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Radar/Laser Detector
- Thread starter surfajoe
- Start date
kenlavine
New member
I had an Adaptiv detector. It was absolutely useless against state police, in fact I think it caused the State policeman to issue me a ticket instead of giving a warning when he saw/commented on the detector.
I gave up on detectors, I keep it under 80 on the highway and no more than ten over on secondary roads and the speed limit through towns.
I gave up on detectors, I keep it under 80 on the highway and no more than ten over on secondary roads and the speed limit through towns.
roborider
God? What god?
You'll hear a lot about radar detectors being of no use. They certainly are LESS useful than they used to be now that there is instant on and laser. But, I can say that I still have picked up signals that have indeed warned me aware of a speed trap. My thought is that if it saves you ONE ticket, it pays for itself.
I have a Bel 220 or something like that. I can set the display to read voltage, so it acts as a voltmeter. I find it to be a good instrument. But, it is a machine, and only one part of avoiding tickets, which must include good eyes, common sense, and watching your speedometer needle. I tend to go fast in the twisties, where 35 on a 20mph corner is "fast," and then go "+9" in the straights.
You'll also hear a lot of praise for valentine. My buddy has the Valentine, cost about 2x of my Bel, doesn't work any better than my Bel in actual street use.
Good luck.
Robo
I have a Bel 220 or something like that. I can set the display to read voltage, so it acts as a voltmeter. I find it to be a good instrument. But, it is a machine, and only one part of avoiding tickets, which must include good eyes, common sense, and watching your speedometer needle. I tend to go fast in the twisties, where 35 on a 20mph corner is "fast," and then go "+9" in the straights.
You'll also hear a lot of praise for valentine. My buddy has the Valentine, cost about 2x of my Bel, doesn't work any better than my Bel in actual street use.
Good luck.
Robo
Escort 8500 with Marc Parnes' Visual Alert LEDs mounted on top. Made a simple aluminum bracket for my 2011 RT that uses one screw on the fairing next to the right-side windshield adjusting arm and a 1" square of 3M DualLock to support the bracket. Then the Escort goes on with Velcro and the LEDs go on top with more DualLock. Very stable, and the LEDs plug right in to the Escort, are very noticeable.
There are detectors with more bells and whistles than the 8500 but this one has about as good a range as any and is fairly low-profile.
Yes, detectors are slowly losing their usefulness as more agencies get lidar (laser) and instant-on or "pop" radar, but where I ride there are still relatively few of those guns in use. Most local leos are still on K or Ka-band radar guns.
pete
There are detectors with more bells and whistles than the 8500 but this one has about as good a range as any and is fairly low-profile.
Yes, detectors are slowly losing their usefulness as more agencies get lidar (laser) and instant-on or "pop" radar, but where I ride there are still relatively few of those guns in use. Most local leos are still on K or Ka-band radar guns.
pete
Emoto
New member
The best one is the Valentine One. http://www.valentine1.com/ Between the quality of the detection, the directional arrows that let you know where the threat is (this is invaluable!) and the ability to get a factory upgrade, the V1 has no peer. Yes, some other detectors have good reception and may offer other features, but overall fall short. Some people will disagree with me on this.
Ignore anything on radartest.com because he is in the business of selling another brand.
Ignore anything on radartest.com because he is in the business of selling another brand.
Last edited:
40year trudger
New member
Atomicman52
New member
Valentine 1 with Marc Parnes Led alert!
lkchris
Active member
I like the Escort Solo because it's battery powered (AA) meaning no power wiring hassles.
Plug a Sena SR10 into the earphone jack and it will Bluetooth the warning to your helmet, i.e. still avoiding wiring hassles.
Last I knew, an earphone jack was an option on Valentines, meaning to me they don't see motorcyclists as their market.
Plug a Sena SR10 into the earphone jack and it will Bluetooth the warning to your helmet, i.e. still avoiding wiring hassles.
Last I knew, an earphone jack was an option on Valentines, meaning to me they don't see motorcyclists as their market.
Emoto
New member
You trade a one-time hooking up of a power cord for a never-ending need to buy or charge and swap batteries. It takes very little time to add the wiring for a V-1; on many bikes, I bet it would be less than an hour.
I agree with you that motorcycles are not Mike's target market, but yes, there is something called a "Remote Audio Adapter" that allows for ear/headpphone output. He is doing something now with bluetooth, but I am not so sure it is configured for our communicators.
+1 Best performance value.
Emoto
New member
This may be true, but for me the directional arrows on the V-1 are something I would never want to do without, now that I have them.
skibumwi
New member
Did a lot of research and ended up getting the Escort Max 360
The best website I found is http://www.radarbusters.com , run by and ex-policeman and it has great tips about how to properly use the detector and the sensitivity and, more importantly, the filtering capabilities.
With all of the localized radar being used on cars to check vehicle blind spots, following distance, etc. my old passport 8500 was constantly going off. This made it pretty worthless because the false alerts were burying the real ones. The Max 360 does a great job of filtering the false alerts out.
In addition, the detector has GPS on it so that, if you drive the same routes, it will "learn" where the false alerts are and stop them fro triggering.
The only thing I have not figured out is a way to pair the Max 360 (which uses bluetooth to get traffic alerts from EscortLive) to my Sena 20s so that I can hear the alerts through my Sena. I'm considering the purchase of a BT transmitter that will plug into the headset jack on the Max 360.
The thing is expensive, and BIG, but seems to work quite well for me. YMMV.
SKi
The best website I found is http://www.radarbusters.com , run by and ex-policeman and it has great tips about how to properly use the detector and the sensitivity and, more importantly, the filtering capabilities.
With all of the localized radar being used on cars to check vehicle blind spots, following distance, etc. my old passport 8500 was constantly going off. This made it pretty worthless because the false alerts were burying the real ones. The Max 360 does a great job of filtering the false alerts out.
In addition, the detector has GPS on it so that, if you drive the same routes, it will "learn" where the false alerts are and stop them fro triggering.
The only thing I have not figured out is a way to pair the Max 360 (which uses bluetooth to get traffic alerts from EscortLive) to my Sena 20s so that I can hear the alerts through my Sena. I'm considering the purchase of a BT transmitter that will plug into the headset jack on the Max 360.
The thing is expensive, and BIG, but seems to work quite well for me. YMMV.
SKi
Emoto
New member
Well... except he is selling detectors, and Valentine only sells factory direct, so draw your own conclusions about the information presented.
skibumwi
New member
Realshelby
Addicted to windshields
I used to run the roads for work. I have owned many detectors over the years. Valentine One is without equal for highway use. Period.
I have 3 Valentine One's, an Escort 8500, and a Whistler C90. Actually the C90 is the only one I can stand to use now on a typical trip in the car. With all the adaptive cruise controls and vehicle alert systems on new cars today radar detectors are just worthless in higher traffic use! You can send in a Valentine One to have an upgrade to help with this, but $300 is too much for that. I have the Marc Parnes LED alert, it works fairly well. I have yet to see a detector loud enough to really work on a bike, most don't have a place to hook up a conventional louder speaker. I run the Whistler on shorter trips, but the V1 is mounted for long hauls. I simply turn it off in urban areas.
I have 3 Valentine One's, an Escort 8500, and a Whistler C90. Actually the C90 is the only one I can stand to use now on a typical trip in the car. With all the adaptive cruise controls and vehicle alert systems on new cars today radar detectors are just worthless in higher traffic use! You can send in a Valentine One to have an upgrade to help with this, but $300 is too much for that. I have the Marc Parnes LED alert, it works fairly well. I have yet to see a detector loud enough to really work on a bike, most don't have a place to hook up a conventional louder speaker. I run the Whistler on shorter trips, but the V1 is mounted for long hauls. I simply turn it off in urban areas.
Emoto
New member
Yeah, looks like some good info to be had there.
I agree with you about the V1, however I think that the new Escort with GPS location of known signals and it might even have arrows, may well be as good. I haven't read enough on it yet.
I send the output of my V1 Remote Audio Adaptor out via a patch cord into my tankbag where it goes into a Sena SM10 transmitter:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0087NB53S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The SM 10 sends the audio to my Sena 20S headset where it comes in loud and clear. I use a second channel on the SM 10 to send iPod output to my helmet if I want music.
skibumwi
New member
Yes, it does have the arrows
thanks for the tip on the transmitter - that looks like the only solution unless Escort adds the feature in a future update.
Ski
Emoto
New member
You're welcome. It really works well, too. My Nav V GPS pairs directly with the headset, so I can follow route instructions, and the SM 10 gives me music and radar, but you could put anything in its 2 inputs. The 20S will also pair with my cell phone, but I don't want phone stuff going on while I ride, so I keep the phone powered off unless I am going to use it, in which case I will stop to do so (even though you can use it through the headset, I prefer not to.
There is also another model similar to the SM 10 called the SR 10 that is for people with 2-way (ham or CB I guess) radios: https://www.amazon.com/Sena-SR10-10...TF8&qid=1471877647&sr=8-1&keywords=sena+sr+10
I have no experience with the SR 10, but have been using the SM 10 for about 2 years, and it has been good. I just power up my headset and the SM 10 and they synch up without me having to do anything. I get the message "media paired" in my headset.
I wanted a hidden unit went with Passport 8500ci
Sensor mounted above front fender, brains of unit under right upper fairing, control unit double sided taped to left speaker grill
Mark parns LED velcro'ed above left speaker,
Disconnected speaker and adapted LED's in its place, volume control is now brightness control
System works great with a very good visual reminder of what ahead
Sensor mounted above front fender, brains of unit under right upper fairing, control unit double sided taped to left speaker grill
Mark parns LED velcro'ed above left speaker,
Disconnected speaker and adapted LED's in its place, volume control is now brightness control
System works great with a very good visual reminder of what ahead
I'm a fan of V1's. More and more I do find that Vehicle Collision Avoidance Systems are affecting operations......Then again it's mostly a problem on the highway.
For the back roads, with less interference from VCAS, the V1 really can't be beat.
I'm also a believer that while it is expensive, one save and it's paid for.
OM
For the back roads, with less interference from VCAS, the V1 really can't be beat.
I'm also a believer that while it is expensive, one save and it's paid for.
OM
