me, the STiR Plus has worked well and is like a 9500ci, but without the GPS false alarm lockout feature. On my cars, I've seen its laser detector in action a few times over the years. Often I'll see the police up ahead using laser (they are often motorcycle police) and when driving a sports car they tend to target me a lot. The detector will go off and I'll immediately double-tap the mute button to temporarily stop jamming (to avoid suspicion and potential problems).
One time, while driving the S2000, I not double-tap the mute button. I could see the police on the shoulder of the opposite side of an undivided 4-lane road. He was holding the unit up, looking through the eyepiece right at my car while my laser alert was going off. He then put the unit down and looked at me with his naked eye, then put the unit up to his eye again (which was followed by my laser alert going off again). After I went by him, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw he had turned around and was aiming the laser at me again (with no jammers installed on the rear I guess he finally got his good reading).
I talked with a relative, a highway patrolman, who said it's sometimes hard to get a good LIDAR reading on low profile cars (like the S2000 I was driving that day) so the officer probably just attributed it to that.
Driver
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 181
Likes: 0
From: AZ
I have the Beltronics STiR Plus on one of my other vehicles, a Honda S2000. The STiR Plus kit I bought included laser jammers so I didn't need to buy anything separately. Beltronics still offers the STiR Plus kit today, but in the past they used to also offer the STiR (without the "Plus"). That regular STiR kit did not come with the laser jammers.
For me, the STiR Plus has worked well and is like a 9500ci, but without the GPS false alarm lockout feature. On my cars, I've seen its laser detector in action a few times over the years. Often I'll see the police up ahead using laser (they are often motorcycle police) and when driving a sports car they tend to target me a lot. The detector will go off and I'll immediately double-tap the mute button to temporarily stop jamming (to avoid suspicion and potential problems).
One time, while driving the S2000, I not double-tap the mute button. I could see the police on the shoulder of the opposite side of an undivided 4-lane road. He was holding the unit up, looking through the eyepiece right at my car while my laser alert was going off. He then put the unit down and looked at me with his naked eye, then put the unit up to his eye again (which was followed by my laser alert going off again). After I went by him, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw he had turned around and was aiming the laser at me again (with no jammers installed on the rear I guess he finally got his good reading).
I talked with a relative, a highway patrolman, who said it's sometimes hard to get a good LIDAR reading on low profile cars (like the S2000 I was driving that day) so the officer probably just attributed it to that.
For me, the STiR Plus has worked well and is like a 9500ci, but without the GPS false alarm lockout feature. On my cars, I've seen its laser detector in action a few times over the years. Often I'll see the police up ahead using laser (they are often motorcycle police) and when driving a sports car they tend to target me a lot. The detector will go off and I'll immediately double-tap the mute button to temporarily stop jamming (to avoid suspicion and potential problems).
One time, while driving the S2000, I not double-tap the mute button. I could see the police on the shoulder of the opposite side of an undivided 4-lane road. He was holding the unit up, looking through the eyepiece right at my car while my laser alert was going off. He then put the unit down and looked at me with his naked eye, then put the unit up to his eye again (which was followed by my laser alert going off again). After I went by him, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw he had turned around and was aiming the laser at me again (with no jammers installed on the rear I guess he finally got his good reading).
I talked with a relative, a highway patrolman, who said it's sometimes hard to get a good LIDAR reading on low profile cars (like the S2000 I was driving that day) so the officer probably just attributed it to that.
Driver
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 181
Likes: 0
From: AZ
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