Radar detectors

[collaboration]

Is it worth getting one? Does it pick up all cameras and guns?

I do stick to the speed limit but it\'s pretty hard to stick to the speed limit when over taking. I don\'t know how you can actually overtake another vehicle within the legal speed limit lol.

I just don\'t like driving behind someone who slows right down on every single corners, and go hard on straights...

I\'m just going to be using the detector as a precaution thing, especially now that I have to do quite a lot of business trips from Auckland to other parts of North Island...

[Johnnynz]

Dont waste your money IMO, I do between 1000-2000 kms a week and cruise at about 110 most of the time with no issues.

My understanding is radars dont pick up Fixed Cameras and the majority of Police cars dont even have radars anymore so if your not being an asshat your pretty safe.

[Guest]

My V1 wont pick up vans anymore. Theyre getting hard to miss tho the way theyre stickered these days.

[Eight_dollar]

Escort Redline - worth every penny

Im only concerned about demerits -( from tickets handed to me.) Not worried at all about camera tickets

Have it set up soley to detect laser and Ka bands only

Has picked up Ka band from 15+km on desert rd

Super reliable - never gives a false alert

Have also used a Belltronics Sti-R and the Escort i9000 which are both equally as good units

V1 is now a very old unit - but still super good with Ka band

[Scoobydoo]

Yeah, Ka band is probably the more important for picking up cars and undercovers on the road. The new vans use short-wave technology which even the older radars (V1, Bel STi, Escort etc) do pick up, but normally it\'s too late to slow down enough.

Pretty much any radar worth it\'s salt will pick up Ka band from a decent range.

[hijacka]

Passport max would be the only radar worth getting imo

https://www.escortradar.com/passportmax/

Keep in mind the link is U.S and you would need to get nz new one for the data base(gps) to work

[newsuba]

If you haven\'t got a detector it\'s probably a waste of money.

Just slow down and drive sensibly.

Those having problems with vans will need to turn K band back on, van cameras use low powered/pulsed K-band set to fire at an angle across the road, very hard to pick up.

So when you see a van parked on the side of the road, slow down !

With the new cop painted vans there\'s no excuse.

;D

[DRFVDR]

Escort 9500 ( could not afford the MAX) picks up everything ( includes the new camera van BUT not alot of warning with them) also has GPS which has listings for all the fixed speed traps and redlight cameras, also allows for the lockout of "false" signals ie if you drive past a false signal( auto doors) 3 times and it has the same frequency and position then the unit ignores it from then on you can also store these manually as well.

can be backed up to your computer and shared.

I recommend Matt at Trends ( member on here ) he will give you a good deal

[boon]

So, detectors... I\'ve run a few, done a lot of highway km\'s with them...

Cheap ones, the beeping just confirms you\'re getting a ticket. Not worth a damn cent, the range is hopeless, they false furiously, and you piss off people with good detectors because they leak like crazy to the point that other detectors will pick them up.

V1, ancient nowadays but still pretty good on Ka band.

Bel/Escort, same radar in a slightly different casing. Up to you if you care about GPS or not - GPS can warn you about fixed cams (which don\'t use radar anyway, except the super-duper new ones which are very hard to pick up)

Some cops drive around with their radar on, any good detector will pick them up from 4km+

The clever ones have it in "hold" so it\'s not transmitting, then flick it on when they spot you. Their radar pulls your speed in about 0.1s, how much can you brake in that timeframe?

Laser ("guns", NZP don\'t use handheld radar), again, it may as well print the ticket out for you unless you pick up a lucky reflection off the car in front - if you get a laser alert there\'s about a 90% chance they\'re targeting you, and the gun will pull your speed before your brain can even register that your detector has started honking.

So for your use-case, which is only really for overtaking, they\'re of limited use. Best case scenario you\'ll get an alert and know that you shouldn\'t do a rapid overtake until you\'ve gone past a police car.

With the way the smart highway patrol cops operate their radars, detectors are only useful if you\'re cruising a little over the limit (not that any of us would do that.........) in light-ish traffic, so you can pick up reflections when they\'re clocking a car a couple of km ahead of you.

[hijacka]

Wonder when the new max 360 nz model will be available.? Hopefully soon!

https://www.escortradar.com/max360/?utm_source=EmailLabs&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=09-29-15-EL-INTRO-ALL-NEW-MAX-360_2015SM&hq_e=el&hq_m=1792219&hq_l=1&hq_v=e8d8fc95f6

[Steviep168]

I used to have one on my old scooby back in the UK but it was a pain in the arse updating it all the flipping time with the new fixed GATSO's and time distance cameras for motorway road works. So haven't bothered over here and yes the NZP do use the radar guns having seen them a handful of times on SH1 and 2.

The unmarked cars that the police use stick out like a sore thumb to me, meaning where they are parked,how they are parked then number of ariels attached and the not so covert lights installed in each corner of the rear window. All you have to do is just keep your vision up as far as you cane see and as already mentioned don't draw attention to yourself by driving like a TWAT......!!

I do the same a mentioned by a few people already cruise around 110 and touch wood never had any problems but when your driving a two and a half ton defender 110 is about max speed anyway....lol lol

[boon]

 Steviep168 said:

yes the NZP do use the radar guns having seen them a handful of times on SH1 and 2.

If it's a gun, it's laser. NZP don't use non-fixed radar, period.

Except maybe a couple of bikes. But I'm pretty damn sure they just use LIDAR as well.

[lachlan]

All speedos over read by nearly 10% so 110 indicated is max 104 actual . Oddly enough my 94gt speedo is bang on

[Steviep168]

 boon said:

If it's a gun, it's laser. NZP don't use non-fixed radar, period.

Except maybe a couple of bikes. But I'm pretty damn sure they just use LIDAR as well.

Yup that will be the one as the officer was hanging out of the window and it looked similar to the ones used in the UK..... :)

[slystiguy]

I recently got an escort 8500 xr. I'm a poor student so I picked it up 2nd hand for $200. TBH it drives me mental with the false k-band alerts. I would highly recommend getting one with gps and one that can ignore repeated false alerts. It does a good job of picking up radars when they're turned on (like 2kms away on a straight road in town) . I find abou 70% of police don't have radars on so if you're doing illegals(skids n such) it won't help in the slightest.

Do police actually use k-band or should I just turn it off?

[hijacka]

 slystiguy said:

I recently got an escort 8500 xr. I'm a poor student so I picked it up 2nd hand for $200. TBH it drives me mental with the false k-band alerts. I would highly recommend getting one with gps and one that can ignore repeated false alerts. It does a good job of picking up radars when they're turned on (like 2kms away on a straight road in town) . I find abou 70% of police don't have radars on so if you're doing illegals(skids n such) it won't help in the slightest.

Do police actually use k-band or should I just turn it off?

Turn it off then, you radar won't be able to pickup the low pulse kband used by some nz speed camera's

My old passport max could pick then up wasn't a lot of time to slow down though like ka band.

I sold it on to buy something else and been waiting for the release of the international max2(with bluetooth) but nothing has become available.

I have put my name down for the max360 international presale but it could be awhile before a international model is available.

fwiw the passport max i owned had extremely accurate and fast reaction from the gps signal, once you adjust your speed you can't even count 1 second before the speed changes to what you are doing on the radar.

[hunter951]

i bought a used beltronic unit from USA off ebay for 200 delivered.... not the top of the line but is mint (seen the same unit for sale 2nd hand here for 500+). And yes i thought it wouldnt work because different country but it works every time. ... so many cops cruise around without their radar on though,,, as soon as they see you click and youve been speed traped as soon as your radar hits. As of yet i haven't had it pick up speed cameras. they are great on the motor way because the cops always (normally) have their radar on or are speed trapping every vehicle so you can get a warning before your in his sights. they are fools insurance though and dont always get you out of the stink

[rafaelcordoba]

Well, I'm new here so I'll just ask

I guess apps like Waze pick only fixed stuff, is there a lot of "mobile" radars around NZ roads?

I just bought a 2005 Subaru Legacy 3.0R and that thing will pass 100km/h on overtakes easily

[boon]

 rafaelcordoba said:

Well, I'm new here so I'll just ask

I guess apps like Waze pick only fixed stuff, is there a lot of "mobile" radars around NZ roads?

I just bought a 2005 Subaru Legacy 3.0R and that thing will pass 100km/h on overtakes easily

Yes, you can assume that any highway patrol police car will be running radar.