Police Radar

[1994legacyrs]

First things first, I am not a law-breaker although I do tend to hover slightly above the speed limit. This is more out of curiosity.

Well I was searching Trademe and I stumbled across radar detectors. I was looking at some of them and they were going for $99 buy-now . Whats the deal? Do they actually work and are they legal? I wouldn't usually consider something like this but at $99 - hell if it got me off one ticket for doing 55 in a 50 it would have payed itself off.

How are they usually installed?

Please enlighten me

[Guest lan_killa]

the cheap ones dont normally give you much of a warning, but probably enough that you can jump on the picks in time to slow down if your only a few K's over.

Valentine1 and Bel's are the best of the best and have the best range.

Installation... they plug into your lighter socket and stick to your windscreen or clip to the passengers sunvisor.

Make sure you turn off the bands that arent used here (K and X from memory) Ka and Laser are the only ones in use in NZ (once again from memroy)

[1994legacyrs]

Straightforward

From memory the one I looked at was a cobra? Not 100% on that.

Are they legal? I heard awhile back that they were trying to ban them - might have been jammers but jammers/radar are probably similar?

[Swindog]

Just buy a uniden gps radar as it brings up your speed within 1km/h of your actual. That actually helps you reduce your speed. Handy wee unit. Never ever had a ticket with it.

[Guest lan_killa]

what your looking at are Radar Detectors, These give a Audio and Visual alert when they detect the presence of a radar.

These are NOT illegal YET, but maybe in the future.

A Radar Jammer is a device that will cause a police radar to give either a false reading or no reading at all, meaning that there is no proof of your speed. These are most certinaly illegal to use, but not illegal to sell and cost upwards of a few thousand $$$.

[Scoobydoo]

 lan_killa said:

Make sure you turn off the bands that arent used here (K and X from memory) Ka and Laser are the only ones in use in NZ (once again from memroy)

The new Digital speed cameras use K, not KA, and there isn't much of a warning on them either. I have a Bel STi and it only picks them up basically when it's too late and you're flashed.

If you do a search, there was a long discussion about this not long ago.

[Guest lan_killa]

oh gay.... thats rather annoying, as alot of things other than speed cameras use K / interfer with K.... things like self opening doors and cameras that track movement. So having K on around town is a right pain as its just going off every 2 seconds, where as out on the highway it would be all good

EDIT: 200th post.... man that took ages

[Guest itsgotgo]

my boss has had 2 bell detectors,both have had problems.

he went and brought a valentine1 then 2 weeks later got a ticket for 120km on the auckland motorway

I laughed at him and said now that radar detector has cost you a whole lot more

Dont speed you wont need it

[Swindog]

With the uniden one i was talking about up top it will let you know when you are approaching a fixed speed camera via your gps coordinates.

You can also store false alerts that when they go off at store, opening doors etc you can tell it no its false and wont pick that up again

[DRFVDR]

Just as a question has anyone seen an all in one unit,Nav+radar detector+bluetooth unit

if not then here is your million dollar idea

[1994legacyrs]

I just brought a Uniden gps9000nz - any luck with this model? Hopefully it will be straightforward to setup.

How does the GPS work? Do you input your destination or something like that? It just looks a bit small for a sat nav type thing..

[Guest]

I have heard recently that the Police may have new radar/speed camera equipment that beats the Valentine One....i know someone who also got a ticket recently with a Valentine One...I could be wrong ...anyone else heard anything?

[Guest keltik]

Pole cameras are induction triggered, so wont pick them up.

Cruiser Stalker radar, cops only turn it on to ping certain cars. So you wont get any warning unless a cop pings someone in front of you

Hand held guns are Laser. Laser only targets a small patch on your car and is also instant on/off. So unless the cop happens to shine the laser at the detector on your dashboard - no warning.

Van cameras only target a narrow strip across the road with their radar - so you will get some warning but you better be quick on the brake.

Gas stations and supermarkets will set it off all the time.

In the states they still seem to be usefull as the Patrol cars just leave the radar on. Or because theres more traffic theyre always pinging someone. In the UK the pole cameras are everywhere and are radar triggered. In NZ - much less usefull.

Drove from Whakatane to Wellington and back in one day, and my radar detector (a really good $650 Bell Vector) only went off once....and that was AFTER id seen the police car. Radar scanner went onto trademe the next day. Useless piece of shit

[Guest]

i agree with keltik , ive got a bell x9000 ? and iv just been to taupo this long weekend saw 2 camera vans , about 5 patrol cars and the dam radar only went off around town at servos etc . bell is meant to be one of the top ones , not sure if i trust it now , just waiting for the fines to turn up in the mail !

[subaru-mania]

 Benno said:

i agree with keltik , ive got a bell x9000 ? and iv just been to taupo this long weekend saw 2 camera vans , about 5 patrol cars and the dam radar only went off around town at servos etc . bell is meant to be one of the top ones , not sure if i trust it now , just waiting for the fines to turn up in the mail !

me to i had a uniden 360 laser sst it seems to do the trick on open roads but not in town..has different modes. eg city+open road etc I find if i use it around the town it gets set off by to many alarms and like u say servos so its hard to tell were the cops are at.. + it will only pick them up if they have there radairs on.. so i manly had mine on when i was on open roads and it worked well I warned me atleast 1k up the road..

[driftrex]

of course these things arent going to go off at every cop you pass, you should never rely on them but having a radar detector is better than having nothing at all, in some cases it only needs to save you once from a fine and its paid for itself. i know mine has paid for itself over and over and its just a cheap uniden.

[QRAF]

 driftrex said:

of course these things arent going to go off at every cop you pass, you should never rely on them but having a radar detector is better than having nothing at all, in some cases it only needs to save you once from a fine and its paid for itself. i know mine has paid for itself over and over and its just a cheap uniden.

+1 mine paid for itself the 1st night i had it

[grim]

love my V1 (bought direct from US)

Still don't drive faster than you can afford $$ as instant on and laser will get you

[1994legacyrs]

Well the Uniden GPS9000NZ I got seems to work alright. It has you speed as well so its always in the corner of your eye - very helpful. The one time I did see a cop parked in town it went off with plenty of warning but I saw the police car at about the same time so not really much of a help.

It sure is annoying through town though even on the city mode :-\

[Scoobydoo]

Yeah I don't condone speeding, but my Bel STi saved me twice on my way home from Auckland to Wellington... has a good range on it

[WRXER]

I still am not convinced with those... Never had one and in 8 years of owning wrx's I've never had a speeding fine. Everytime I've been snapped I've been let off, usually Im sober driving or something and they just let me off with a warning. One cop even mentioned if I had a radar detector then she would of ticketed me instantly.

[subaru-mania]

Yeah cops don't really like them.. lol

[lotech49]

Yeah I'll second the Bell STi, these really seem to be one item where you get what you pay for, people who buy the Sti's or Valentines seem to be happy and get few if any false positives and a decent warning time.

I have the stealth Bell STi mounted on the back parcel shelf and you'd never know its there.

[Swindog]

Scientifically proven to make you drive slower and be more aware therefore a safer driver if you have a radar in your car mounted and working.

[Guest]

You guys should have a look on the radar direct website (NZ) and hava read about the recently re introduced- low power short range band that the new camera vans are using. Worth a read