DarkKnight said:
Dallara - Thanks for the two centavos !!
Adaptive claims that their 2.0 version is ‘certified by Speed Measurement Laboratories, Inc., the leading independent evaluator of radar detectors in the market today' and so on…… Does that carry any weight?
They refer you to their comparative test results at:
http://speedzones.com/long_range_testing.html
which supports your point about the Escort being a superior product. However, Adaptive still seems to detect all bands at 8+ miles away. Is it fair to assume that all these radars will go into full alert of 6/6 within 2 miles from the gun, which leaves you plenty of reaction time?
You're welcome! ::008::
I took a look at the article you linked to, and certainly there the Adaptiv looks pretty good... But that test scenario is nothing like the real world, and to me the real world is all that counts. In my experience with Adaptiv units (and my second was a 2.0) they just never worked as well as my Escort products. With the Escort's I have confidence in what warnings are the "real thing" and what are "falses". Perhaps it's just my familiarity with using Escort/BEL units for so long. I can't discount that, but when you have, for instance, an Escort 8500 on "Expert" it will even tell you the frequency of the radar signal it's receiving, and if you have some knowledge of the frequencies the various constabularies have in your area you can really pin down if you've got a real threat or not.
Add to that the fact, at least in my use, that the Escort's had a considerable range advantage over the Adaptiv's and it just became a no brainer for me, and each time I sold the Adaptiv's units.
Two other quick things... One is another cool little advantage an Escort has. You can set the display to show your vehicle's system voltage when it's not displaying a radar alert, which means you have a cool little charging system monitor as you ride. Lots of riders pay to buy little displays that show electrical system voltage on their bikes, but with an Escort detector you have that built in, It's a nice little feature rarely mentioned, but I find quite useful.
Second is the supreme disadvantage of using Escort (or Valentine) detectors over the lesser performing Adaptiv... They are *NOT* waterproof, or even "water resistant", like the Adaptiv. You have to be real careful with them, as if they get much of any water in them internally you suddenly can start to have all sorts of problems. I have cooked off one 8500 X50 this way, but it was a refurb (more on this in a moment), so I never even bothered to get it fixed. Another 8500 X50 refurb I tried to make waterproof by pulling it apart and coating the circuit board, etc., but apparently this is a no-no, too, since no long after boot-up when the unit got a little heat in it you would immediately start getting "Self Calibrating" messages on the display, or the dreaded "Service Required" message. Letting the unit cool down would let it operate normally again, but then once it got warmed up enough it would repeat the cycle. Apparently the clear acrylic coating I used caused some issues, probably heat related, and sent the circuitry into fits. I used this unit as a trade-in (Escort offer $80 for any of their older units traded in on a new one) and waited for one of Escort's sales and got a brand new Escort 8500 X50 "Black", which is what's on my Super Tenere now. These new "Black" units use much more robust (and lighter, oddly enough) components so it may actually be more water-resistant.
That said, water-resistance is not really a problem unless you're lazy, as I often was. Now I'm a bit more careful, and at the first sign of rain I pull over, pull the detector off the RAM mount I have, and stick in the top of my left side case... Takes all of about 2 minutes, start to finish. I find I don't need to be traveling much, if any, above the limit in the rain, and pulling the detector helps make me slow down when it gets wet. Besides, here in Texas the constabularies are a lot less likely to write tickets in the rain, and laser units (more on laser in moment, too) are completely unusable in the rain. It's also much harder in a traffic situation on the highway for a DPS (Texas Department of Public Safety, our State Police) officer to pick out the offending vehicle when it's raining.
To me, the performance advantages of the Escort detectors over the Adaptiv far outweigh the minor hassles dealing with weather. Just my opinion... YMMV.
If you want to try an Escort 8500 there is a quick, safe, and more inexpensive way to do so. The Escort 8500 X50 currently retails for $299 (
https://www.escortradar.com/passport8500x50/) and its close cousin, the BEL RX-65 retails for the same amount (
https://www.beltronics.com/store/rx-65-red.html). both are terrific buys at that price, but you can pick up Escort 8500's, brand new with a warranty and direct from Escort 8500 X50 or BEL RX-65 much cheaper... By buying a factory refurbished unit. Escort/BEL operates an eBay store for this, an you can either the 8500 X50 or the RX-65 for $199, complete with a factory warranty (
http://www.ebay.com/sch/escortradar/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=). Granted, it's a 6 month warranty instead of the 1 year you get with a new unit, but as with most things electronic if it doesn't cooked in the first 6 months you're chances are pretty good you'll be OK for a long time. Besides, when you buy the refurbs you still get Escort's "no hassle" guarantee... With new unit it's 30 days, but with the refurbs you've got 2 weeks to try the unit out, and if you don't like it you can send it back in, no questions asked, for a full refund.
I've bought several of the refurbs, mostly as gifts, and I've had friends buy dozens of them, and not a one has had any problems.
One last note about the Adaptiv... It's really not Adaptiv's fault their detector suffers a performance deficit. Valentine and Escort/BEL have been at this radar game a long time, and much of their technology is proprietary, with many things locked down by various patents. It's very difficult for a newcomer to compete with them. Their R&D budget is huge compared to Adaptiv's, and tehy have a much larger market (i.e. cars, trucks, etc.) to sell to than Adaptiv, which is trying to appeal to a very small slice of the radar detector vehicle pie - i.e. motorcycles. If they want to be anywhere close to price competitive with Escort/BEL then they are behind the 8-ball already, and apparently they have chosen to price their unit right in there with the Escort 8500 X50 and BEL RX-65. If you think about it a minute, it's pretty easy to see how they might not be able to offer as high-end of components strictly due to the advantages of economies of scale Escort/BEL has.
Checkswrecks said:
I found that radar detectors are fairly unusable in the MD/DC/VA area. Detectors are flat out illegal in DC & VA and having one will get you a ticket. BTDT. Some of the police cars have detector detectors, mainly near the State borders or on the interstates.
(http://www.stalkerradar.com/spectreIV/redirect.html)
On VA backroads, if you get pulled over they probably won't have a detector-detector, but they will look to see if your vehicle has a detector.
MD has gone laser for the most part. By the time you get an alert, you may as well consider it a signal to watch for the officer to pull you over, because you're already toast.
Some good info, Checkswrecks...
But if you're stuck in a state where detectors are illegal there are radar detectors that are specifically designed not to "leak" the very energy that "detector-detectors" hunt for. Some call these "stealth" detectors... Units like the Escort Redline (
https://www.escortradar.com/redline/) and BEL STi Magnum (
https://www.beltronics.com/store/sti-magnum.html) are completely "invisible" to "radar detector-detectors", so if you use these units at least you won't get pulled over for simply *having* a radar detector.
That said, when I'm anywhere near a state where detectors are illegal I pull my detector down... In my cars it goes in the trunk, and on my bikes it goes in my side case, pack, etc. No sense in getting your detector confiscated and getting written up for an extra fine! ::025::
As for laser... I don't necessarily agree with you. In a car, yes, 95% of the time by the time you get a laser alert on your detector your toast. But a car or truck is a big target for the LEO to hit, with nice, big reflective areas for him to aim at - like the front license plate, the larger headlamp housings, etc. OTOH, a motorcycle is a much, much smaller target to aim at and "hit" with the laser, particularly when it's moving, and even more so if it's moving with other traffic. No front license plate, no big grill or large radiator, relatively small headlamp housing (and the projector-type lamps on the Super Tenere are especially hard to target), etc. all make the motorcycle a much tougher laser target. This means the LEO usually has let it get much closer before he gets a "laser lock". In my experience this gives the motorcyclist a much better set of odds against laser... Maybe more like 70-30, or even 60-40, in the LEO's favor, but that still gives your detector, and your *EYES*, a bit more time to *see* the LEO threat.
Remember, with radar the LEO doesn't really have to be very accurate with targeting, but with laser he has to look through what is literally a gun-sight, and he has to keep that sight on you long enough to get a good, solid "target lock". It's easy with a big truck, or a even a car, but it's tough with a motorcycle. I know... I've tried it!
Just my two centavos... YMMV.
Thunderwear said:
Radar detectors are pretty much useless now days....laser radar with "instant on" is common and by the time your radar detector senses it....it's too late. Don't waste your money.
You can believe that if you like, Thunderwear... But I can't even begin to tell you how many tickets (and how many thousands of $$$$$$$) my radar detectors have saved me over the years. So much so I have them in *ALL* my vehicles, and most constabularies in Texas have been using "instant on" radar for literally decades. Some of the latest "instant on" frequency-shifting Ka radar guns are a bit tougher, but just like radar gun technology, radar detector technology and R&D doesn't sit still. It advances, too. You also have to *learn* how to use a detector...
Sure, nothing is going to save anybody, detector or not, from a true "trap" with "instant on" if you're the only vehicle out on the highway, but that's not how you use the detector most effectively. The more traffic there is on the road the better your odds are with a detector. When that LEO tries to "zap" a car out there up the road ahead of you he sprays out lots of microwaves. All your detector has to do is pick up those, and once you get to know your detector really well know right where that LEO is, what kind of radar gun he's using, and just how big a threat he is.
Same with laser, though you will be much closer to the LEO when you get his *overspray*, so you have to be a bit more "on your toes"... ::001::
And just for the record... There's laser, and there's radar. There is no "laser radar".
Dallara
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