Motor Trend Radar Detector Tests

Has some good info concerning upcoming LIDAR changes...

<font color=blue>Twilight Blue/Willow, Nav, Aero, 6MT, Splashguards, Clearbra, Tint, Sirius, Ground Wires, EBC Greenstuff, V1, Clear Corners...</font color=blue>

 

Great Info! Thanks!

2003.5 G35C BL/GR, NAV, PREM, AERO, TINT, SPORT, Splash, V1

 

2004 Radar Detector Test and Buyer's Guide
Countermeasures to help shorten the long arm of the law.

By Rich Truesdell
Photography by the author
Motor Trend, December 2003

You know the deal: You're cruising along the Interstate, keeping pace with traffic, driving in a reasonable and prudent manner. You spot a black-grilled Crown Vic on the other side of the highway. A glance at your speedometer reveals 80 mph. In your rearview mirror, you see the white Highway Patrol cruiser crossing the median. Suddenly, that mirror erupts in a dazzling display of flashing lights.

If you're lucky, and the trooper is something of a car guy and happens to like your ride, you may escape with a warning. More often than not, however, the officer will take your license, registration, and insurance card--and return with a bill from the state for at least $100. More damage will come as points are applied to your driving record, resulting in a hefty hike to your insurance premiums.

Can this scenario be avoided? The answer is a qualified yes.

The safest course may be to drive 1 mph under the posted speed limit, but that can be difficult to do and put you behind the flow of traffic. Had you invested in a radar/laser detector, the unpleasant ordeal might have been avoided with a simple alarm tone inspiring a timely speed check. But the wrong countermeasures could double the pain, leaving you paying for a marginal detector and still being stuck with a ticket.
The radar gun and detector industries have evolved considerably in recent years, with the latest hardware boasting exciting and intimidating technology on both sides of the speed game. Understanding the technology and the available detection systems will help you select the right protection. We'll take you one step further, with an exhaustive, objective test of the current equipment and recommendations for the best buys in two key price categories..

Brief History of Speed Enforcement
While radar as a means of enforcing speed limits has been used since the end of World War II, it came into widespread use in the 1950s as the Interstate highway system was built. Working on what's called the Doppler Shift, all conventional radar guns work by reflecting of a microwave signal off an object. By measuring and recording the shift in frequency between the original and reflected signal, the radar gun gives a precise measurement of the target vehicle's speed.

Although its stated purpose has been to promote highway safety (thus the roadside signs you see stating "Radar Used for Your Protection"), using radar for speed enforcement often has a secondary, more insidious purpose, revenue generation. In the early 1970s, with the advent of the national 55 mph speed limit after the first Arab oil embargo, revenue rather than safety has often become its primary goal. Current evidence of this can be seen with photo radar units. These are unmanned speed traps where vehicle speed is measured and the license plate of the offending vehicle is photographed. Your ticket arrives in the mail. Although outlawed in many jurisdictions, photo radar remains a real threat.

Radar Love: A torrid affair with X, K, Ka, and LIDAR
The airwave-regulating FCC first authorized X-band for speed radar guns. Since X-band shares the spectrum with a variety of devices, such as garage-door openers, detectors often pick up random signals, causing annoying false alarms. As no surprise, only about 10 percent of guns currently use this band since it's being phased out.
When radar detectors became common, law-enforcement agencies began to look for alternative guns and turned to more sophisticated, high-performance K-band units with several variations, including Ka.
Radar detectors soon caught up with K- and Ka-band radar guns, and law-enforcement agencies felt outgunned, leading to the implementation of Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) laser devices to measure speed. With LIDAR, the speed of a targeted vehicle can be measured in less than a third of a second. If used in an instant-on mode, aimed at your front plate or the reflector elements of your headlamps, LIDAR is all but undetectable. Overnight, conventional radar detectors lacking LIDAR capability became obsolete.
"There are some new threats to deal with," says Carl Fors, president of Speed Measurement Laboratories, a product evaluation and development research company with over 18 years of experience. "Radar and laser speed-enforcement guns have changed dramatically since our last test in 2001. For instance, the performance of radar-detector detectors has improved significantly. In this evaluation, three RDDs were provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety and operated by Texas State Troopers. Vehicles were driven at 30 mph, and, when detected, the test vehicle was told to stop. Its range was determined by a Kustom Pro III laser gun."

Radar and Laser Jammers
Before going further, let us make the following statement; jamming or attempting to jam a police radar gun is a federal felony with fines up to $75,000. While radar jammers are marketed, speedzones.com and our observations in El Paso show them to be totally ineffective, which is possibly the reason that their makers, while having been issued cease and desist orders by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), have not been prosecuted.

Laser jamming is another issue altogether. First, lasers are regulated not by the FCC but by the Food and Drug Administration and are considered separate from radar jammers. When effectively deployed, especially in conjunction with a high performance conventional radar/LIDAR detector, laser jammers or shifters, as some manufacturers call them, can be very effective in rendering many laser guns ineffective within their legal operating parameters.

Jurisdictional Notes
The state of Virginia, the District of Columbia, and most of the Canadian provinces ban the use of radar/laser detectors. To enforce these laws, all these jurisdictions have deployed radar-detector detectors (RDD) to sniff out vehicles using radar/laser detectors. The first units went by the name of VG-2 and could detect the local oscillator emissions of traditional radar detectors. This forced detector manufacturers to change their designs to conceal these emissions, thus making them invisible to the VG-2 RDDs.
There are federal statutes that make radar jammers illegal in all 50 states. California, Minnesota, and Utah specifically ban radar and laser jammers, and it's possible that laser jammers may become outlawed soon in other states as well. Long-haul professionals get no break at all: Since February 1995, radar detectors have been banned in 18-wheel commercial vehicles in all 50 states.

Test Methodology and Scoring
To ensure authoritative, impartial testing, we turned to Speed Measurement Laboratories . SML consults with state and local police and DOT agencies on highway-safety issues and conducts the benchmark field testing for radar/LIDAR speed-enforcement and detection industries.

What distinguishes this buyer's guide is that while SML set the objective criteria and administers the tests, they do not operate the radar and laser guns. This is done only by members of the law enforcement community who use this equipment every day in their efforts to enforce local and state traffic ordinances. This policy ensures that the tests presented here are completely unbiased and represent real-world applications of enforcement techniques used across the United States. These police officers/operators are trained, tested and certified to operate the wide cross section of radar and laser guns used in this evaluation.

SML established a battery of 10 separate tests; X, K, Ka frontal straight line, and over-the-hill in both constant- and instant-on modes; six different X, K, and Ka rear tests; LIDAR, measurement of each unit's visibility to radar-detector detection and a POP mode (67-millisecond burst) test. POP gives officers a quick speed sample that must be followed by a traditional locked figure to issue a ticket. The objective portion of the test adds up to 80 points out of a possible 100. In each category, the top-scoring unit gets the maximum number of points with the remaining units scored against the category winner on a percentage basis.
The remaining 20 points covers subjective evaluations: ergonomics, features, and overall value. Of the three subjective categories, value, with 10 points possible, is the most important, and total objective points accrued is balanced against the actual selling price of the unit. We use actual street prices of units available at retail. Other prices come from the manufacturers' own Web sites or other advertisements. Detectors for this test were bought anonymously at retail or direct from the manufacturers--no "ringers" allowed. All the manufacturers, with the exception of Valentine, agreed to foot the bill for the testing and evaluation for competitive assessment.

The Quarter-Mile Rule
There's a practical concern to almost all forms of speed enforcement: visual verification and the ability to pick out a specific vehicle from a pack of cars and trucks running together. This is why it's not smart to cruise alone in the left-hand lane.

SML's President Carl Fors explains, "In this test, the officers were instructed to trigger the guns as they do each day in giving tickets. Detectors should approximate the signal strength of the radar received by giving a Geiger warning. This means the closer to the radar gun, the more insistent the warning. A vehicle located a thousand feet from the radar antenna will only receive one-sixteenth of the radar-antenna's transmitted signal. A vehicle at five-hundred feet will receive one-quarter the transmitted signal.

"All test vehicles began at the two-and-a-half-mile cone with radar guns fired in the Constant On and Instant On modes. We tried each detector with each gun. Next, detectors moved to the two-mile cone, then the one-and-a-half-mile cone, and finally the one-mile cone. To meet our standards, a detector must report radar at least five times the effective normal targeting distance of one-quarter mile."

Emerging Threats Tip Scales In Police Favor
At the El Paso testing, Motor Trend was able to check out a few radar devices that offer law enforcement to again tip the balance back in their favor. The most notable are laser guns with integrated cameras, now entering service use. The same technology that has made digital cameras so popular and affordable, is being applied to traditional laser guns, where a heads-up display (HUD) shows the officer the targeted vehicle and when he squeezes the trigger, the front of the vehicle is photographed and the image is time/date stamped with distance and speed automatically. No longer will you be able to claim in court that the officer incorrectly targeted your vehicle. With a camera-equipped laser gun, the officer's testimony of speeding with no corresponding visual evidence will be a thing of the past. Laser guns currently outfitted with digital cameras include the LTI Digi-Cam, Kustom Signals, Laser Atlanta, and Stalker.
Other near-term future threats are in-car video systems, as seen on reality television shows, that can be integrated into in-vehicle radar and laser speed measuring devices. In El Paso we checked out Stalker's new StalkerVision. Like camera-equipped laser guns, StalkerVision gives irrefutable visual evidence of a speeding violation and in some jurisdictions offers the advantage of substituting for the required appearance of the officer who issued the speeding citation. No longer will you skate on a speeding violation if the officer does not show - he's no longer required to be in attendance, just the incriminating tape or digital image. In jurisdictions where employed, the plead rate now approaches 100 percent guilty.
SML's Fors declared, "Judicial notice of visual speed imaging is a reality. This development, above all others, demands a quality radar detector with at least five times the target range of a police radar gun. It is now the biggest threat you face!"

Radar Detector Categories
We've broken down the detectors reviewed into three basic categories. First is dashtop corded radar/laser detectors with an actual selling price of $200 or less. The second category are state-of-the-art dashtop corded radar/laser detectors priced above $200. Finally, we have assembled three remote detectors where the receiving unit is mounted in the front of the vehicle behind the grille with controls mounted within view of the driver.

It should be noted that in most instances the basic radar/laser receiving capabilities of all models in a manufacturer's product line are similar, the main differences between units are the step-up features built into the more expensive units in the line. All of the dashtop units include a variety mounting options, typically suction cup windshield mounts, visor clips, or Velcro strips. For this test we have eliminated dedicated cordless detectors and units with built-in weather band capabilities as a separate category, which were ranked in our 2001 test .

In our overall rankings, we want to make the distinction between performance and protection. Performance is easy to measure; it's the raw numbers from the 10 tests, the distance that it takes a detector to identify the threat.
Overall performance, as Fors states, "Is the sum total of protection (objective measurements) offered added to the ease of operation combined with the ability of a detector to adapt to changing and emerging threats. While there are currently many X-band units in operation, their deployment is shrinking while LIDAR and operational variations of existing K and Ka threats, such as with the POP mode, are rising. This identifies an ever-changing threat matrix. The weighting used in our scoring matrix recognizes these changes."
The following pages identify the products that emerged from the testing as the strongest players in their categories, with the best values identified for your consideration.

Under $200 Dashtop Radar/LIDAR Detectors
Cobra ESD 9870
(69.0 points)

The Cobra ESD 9870 represents a strong value with its combination of performance and features in a package that sells for less than $200. Its most exclusive feature is the Strobe Alert, which notifies motorists of emergency vehicles at intersections. The ESD 9870 also offers SmartPower technology that senses the rpm from a vehicle's engine and puts the unit into sleep mode to avoid draining the vehicle's battery.

Price: $130 (average street price)
Cobra: 773/889-3087
WHAT'S HOT · Strobe Alert
WHAT'S NOT · K-band sensitivity
BOTTOM LINE · Appealing package, great for first-time radar detector buyers.


Cobra ESD 9870
(69.0 points)

The Cobra ESD 9870 represents a strong value with its combination of performance and features in a package that sells for less than $200. Its most exclusive feature is the Strobe Alert, which notifies motorists of emergency vehicles at intersections. The ESD 9870 also offers SmartPower technology that senses the rpm from a vehicle's engine and puts the unit into sleep mode to avoid draining the vehicle's battery.

Price: $130 (average street price)
Cobra: 773/889-3087
WHAT'S HOT · Bilingual English/Spanish, corded or cordless operation
WHAT'S NOT · Design offers less sensitivity to the rear BOTTOM LINE · Cordless capability important for use in multiple vehicles.


Whistler 1793
(72.6 points)
Best Value Under $200


Whistler's 1793 model has a built-in digital compass and a 90-second memo-voice recorder. It has the best overall sensitivity in the category and surprised the test team with its excellent POP mode capabilities and its ability to pick up threats from the rear.

Price: $150 (average street price)
Whistler: 900/531-0004
WHAT'S HOT ·Overall sensitivity within the category combined with POP mode
WHAT'S NOT · Weak Ka-band performance within the category
BOTTOM LINE · Clear choice among dashtop detectors priced below $200.


Over $200 Dashtop Radar/LIDAR Detectors

BEL Vector 985
(94.3 points)
Best Value Over $200

The BEL Vector 985 offers near-identical performance numbers to the more expensive Passport 8500, making it the value leader in the high-performance dashtop-detector category. The new AccuSweep feature pinpoints detection of specific Ka-band frequencies rather than scanning the entire Ka-band, resulting in lightning-quick reaction to Ka threats.

Price: $230 (average street price)
Beltronics: 800/341-2288
WHAT'S HOT ·Fastest Ka-band warning combined with POP mode protection
WHAT'S NOT · K-band over the hill range compared to leaders BOTTOM LINE ·Best balance of price vs. performance in this category


Escort Passport 8500
(94.9 points)
SML Top Protection Dashtop Radar/LIDAR Detector

The Passport 8500, with its high-sensitivity, state-of-the-art POP mode capabilities, small size, and high-quality construction, remains at the top of the pyramid for overall radar and LIDAR detection. With its optional ZR3 laser shifter ($500 MSRP), it's the lone high-end detector offering the ability to legally interrupt most laser guns, making it the choice in laser-rich driving environments.

Price: $299 (manufacturer direct)
Escort: 800/433-3487
WHAT'S HOT ·Available optional plug-in laser countermeasures, with POP mode protection
WHAT'S NOT · X-band performance falls just a bit short of leader
BOTTOM LINE ·Remains the gold standard in radar/LIDAR dashtop detectors


Valentine One
(94.8 points)

Although the external case has remained basically the same through the years, the Valentine One V1 is a top-flight instrument to detect all bands of radar as well as LIDAR. Owners swear by the effectiveness of its front-panel direction arrows. While it offers the highest level of sensitivity, its level of user-friendliness, overall protection, and value falls just a bit short of competitive units.

Price: $399 (manufacturer direct)
Valentine One : 800/331-3030

WHAT'S HOT ·Designates direction of the threat; high sensitivity in all bands
WHAT'S NOT ·Less POP mode sensitivity, size of case BOTTOM LINE ·Great protection overall, but at a premium price.


Remote Radar/LIDAR Detectors
One out of five dashtop detectors are stolen each year, and although legal in all states except Virginia, detectors are not covered under most comprehensive and homeowners insurance policies. In addition, with some insurance companies will not insure drivers using detectors. Remotes, while still not insurable, are stealth and not only more difficult to steal, but are far less antagonistic to members of the law enforcement community. It should be noted that since their antenna units are mounted lower than is typical for dashtop units, their overall range will be less than their dashtop counterparts.

Escort SR7/ZR3
(78.0 points)
SML Top Protection Remote Radar/LIDAR Detector

The Escort SR7 offers the ability to tune out any specified radar band, reducing annoying false alarms (especially X-band). Combined with its exclusive remote mute capability, the SR7's anti-falsing gives it a measurable edge. This Escort model also boasts the category's best LIDAR countermeasures (employing two separate units) and radar warning, giving it the highest level of overall performance among remotes. A similar package, the Passport SRX, is sold exclusively by new car dealers.

Price: $1600 plus installation
Escort: 800/341-2288
WHAT'S HOT ·Fingertip remote mute control for high false alert areas
WHAT'S NOT ·No dedicated rear radar antenna capability BOTTOM LINE ·Simply the highest level of overall performance in the remote category.

K40 2000 with Dual 5500 Plus LIDAR Detector/diffusers
(76.4 points)

Sold direct and through selected new car dealers, the K40 is a very unique package. As tested, it consists of the model 2000 remote radar detector with separate front and rear antennas, used in conjunction with two separate 5500 Plus LIDAR detectors and diffusers built into a license plate frame. Together they offer outstanding performance but with limited operator controls and programming abilities.

Price: $2100 Including standard installation (Set by individual dealers)
K40: 800/323-6768
WHAT'S HOT ·Dual front and rear radar antenna; true custom in-dash installation and mounting with front and rear laser diffusion
WHAT'S NOT ·Installation intensive, requires professional assistance.
BOTTOM LINE ·Offers the highest level of protection as equipped with its rear mounted radar antenna.

Whistler 3400
(60.4 points)
Best Value Remote

The Whistler 3400, while outgunned buy its more sophisticated, higher-dollar competitors, still offers a usable level of range in a stealth package, street priced not much more than the three least expensive dashtop detectors in the test. The front mount antenna has a sensor that warns when the road surface is freezing. If you live in an area where you've already had a dashtop detector stolen, this is a cost-effective alternative.

Price: $199 (average street price)
Whistler: 800/531-0004
WHAT'S HOT ·Simple installation, freeze alert.
WHAT'S NOT ·Low VG-2 immunity.
BOTTOM LINE ·Solid remote protection at a budget price.

Motor Trend Recommendations
In the core, high-performance dashtop category, we have a statistical dead heat among three exceptional products. The BEL 985 receives kudos for offering virtually all of the performance of the top two detectors at a substantial cost savings due to the fact that it is available in retail stores. In the direct comparison between the top-ranked Valentine One and the Passport 8500, we felt that the Passport 8500's $100 lower price and the ability to add Passport's optional laser shifting technology, give it a slight nod over the Valentine One's directional arrows and measurably superior X-band sensitivity.

At the high-end, where top performance is mated to stealth capabilities, the close performance numbers of the K40 and the Passport SR7, make either a great choice when you don't want to advertise that you're running a radar/LIDAR detector. Typically costing several hundred dollars less installed, and with greater laser shifting capabilities, the SR7 get the top rating. For do-it-yourselfers, the less expensive Whistler model offers an alternative where laser detection has a lower priority and cost factors into the buying decision.
While there are many fine performers here, the perfect device has yet to be produced. Since LIDAR, when used correctly, is almost impossible to detect, the ideal device will combine a sensitive X, K and Ka band radar detector with the ability to shift the LIDAR signal. While the combination of the Passport 8500 with the ZR3 comes closest, it is beyond the means of many drivers. At Motor Trend we feel that a dashtop device, with fully integrated LIDAR countermeasures (sans any LIDAR detection capabilities to save cost), priced under $500, would be the ideal device. Are any of the manufacturers out there listening?

Mobile Infrared Transmitters (MIRT)
If you ever wondered why it seemed that the some traffic lights tended to change in favor of emergency vehicles trying to cross an intersection, it's because these vehicles are equipped with Traffic Signal Preemption devices that change traffic lights from red to green, allowing emergency vehicles to safely pass through dangerous intersections.

One company now sells to the public a Mobile Infrared Transmitter (MIRT) that can preempt any of the 26,000 traffic lights equipped with receiving devices. Use of optical pre-emption transmitters is limited to "authorized" public service agencies (local and state police departments, ambulances, EMS personnel) allowing them to arrive at accident and emergency scenes quicker.

While it might seem that having such a device installed in your vehicle would be a great idea to save a few minutes commuting each day (who hasn't seen "The Italian Job" and wished they had the ability to change traffic lights at will?), just think of the chaos that would ensue? More importantly, think of the consequences of entering an intersection when an emergency vehicle is speeding to an accident site, thinking that they will have a clear shot through the intersection.
Improper MIRT use would endanger not only your own safety, but that of any other drivers trying to make their way through the intersection. Your potential liability should an accident occur, especially one with fatal consequences, would be beyond calculation. Is a huge fine, potential jail time or even your own death worth the risk of saving a few minutes commuting each day?
Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio along with other states are drafting legislation banning the use of MIRT transmitters. Senator Mike DeWine, R-Ohio introduced legislation in November outlawing MIRT use with fines up to $10,000.00 and a year in jail. Speed Measurement Laboratories, Inc. working with Traffic Safety Technologies, have introduced a MIRT detector called EVA to law enforcement. EVA is designed to allow police to identify vehicles illegally employing MIRT devices, working on much the same principal as radar detector detectors. Final word: Keep your hands off this intriguing, life-saving technology unless you are truly qualified.





Andrew, We Miss and Love You! Peace!
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by merlin on 12/26/03 06:30 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

Thanks Merlin for putting the text here. That website is "popup" happy. I have popup blocker on my browser and it was blocking a popup every 3 seconds as I tried to read the article!

Dr. Jim
2003 DesertPlatinum G35C 6MT/Aero/Prem/Nav/HyperGround/XMSat/BSM/Tint/ClearBra/CG
2001 Acura MDX/Touring/Nav
1997 Mercedes Benx E320/Eibach Springs+Dampers/OZ Racing Superleggera Wheels

 

Yeah the pop-ups on that website are ridiculous!!!

I didn't think I could post an article this long in the forum so I didn't even give it a try. Thanks Merlin...

<font color=blue>TB/W, Nav, Aero, 6MT</font color=blue>

 

You are welcome. My PopUpCop was going crazy too.[img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Andrew, We Miss and Love You! Peace!

 

I hope Motor Trend doesn't mind the copyright violation.

lawman

 

What about the Valentine 1? I hear thats a good one as well and it was not in the article. I am thinking about getting a V-1, does anyone have a opinion on it?.

Thanks.


2004 Coupe, 5AT, Twilight blue / Willow int, K&N Typhoon CAI, Hyper Grounding Kit, Mtek Xenon Fog/High, Clear corners, Hypers, 18's, Aero, tint, Premium.

 

V1 was reviewed in the article. Somehow it didn't make it in the cut-n-paste. It was pretty much on par with the 8500...



<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Valentine One
(94.8 points)

Although the external case has remained basically the same through the years, the Valentine One V1 is a top-flight instrument to detect all bands of radar as well as LIDAR. Owners swear by the effectiveness of its front-panel direction arrows. While it offers the highest level of sensitivity, its level of user-friendliness, overall protection, and value falls just a bit short of competitive units.

Price: $399 (manufacturer direct)
Valentine One : 800/331-3030

WHAT'S HOT ·Designates direction of the threat; high sensitivity in all bands
WHAT'S NOT ·Less POP mode sensitivity, size of case
BOTTOM LINE ·Great protection overall, but at a premium price.


<hr></blockquote>

 

The interesting thing is they rated the Escort 8500 higher than the V1, but only after including the optional $500 ZR3 laser diffuser to the equation.

 

Regarding the V1 rating: It's also nice to note they only casually mention the directional arrows exclusive to the V1. I know there are other detectors out there that are equal in sensitivity and selectivity to the V1, but the directional arrows are, without a doubt, fantastic. They are well worth the one-time $100 premium over the competitors.


Black/Willow 03.5 6MT, Premium, Navi, Aero, SAT
350Z Nismo CAI

 

As an owner of a the 8500 and ZR3 I can say that the ZR3 was worth every penny I paid. It has saved me several times now. I installed the ZR3 after getting a $100 prize for driving with the flow of traffic in the fastest looking car from a friendly motorcycle cop hiding in the bushes with a Laser gun. I forgot how much attention a hot car gets! He has shot me a couple of times since the install and I'm confident that there have been a couple of times that I was in the 10 MPH over range (the average for the road).

Here's the link to the install if your interested: Escort 8500 and ZR3 Insatall






G35C 6MT CB Willow Aero Prem