GPS and/ or Radar Detector

[LouisB]

I'm giving some serious thought to buying both a GPS and a Radar Detector. I would greatly appreciate recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

[Phlosphr]

If you are of the mind where you like gadgety things the Garmen line of GPS is very nice, on the pricey side but topnotch. If you don't care about the frills, Tomtom is a good one for everyday travel. No word on a radar detector, I haven't owned one for over 15 years...they always made me go faster and the cops always had a way to beat my detector.

[Wallenstein]

Tomtom will let you add fixed speed cameras in as waypoints, so you get advance warnings.

Doesn't help with mobile speed traps though.

However, as a Sat Nav they're spot on.

[Q.E.D.]

Originally Posted by LouisB

I'm giving some serious thought to buying...a Radar Detector.

My advice: don't bother. The amount of money you'll spend buying a decent one (and replacing it when it breaks) is possibly more than whatever it might save you on speeding tickets. And you're still likely to get some speeding tickets, anyway; instant-on radar will see to that.

[Xema]

Originally Posted by Q.E.D.

And you're still likely to get some speeding tickets, anyway; instant-on radar will see to that.

Instant-on radar is a problem when traffic is low (IOW, when speeding is safest). But at even moderate traffic levels you tend to get warning from the use of radar on cars ahead of you. So a radar detector still has value here.

[John DiFool]

You can get the latest Escort model, the 9500I, which has both a state of the art radar/laser detector AND a GPS which warns you of known speed traps when you start driving up towards one. I disagree with Q.E.D., in that by avoiding tickets you also avoid jumps in your insurance premiums, which by themselves can outstrip the cost of the detector (9500I is $400 or so). My 8500 has saved me from at least one ticket on 3 cross-country trips I've taken during the last 3 years.

[Max Torque]

I wouldn't trade my Valentine One for anything. The engineer, Mike Valentine, designed the original Escort, but he left the company and started making his own detectors. Best radar detector in the world, bar none. Just poke around the site, you'll see why.

[LouisB]

Thanks for the answers; keep 'em coming, please.

I had thought to buy the radar detector first; I didn't know anyone made a single unit that combines radar detection and GPS, although it does seem logical.

[yoyodyne]

Originally Posted by LouisB

I had thought to buy the radar detector first; I didn't know anyone made a single unit that combines radar detection and GPS, although it does seem logical.

That GPS doesn't have any navigation capabilities. It can be used to mark locations that give routine false alarms so the detector ignores them. It can vary the sensitivity of the detector based on your speed, and display your speed. And you can mark common speed trap locations and it will give you a warning before you get there.

[justqwerty]

Slight hijack :

Who compiles the database of installed Speed Traps ?
Is this info publicly available?
How do they keep the database current ?

[Wallenstein]

Originally Posted by justqwerty

Slight hijack :

Who compiles the database of installed Speed Traps ?
Is this info publicly available?
How do they keep the database current ?

In the UK there are a couple of systems.

TomTom licence the info from official Safety Camera partnerships, so it should be pretty good.

But sites such as Pocket GPS World invite users to submit their own waypoints, which seems to produce a more complete (and up-to-date) database... that's the one I use, and it's updated monthly at the moment.

I love it - update it every few months and it's been spot on so far.

[Declan]

Originally Posted by Max Torque

I wouldn't trade my Valentine One for anything. The engineer, Mike Valentine, designed the original Escort, but he left the company and started making his own detectors. Best radar detector in the world, bar none. Just poke around the site, you'll see why.

In the model shown on the website I can see why having that extra radar coverage would be helpful, however the laser detectors have me puzzled,since its a line of sight and speed of light signal , i imagine that all it could really do is tell you , that you have been dazzled and expect the ticket or am I missing something here.

Declan

[Max Torque]

Well, technically the infrared beam does spread as it goes farther out, so there's a possibility of getting a "splash" reading when the officer's laser hits the car in front of you. I've had that a few times. However, you're correct, in most situations all that laser detection does for you is tell you that you've been tagged. One good thing about laser is that it requires a very steady source, so it can't be used from a moving vehicle. The cop has to be stopped, and ordinarily he needs to steady the laser gun on something solid, like the door or hood of his car, to get a good reading. So, if there's no place to hide a parked car or motorcycle, it's highly unlikely that you'll be tagged by laser.

A radar detector is nice, but it's not a magic box that will mask you from all tickets. You've also got to use your eyes and your head. If you're going to speed, speed intelligently.

[Absolute]

Originally Posted by Max Torque

A radar detector is nice, but it's not a magic box that will mask you from all tickets. You've also got to use your eyes and your head. If you're going to speed, speed intelligently.

Exactly. If you like to speed, a radar detector will definitely pay for itself - but you will still get tickets. You shouldn't ever go faster than you are willing to get a ticket for - think of it as a "get out of jail free" card that will kick in approximately half the time.

They are also more helpful if you drive a lot on rural roads - here in the Northeast at least, the State Police on highways use laser, but the local guys are all still using radar. I'm not sure about other regions.

I bought a Valentine 1 five years ago. It cost $400. It clearly saved me from a ticket maybe four times - but, clearly didn't twice. To me, that's definitely worth the money.

Also note that a radar detector is not perfect. It will be triggered by automatic doors in shopping centers, laser cruise control on cars driven by lazy people, power lines strung across the road, and even cheap radar detectors in other people's cars. You eventually learn to recognize the false alarms by the strength of the signal and other cues, but it can be frustrating at first.

[Declan]

Originally Posted by Absolute

Also note that a radar detector is not perfect. It will be triggered by automatic doors in shopping centers, laser cruise control on cars driven by lazy people, power lines strung across the road, and even cheap radar detectors in other people's cars. You eventually learn to recognize the false alarms by the strength of the signal and other cues, but it can be frustrating at first.

One other sorta false alarm that I heard of , is that jet fighters would sometimes paint cars on the LA freeway, ( the one I heard about anyways) for the fun of it. Their radars could be discriminating enough to track several vehicles at a time and would nominally be setting up a maverick attack , but these guys would paint cars and gain amusement as the vehicle slowed to a crawl wondering were the chips were.

Declan