Radar Detector Comparison - Driving Countermeasures

Handheld photo/laser guns, fixed photo radar, and red light cameras all pose a serious threat to your driving life. Hefty fines, points on your driving record, increased insurance rates--the costs are higher than ever. How can you protect yourself?

A high quality radar/laser detector is a start. Not those cheap toys sold at mass merchants for $70 or less. We're talking serious detectors, costing $250 and up--high performance tools designed to give measurable warnings of The Man around the next corner or the other side of that hill.

For the highest level of protection and to be truly effective, any detector must be augmented by additional technology--laser jammers. Unlike radar jammers, which are illegal everywhere (as they are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission), laser jammers are legal in all states except California, Minnesota and Utah.

european car went to El Paso, Texas, to attend and observe the annual radar/laser detector test and evaluation (www.speedzones.com) administered by Speed Measurement Laboratories (www.speedlabs.com). This evaluation is unique in that SML sets the criteria and observes the procedures, but all testing is performed by members of the Texas law enforcement community--actual police officers who are fully certified in the use of radar and laser guns and who write tickets every day. No other radar/laser detector test can make such a claim. Therefore SML's results are accepted and respected by all parties.

Know your enemy
There's been a major change in the enforcement landscape over the past several years. Older X-band guns have been phased out, replaced first by sensitive Ka-band units, though lighter, easier-to-use laser guns are becoming more prevalent. The reason is simple: since their aiming beam is only 18 inches wide at 500 feet, laser guns can easily pick out a single car in traffic and provide almost no advance warning--even with a radar/laser detector.

Now many of these guns have integrated cameras, providing an officer on the spot with a time/date-stamped photo of the driver, the car and the tracked speed. If properly deployed, tickets generated in this way are almost impossible to contest in court. This ability to target a specific vehicle in a group (even if every one is exceeding the limit) can have a devastating effect. As SML's president, Carl Fors, notes: "Defense attorneys who advertise on highway billboards hate digital camera laser gun systems, as these citations result in an almost 100 percent conviction rate."

This combination of factors makes the purchase of a laser jammer an essential element of a total protection system. Factor in increasing deployment of red light enforcement systems (RLES) cameras, of which some 20 percent use radar and lasers to trigger the camera (most are triggered by embedded road sensors) and just one citation (a minimum of $341 in most California jurisdictions) and higher insurance costs can easily offset the short-term cost of even a high-end system.

It should be noted that RLES and unmanned speed cameras are often maintained by outside contractors who typically split the revenue 60/40 with participating municipalities--here's the real reason for their deployment. They act as high-powered ATMs, generating substantial revenue for both parties, as well as insurance companies.

While traditional X-, K- and Ka-band radar guns remain a threat, enforcement agencies are rapidly making the transition to lasers to gain the upper hand. Serious drivers must take this into account, realizing that a radar/laser detector alone is no longer a sufficient defense. While the cost is high--combined detector/jammer packages start at $700--the total cost of a conviction is much higher.

As far as traditional detectors are concerned, the big three remain the same: Beltronics, Escort and Valentine One. For this guide, SML tested top-of-the-line units from each manufacturer: the Passport 8500 X50 ($300), the Valentine One ($400) and the Beltronics STi Driver ($450).

The Beltronics STi Driver excelled in the over-the-hill, half-mile, and radar detector detector (RDD) measurements. The Passport 8500 X50 had the absolute longest measured range by a small margin. And the Valentine One, by virtue of its two-antenna design, cleaned up in the rear detection category. The Passport and Valentine One shared top honors in POP mode performance and all three did well on the quarter-mile, half-mile, over-the-hill, instant on, and laser alert tests.