BOLO - McConnell Pkwy & Magwood Dr.

[snakeplissken]

Be on the lookout around the Magwood Dr. area in West Ashley. The City cops are running laser in the construction zone.

And I highly recommend Valentine 1. :bigthumb:

[Matts94Z28]

:bigthumb: I will be that way in a few hours. Thanks for the heads up!

[Red99T/A]

Valentine 1? I drive this area every day, thanks for the heads up!

[LadyInRed]

Thanks for the heads up, drive that way a lot :bigthumb:

[MonteC]

Valentine 1? I drive this area every day, thanks for the heads up!

radar detector.

[Derek]

not cheap but the best by far.

[snakeplissken]

Well, in the interest of full disclosure the V1 is not a panacea for laser.

My friend said he was following a hapless chick on her phone and she was weaving. He hit the go pedal to pass her when the laser alarm went off. He pulled back into the right lane and slowed down to pull over and turn onto the frontage road before the construction zone. He then saw the cop mount his bike about 75 yards away in the median but the cop could not get to him because he didn't go into the zone.

Most of the time when the laser alarm goes off it just tells you that you've been had. Here it helped my friend under this specific set of circumstances.

Remember, speeding fines are doubled in construction zones.

This has been a public service announcement.

[gearmesh, inc.]

The Valentine-1 is the best radar detector by far. Years ago, I tested one side by side with the latest Escort offering. The performance between the two wasn't even close. The V-1 picked up a Ka band trooper at approximately 70% longer range earlier than the Escort. Case closed.

[snakeplissken]

The directional arrows on the V1 set it apart as well. At $400 it is not cheap but it works well, especially with lazy bogeys.

[///Mcompact]

I've had my V-1 for 7 years now...paid for itself 10-12 times over.

It, like other radar detectors, will detect laser, but it doesn't do anything other than that. Since laser doesn't scatter for miles like radar, if you detect it..it's because YOU are being targeted...and therefore, you have no forewarning to slow down in time.

In comes active jamming. I used to have an escort ZR3 lasershifter (two modules up front..one rear) on my 330ti. For anyone that doesn't know how it works: It sends out pulses of laser non-stop. So when a laser gun sends a pulse to bounce off the hood or windshield of a speeding car..it receives 15-20 pulse back at it instead of just one.When that happens, it gets the error message.

"Ah HA!! But then the cop knows you have a laser jammer and will pull you over anyways!!".

That's where the muting comes in. There is a mute button (some are auto) that you push to temporarily turn the jamming off while you slow down. Why? Because the first thing the trooper is going to do is try and hit you again. If he get's 3-4 errors..yeah..he's gonna pull you over.

My first test with this was in '03 driving through Atlanta going to Texas (I-20?). All of a sudden "beep..beep..beep.". Scared the shit out of me because it's loud like an old timey phone in your face. Anyways..I was kind of in shock..didn't know what to do (installed it for the trip thinking it was autonomous..needing no user input). So I just slowed down to the speed limit while it kept screaming. The beeping subsided after about 4-5 seconds...I look ahead and didn't see anything. The V-1 didn't detect shit..so I thought it was a false alarm.

"BEEP..BEEP..BEEP". Now I was like "WTF?". I got tired of the noise, so I hit the mute button (At the time..I didn't realize that 'mute' was for more than just sound..it was to pause the outgoing signals). So with that noise gone, I exhaled a breath of relief.

"VRAP..VRAP..VRAP". My V-1 went off for laser. I looked ahead, and underneath a bridge was a trooper with his friggin laser gun (outside of his car, propped behind a concrete divider thing??).

So....he was hitting me atleast a good 1/4 out....way past my visibility...past the V-1's, also.

Mother fucker worked!! Had I just had my V-1..he would have had my speed....had time to rub one out and smoke a cigarette before pulling me over.

I made that particular trip from Charleston to Texas in about ~14 hours.
In the 6-7 times I've traveled to Texas..I've only hit with laser 3 times. Once in Texas (right inside the border) and twice in Atlanta. Other than that, it was all false alarms.

Anyone with a radar detector: If it detects laser...and you have a GM trailblaizer in front of you..that's the reason. Some damn sensors on that particular vehicle makes radar detectors go wacky. No other cars with rear sensors freaks them out..just trailblaizers..

The 330ti was sold about 5 years ago and I was too lazy to take out the ZR3 laser jammer. Went with the new owner.

I don't speed much anymore..but I will always have my V-1. Radar still accounts for about 99% of the speed detection right now. If I lived in an area that was filled with laser, I would probably buy another jammer just for the hell of it. When I bought mine..there was only 2 on the market (escort and lidatek). Now there are probably 6-7 makes and are a lot cheaper/better than what I had.


The V-1 is a must, though. Radar detectors are illegal in Germany (It's 99% speed cameras over there and they work off of KA band)...but guess who has two thumbs and is gonna stealth that shit?!! THIS GUY! I've always had the remote display hidden..just have to move my detector to the rear and hot glue a baseball hat/kleenex box on top of it!!

Anyways..just felt like sharing my experience with it.


P.S.

Some facts:

Radar detectors are illegal only in California and Virginia.
Radar Jammers are illegal in all 50 states...and they are not really needed when detectors work so well.

Laser is governed by the FDA, so it is not illegal right now (yet). So..laser jammers are 100% legal.

P.S.S. Now...just because it is legal..doesn't mean that a trooper won't give you a ticket out of spite. Don't drive recklessly and don't leave that shit in plain site.

The end

[///Mcompact]

Some pictures I dug up:

I do not have them mounted in plain site on the evo like this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/kiley_sean/Picture020.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/kiley_sean/Picture022.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/kiley_sean/Picture021.jpg

And while I am digging up the pics..might as well thrown in a few gratuitous shots of the hatch:

Fikse FM5's. I wish I was baller enough to get a set for the Mega-Rice right now. Yes..some dum-dum put the wheel weights on the outside. :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/kiley_sean/Picture003.jpg

1997 330ti (S50 out of '95 M3). The truck behind it was my very first vehicle. A 1977 Silverado Big-10. Had it since I was 16.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/kiley_sean/Picture002.jpg

[gearmesh, inc.]

The third brakelight on the Trailblazers emits close to the same wavelength of light that Laser runs on. This is why a laser detector will go nuts when you are stopped behind one of these vehicles. There are two or three other models of different vehicles that are also prone to setting off laser detectors this way, but I can't recall at the moment where I read about them. It may have been on Valentine's website under FAQ.

[blubyu87gt]

Oh and do Cali cops just love giving tickets or having them...

[Matts94Z28]

Hey, you lived in the ghetto across from me. I am behind lil cricket.