Valentine One Radar Dectector

[Murray2023 9]

On 12/18/2023 at 3:28 PM, E63 said:

I've done a fair amount of reading on this. In order of how much you wanna spend: Uniden R8 > R7 > R4 > R3 > rest.

R8 and R7 have arrows that tell you whether the bogey is in front or behind you, R3 and R4 don't, but are cheaper. There are other arrow detectors, such as V1G1 and Passport 360C, but they don't have the same reputation as the Uniden ones.

Have found the R8 really good, couple of times i though it was false triggering but nope, just picking up stationary radars parked up way down the road

[Polignac 1]

12 hours ago, elias said:

yes, I have black plates on my car, need to return your original ones. In certain lighting conditions they definitely can be harder to read as they blend into a sort of grey colour. You can also get 'slim' sized plates at no additional charge, which in my opinion look much better, ive attached a photo below.

That's a beauty.

Hope it won't be too awkward with me having a white car with black plate and grey numbers. 

[gjm 3258]

I've no idea of half the terminology used when discussing radar detectors. I know this as a result of reviewing options - my lengthy commute takes in a mix of SH, dual carriageway (y'know, the bit where people who do 85km/h accelerate to 105 before slowing at the end again) and non-SH roads. Limits are typically 100km/h or 80km/h, and while the people with cars festooned in pretty lights tend to found on the SHs, they also pop up in the most unusual places. I can only assume they were looking for somewhere quiet to have lunch, but will ping a couple of vehicles to justify their being somewhere less well-travelled.

The Uniden R7/8 is popular here, but some older devices also seem capable of doing good work.

Online reviews rave about the Escort 360C, but I can see that price is a good reason not to buy. The Uniden R8 is hardly cheap, but the 360C? Wow. Eye watering.

I have some reading of the RD forum to do.

[gofaster 101]

I've only just noticed Supercheap with my Radar detector on sale, unfortunately only until around 3am Wednesday

I have used this for a few years on trips and rate it.

https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/uniden-radar-detector-with-gps-uniden-dfr7nz/599759.html?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkKqsBhC3ARIsAEEjuJjeCbyyvbnXVL3LmcmIwZLgtBohj0Mn7hagnKSuC2JUADeHwfip8q0aAtODEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[arktis 58]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0743H6CSN/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

Huge bargain atm fellas. R3 has an incredible reputation regarding range and false positives (or lack thereof). At this price, you can try it out, and probably make a profit selling it locally.

[hybrid 1043]

I ended up getting the Uniden R8NZ. With bluetooth support and linking into highway radar its amazing for notifications.
 Most of the time it will clock a Ka band from a stalker II around 2.5ks or at worst around 1.5ks. With the direction and signal strength it makes it quite easy to work out where they are and even more handy is it will track up to 3 different sources at the same time which is then displayed to my phone as active alerts.

Using the R8NZ with highway radar and waze in split screen mode for open road driving is epic.

[arktis 58]

Quote

linking into highway radar its amazing for notifications

What do you mean here?

I'm pretty impressed with Waze so far. Apart from that time it sent me the "shortest route" during rush hour and added about 5 traffic lights to my route.

[Jacko 2154]

Took the 130 for a very over due drive out to kaipara today, got pulled over on the way home... 100% police profiling 😕 Was in middle of queue of traffic doing exactly 100kmh, light truck in front of and behind me,... apparently the goat track out there is 80 (going to google maps street view it, because faffed if I saw any signs..)... I need to do some research into radar detectors. 

[Eagle 1662]

What a c**t. If that happened to me id be going to court with my dash cam footage.  

R7 international with Mithheru firmware is probably the best performance and features vs price atm.

[Jacko 2154]

Just "drove" my route for 10km on google maps street view, only speed sign I saw was an open road speed sign laying in a ditch. Was one of roads that had their speed dropped in the gubments latest crackdown... its just no one remembered to put signs out it seems. 

[hybrid 1043]

5 hours ago, E63 said:

What do you mean here?

I'm pretty impressed with Waze so far. Apart from that time it sent me the "shortest route" during rush hour and added about 5 traffic lights to my route.

Highway radar will link to my R8NZ over bluetooth, link to waze crowd source data and display police reports, link to air traffic and display your position on a map.
It uses all of this data to display alerts on screen with proximity. When you come across a detection from the radar it will display the band, strength, direction, radio frequency. It will then run the sound over bluetooth audio to your stereo (if you have bluetooth audio on your phone linked to  your car audio) .. If you want it to it will read out the alerts in text to speech. which is amazing for not worrying about looking at your radar detector. 
Having Waze also running is handy in split screen mode if youre navigating. Both display speed, but Highway radar also display the speed limit and your actual speed right next to each other 100% of the  time which is great to keep on top of Wata Katastrophies ever changing speed limits every 2 minutes. 

[arktis 58]

9 hours ago, hybrid said:

Highway radar will link to my R8NZ over bluetooth, link to waze crowd source data and display police reports, link to air traffic and display your position on a map.

Forgive me, is Highway Radar some kind of app?

Sounds like a really nice setup. I reckon TTS alerts would be my preference.

[Driftit 2078]

On 1/11/2024 at 3:55 PM, Jacko said:

Took the 130 for a very over due drive out to kaipara today, got pulled over on the way home... 100% police profiling 😕 Was in middle of queue of traffic doing exactly 100kmh, light truck in front of and behind me,... apparently the goat track out there is 80 (going to google maps street view it, because faffed if I saw any signs..)... I need to do some research into radar detectors. 

That is real sh*t.  I've seen it happen to a young dude in an Evo7/8/9 right in front of me.  Cop moved 3 normal looking cars to pull him over.  Ignoring the two utes ahead of him.  His car looked standard, but not like the other boring sh*t around him I guess.

18 hours ago, hybrid said:

Highway radar will link to my R8NZ over bluetooth, link to waze crowd source data and display police reports, link to air traffic and display your position on a map.
 

This sounds amazing.  I am so sick of tip toeing around the Wairarapa at the moment so would like to update the system.  My old stealth Bell system in the Merc is starting to play up.  Gives an error beep after about 30mins of it being on.  The laser  parking sensors seem still happy but i've only seen on cop with a radar gun in the last 3 months and I was in the wrong car.

There are so many cops trying to catch people 4kph over the speed limit on dead straight roads.  One flashed me at 82kph (GPS).  I was on cruise control on the roads between Greytown and Featherston.  Dead straight.  Nobody around me.  I made sure he could see me shaking my head like some grumpy old man.

Edited January 12 by Driftit

[arktis 58]

@Driftit how much should I expect to pay for "parking sensors"?

That R8 setup with Highway Radar seems damn good, but I saw a few people on RDForums saying laser was getting more common.

[Driftit 2078]

3 hours ago, E63 said:

@Driftit how much should I expect to pay for "parking sensors"?

That R8 setup with Highway Radar seems damn good, but I saw a few people on RDForums saying laser was getting more common.

Parking sensors are hard to get here now.  The ones on my Merc have been on there at least 10 years now.
They are active ones meaning they are always on.  The passive or reactive ones last I read were no good.
Have a go through youtube and watch some tests.  Many barely work especially if placed poorly.  Mine are almost on my number plates where most guns will target.

[arktis 58]

1 hour ago, Driftit said:

Parking sensors are hard to get here now.  The ones on my Merc have been on there at least 10 years now.
They are active ones meaning they are always on.  The passive or reactive ones last I read were no good.
Have a go through youtube and watch some tests.  Many barely work especially if placed poorly.  Mine are almost on my number plates where most guns will target.

Surely there's an AliExpress special!

Sometimes it seems like it's a lot easier and cheaper just to slow down.

[Bruski 34]

On 12/19/2023 at 8:59 AM, Palazzo said:

Waze works well on our mostly central-upper North Island trips. Freaked the family out the first time it reported police ahead and they were there.

I concur with your assessment.  On the new SH1 m'way heading north from Auckland over the peak holiday period Waze was remarkably on point.  Then again, given the time of year, running on the presumption that there will be 5 0 around every third corner of a brand new, safe as you like m'way, is probably as good a bet.  I was busy telling my kids in the back of the wagon that the BIB like to sour holiday makers and add a fun tax over the holidays, when sure enough, a soccer mum SUV got pinged right in front of us with a laser doing what can only have been a smidge over 107, downhill with a tailwind.  I mean really, what risk was this person posing to society and their fellow motorists?  Zero IMHO.  They were more in danger when sliding and swerving to an emergency stop on the lose gravel at the side of the m'way.  Needless to say, the radar detector did not go off in my car nor did the laser detector.   

[Eagle 1662]

Majority of it is just a revenue gathering exercise under the guise of safety. 

[arktis 58]

I think the visibility has a huge effect on drivers too. When you see a camera it's a bit of a reminder that you will get sniped eventually, and if you're going over 140 your licence is gone.

[kwhelan 241]

4 hours ago, E63 said:

I think the visibility has a huge effect on drivers too. When you see a camera it's a bit of a reminder that you will get sniped eventually, and if you're going over 140 your licence is gone.

140 your lucky, try 120 as you'd struggle to find a road in HB thats still 100km

[Palazzo 477]

On 1/13/2024 at 9:43 AM, Bruski said:

I concur with your assessment.  On the new SH1 m'way heading north from Auckland over the peak holiday period Waze was remarkably on point.  Then again, given the time of year, running on the presumption that there will be 5 0 around every third corner of a brand new, safe as you like m'way, is probably as good a bet.  I was busy telling my kids in the back of the wagon that the BIB like to sour holiday makers and add a fun tax over the holidays, when sure enough, a soccer mum SUV got pinged right in front of us with a laser doing what can only have been a smidge over 107, downhill with a tailwind.  I mean really, what risk was this person posing to society and their fellow motorists?  Zero IMHO.  They were more in danger when sliding and swerving to an emergency stop on the lose gravel at the side of the m'way.  Needless to say, the radar detector did not go off in my car nor did the laser detector.   

There again today, about 1-2km south of Bombays. 

[hybrid 1043]

On 1/12/2024 at 8:19 AM, Driftit said:

This sounds amazing.  I am so sick of tip toeing around the Wairarapa at the moment so would like to update the system.  My old stealth Bell system in the Merc is starting to play up.  Gives an error beep after about 30mins of it being on.  The laser  parking sensors seem still happy but i've only seen on cop with a radar gun in the last 3 months and I was in the wrong car.

Yeah its worth the extra you pay for the r8nz.. she's a bit pricey, but the way I looked at it after getting a speight of small tickets (post covid) over a 1 year period and one final large one were I got caught out thinking I was in a 100kph and in fact a 80kph (was an honest mistake) it left me quite poor on the demerits. So got serious about not letting that happen again over the next few years.
Before any of this I hand not had a ticket in 15 years, my driving didn't change (I drive 99% of the time like anyone else) , something else definitely did. 

[hybrid 1043]

On 1/12/2024 at 12:51 PM, E63 said:

That R8 setup with Highway Radar seems damn good, but I saw a few people on RDForums saying laser was getting more common.

The problem is new vehicles and the LED (laser wavelength) headlights can set of false alerts. I just leave laser turned off as there isn't really a point of having it turned on anyways bacause the way a police laser gun works. It already has its fix on first alert.

K and Ka bands with camera and fixed speed trap GPS is perfect for 95% of the time.

[Olaf 3317]

I had a peek for Highway Radar in the Apple App Store - couldn't find it.  Anyone got a link or more details?

@E63 thanks for the info R3 on sale, beats waiting for the exch rate to improve.  Think I'll buy one.

Edited January 15 by Olaf

[arktis 58]

8 hours ago, Olaf said:

I had a peek for Highway Radar in the Apple App Store - couldn't find it.  Anyone got a link or more details?

@E63 thanks for the info R3 on sale, beats waiting for the exch rate to improve.  Think I'll buy one.

Hey Olaf, I believe Highway Radar is available in public beta. You’ll need to enable Test Flight in your App Store. Googling “highway radar public beta” should give you a RDForums post with better info. I’m on a company phone so I’m fairly sure I can’t do it.