Looking to buy a new radar detector

[Gobby 11]

Bit the bullet and bought a new V1 with Euro mode, now it's laser jammer time. Any notable brands/ places to buy?

[polley 916]

Damn it.... I feel an impulse buy coming on.

[mossline 15]

Laser interceptor seem to be the best brand out there. Nothing better than knowing your countermeasured upto the teeth!

Good luck!

Bit the bullet and bought a new V1 with Euro mode, now it's laser jammer time. Any notable brands/ places to buy?

[M5V8 337]

Thats exactly how mine is setup. Just need to do the rear headrest stealth instal to stop those cheeky f**kers breaking into my car. (mid day at bunnings in Lyall bay, little wankers)

Is yours window mounted?

I haven't heard of the rear headrest install? how does that work?

I have mine hard wired into the power sunroof using the sunvisor mount. Seriously hard to see from the outside with my tinted windows.

Easy as install ...... sing out if you want to check my setup or a hand with an install chris.

[mrad01 0]

Bit the bullet and bought a new V1 with Euro mode, now it's laser jammer time. Any notable brands/ places to buy?

I've got Blinders - awesome. Saved my Speed Credits many a time...

[Gobby 11]

I've got Blinders - awesome. Saved my Speed Credits many a time...

Yea I've narrowed my search down to Blinder HP-905 and Laser Interceptor gen 8. Do you have a rear sensors too? Any merrit in getting the triple or quad variants of these models? Have you had any issues in your dealings with police in regards to these, esp after that May 11' amendment to LTA 1998 (Sec 16b)? Sorry lots of questions!

Edited September 7, 2012 by Gobby

[mrad01 0]

Yea I've narrowed my search down to Blinder HP-905 and Laser Interceptor gen 8. Do you have a rear sensors too? Any merrit in getting the triple or quad variants of these models? Have you had any issues in your dealings with police in regards to these, esp after that May 11' amendment to LTA 1998 (Sec 16b)? Sorry lots of questions!

Front only.

No issues because it doesn't exist....

[Haz77 0]

just to jump back a bit, thinking of purchasing a detector at the moment also but for those of us who cant / don't want to spend $500+ are there any others that are worth getting?

Obviously the two best ones have been well and truly covered but what about the cheaper units on the market, recently read a reveiw of under $300 units saying the escort x50 and a beltronics model I cant recall where well worth buying, anyone running a <$300 detector?

I really want to know the car on the horizon is a cop in time to check my speed & slow if required.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2122]

basically you are paying for what you get.

I can't think of the brand of my first one off the top of my head, was a name brand though and that wasnt too bad, but it certainly served as a check your not going 110km/h device not a 140+km/h device. accidentally toasted it by putting the wires back to front when hardwiring it into the E30. never assume red is positive and white is negative.

Have had a cobra recently, and apart from starting to make noises and flashing LEDs to tell you the cop has already seen you turned around and pulled you up and is now parked on your back bumper, it didn't do much else.

would i bother getting a cheap unit again? definately not. save the coin to go towards the first ticket you get without a V1, or just buying a V1. your spending $300 anyway and the V1 is worth the extra $600

[Gobby 11]

Yea I agree with that^

V1's already saved my butt twice in the week I've had it. If you have a contact in the States, get them to buy one for you cause they're only $USD400 (NZD$480) there. I got owned by Customs with their GST and bullsh*t admin costs (money-grabbing nazis), so it ended up being quite an expensive endeavour to have it shipped in. I've heard good things about the Beltronics STI Magnum's predecessor, the STI, and I imagine they'd be cheap to get now, so maybe keep an eye out for one of those?

If you buy a cheap radar detector, you're sort of going to know that the trade of is that it's not very good, and subsequently won't trust it, which sort of makes the whole process pointless.

Best advice would be to look for the better radars (Bel Magnum STI and STI (also the 9500xi which is supposed to be awesome with it's GPS capabilities, and is by no means obsolete), V1 (you want at least version 1.8 though), and Escort Redline (good reviews in Australia, where the fuzz use similar equipment to what's used here) second-hand. Be weary of the listings on trademe where just the radar and the power cable are for sale, as it seems suspicious that they wouldn't be giving all the other stuff that came with it originally (eg: hardwire kit, sunvisor mount, instruction manual, spare suction cups etc), only the things that could be taken in a smash n' grab.

[Andre3000 55]

Is there a reason why you didn't run the m20 jammers? Just want to know incase im putting useless remote controllers on the front of my fuzz magnet. I would assume that as they are an older gen the newer ones would have more features, but does this mean theyre less effective?

[M5V8 337]

If you buy a cheap radar detector, you're sort of going to know that the trade of is that it's not very good, and subsequently won't trust it, which sort of makes the whole process pointless.

exactly

[Haz77 0]

Borrowed a bel sti of a mate for a couple of days, he swears by it and said he put it & 4 others in the same car and drove round chch cop hunting and the bel & V1 were the only ones that shined!, recon's the only real dif between them is that the V1 tells you the direction.

see how we go,,,

[Gobby 11]

Is there a reason why you didn't run the m20 jammers? Just want to know incase im putting useless remote controllers on the front of my fuzz magnet. I would assume that as they are an older gen the newer ones would have more features, but does this mean theyre less effective?

Ahh well at first I realised that if I got pulled up with the M20's I'd be toast, because they have no other function other than jamming. Then I realised that I'd have to remove a significant amount of trim in the engine bay area to get to the grommet in the firewall. Then I realised I haven't kept a car for longer than 6 months in the last 4 years. Then I was just like "pfft, flag".

A letter in the mail the other day from the kind people at the LTSA, reminded me how close I was to having to use my bicycle for 3 months again, and I starred grimly into the horizon whilst murmuring "never again...".

So now I've just dropped a fat stack of cash to get the latest and greatest from Blinder, the HP-905, and will be having them professionally installed (while I play Gran Turismo 5, eat cake, and NOT get engine goobies on my hands) some time this week.

The M20 is a very capable system, but the fact that I would have no defence if someone that oinks saw them, scarred me, so I opted to go for a system that utilizes much smaller heads, as well the ability to disguise its main function.

[Haz77 0]

So, just brought a Bel STI Driver of ebay USA using a new freight forward company called Prezoom to get it sent here as sellar only offers US shipping.

As new, in the case, with both cables, external speaker, screen mount, manuals etc for a mighty $300nzd!! postage should be about $35 on top of that but no Duty or GST as its below the minimum value.

Very interested in the mirror / visor mounting options, I understand the wiring into the sun roof but how are you guys mounting them up there, just with suction cups or special mounts? - 2000 e39 530.

[M5V8 337]

good buy!

[RvT 9]

So, just brought a Bel STI Driver of ebay USA using a new freight forward company called Prezoom to get it sent here as sellar only offers US shipping.

Very interested in the mirror / visor mounting options, I understand the wiring into the sun roof but how are you guys mounting them up there, just with suction cups or special mounts? - 2000 e39 530.

Firstly THANKS for the link to Prezoom - hadn't heard of them but will use them I think !!!

I think most e39 use the suction cups to keep the detector up next to mirror. If I remember correctly when I had an e39, I kept my detector in the small glovebox next to the drivers knee. I had it hard wired into an ACC power source I found behind the glove box and placed it on the RH corner of my windscreen. Main reason was because it was a V1 and the screen angle suited that location plus friends with e39s had their detectors stolen as it is still visible to the theives up next to the mirror.

[Gobby 11]

So, just brought a Bel STI Driver of ebay USA using a new freight forward company called Prezoom to get it sent here as sellar only offers US shipping.

As new, in the case, with both cables, external speaker, screen mount, manuals etc for a mighty $300nzd!! postage should be about $35 on top of that but no Duty or GST as its below the minimum value.

Very interested in the mirror / visor mounting options, I understand the wiring into the sun roof but how are you guys mounting them up there, just with suction cups or special mounts? - 2000 e39 530.

Wow well done, good find! I hard wired my v1 to the Homelink power supply, and used the sunvisor mount that came with it.Can barely see it if you use a visor mount, as theres no telltale suction cups on the windscreen