Duster105
(Almost) Daily Rider
My V-1 has moved to the trunk of my wife's car for the last 4 or 5 years where it sits unused. It used to live on the bike. I don't use it any more for several reasons, one of which is that mostly I don't care where the shopping centers are and don't need a radar detector to find one when I do care.
I really liked the arrows on the V-1 telling me the rough direction of the "threat". I do believe it saved me from one ticket over the years of use, maybe more. The one was where CHP were out in force to slow down a section of US 395 where traffic tended to move around 80 MPH. They were pulling over just about everyone. I had about 3 miles of warning with the detector chirping every time I hit a rise in the undulation of the road. I and the group of bikes following me were going the limit as we passed 4 cars being cited and 2 more CHP cruisers on the hunt.
That was very lucky for you. When they are working in force like that, there is often an aircraft overhead...no radar...just good ol' stopwatches and eyesight. And yes, I know that stopwatches and time/distance calculations are illegal in California. They get around that by using the stopwatch to "time the speed of the aircraft, not the violator". They pace the violator according to measured roadway markings, and time the plane. Sounds legit, eh? LOL
That being said, I have to side with Kevin G. In my long career on the other side of the radar gun (including several years as a dedicated traffic/DUI officer), I stopped a lot of people with "pigtails to nowhere" sitting on their dashes next to velcro patches (because they hid the detectors before I approached the car), and a lot of others who openly joked about wasting money on the expensive detectors sitting on their dashes. Once I broached the conversation and revealed that I wasn't a complete dick, most of my new friends willingly talked to me about their detector experiences. Most of them were very surprised when I would tell them frankly of the capabilities of my radar and laser equipment.
Almost everyone who has posted has given information or anecdotes that are dead on, and these different opinions are not mutually exclusive. Nor does it mean one or another is wrong. Yes, radar detectors do work because they will detect "splatter" from cars in front of you being hit. No, they cannot defeat instant-on radar. Yes, many places you will be safe if you stick to "5 over" or "7 over" or whatever. No, that is not a guarantee. You can be written for 1 over...it's up to the officer and the kind of day he has had so far. Traffic speed enforcement is a legitimate safety tool, and yes, speed does kill. Is it in the same league as DUI/Distracted Driving/[insert offense here]? Who knows? That is up to you to decide. BUT, I will tell you, I went from the officer who always gave everyone 11 over the limit before scratching that tag, to the guy who started CONSIDERING the citation at 5 over and LIKELY writing that cite at 8 over. What changed me? Working a traffic unit and being primary investigator on 150-200 vehicle collisions a year for several years. You would be very surprised how many preventable collisions were speed related...I mean DIRECTLY caused by someone driving at an unsafe speed in traffic conditions that they should have known better about.
So, the trick is to know (intimately) who radar works, and the limitations of both radar and your detector. Don't ride alone...instant-on will eat you for lunch. Ride with groups of vehicles, preferably with something bigger or faster in front of you, and dart from group to group when you can't find a 'bait-car' to run in front of you. Your radar detector will help you, but only if there are other targets in front of you to entice that LEO to turn on his radar. But also bear in mind that it isn't that hard for an officer to stop more than one car at a time. I often would stop the fast lead car AND the drafting candidate running behind the first...as long as you can articulate that they were either running the same speed, or were able to get individual speed indicators, 2-for-1 is a sweet bargain for an LEO.
I saw another post here earlier in the thread about how laser isn't as common yet, and therefore not as great a threat. For those of you who ride with me in the (used to be) great Golden State, the CHP is now aggressively fielding laser guns statewide. It is relatively new program statewide, previously limited to problem areas. So be careful on the beautiful bypasses of California...they are getting sneakier.
Ride safe everyone, and beware the parked car on the overpass! LOL