I live in CT, and they used to be illegal. A friend got in my car, looked up and saw mine and said, "Dude! Those things are illegal!"

I replied, "yup...so is speeding". The friend in the back had a cow.

So, count me in as a supporter, and I will take a radar detector fine/confiscation any day over a $350 points adding, insurance busting speeding ticket any day.

And...I have been pullled over numerous times in the old days when they were illegal, and the stuff it down your pants trick works. Be prepared though, the cop might point down and ask, "Is that a Gatorade bottle in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?"

Finally, instant on seems to be beatable.

That's very interesting considering the Valentine seems to have the better reputation ... or is that just the adverts that have brainwashed me?

Do you know if I could purchase from out of province or the US and actually get it? I'm assuming because they're legal in Ontario (but not to use) I can receive one in the mail?

Radar detectors are also legal in Saskatchewan. I've got a Bel 950 and regularly travel the highway between Edmonton and Saskatoon. My Saab 9000T is a great Q-ship highway cruiser and I do 130 kph and stretches at 150 kph. I've just bought my 911 and haven't yet had it out.

The detector is good to have but you've got to be smart and watch the road and traffic conditions. A detector isn't a get out of jail pass and if you're not smart about how you drive, you will - and should - get caught.

Seems to me that possession of a detector is illegal in some provinces (Manitoba?), so even if you're caught and its not on, you'll lose it.

Rod.

Valentine One is a radar/laser detector - Escort ZR3 is a laser jammer - two different technologies/tools. I'm not talking about the Escort vs Valentine radar detectors. You should not use either in Ontario (like I said) - you will get caught, lose it, get fined for speeding and get fined for having the radar detector. Cops know you have it (with technology or based on observation/behaviour) - "hiding it down your pants" will do you no good, my friend. You can run but you cannot hide.

Escort ZR3 laser jammer (useless against radar) will save your butt in a laser speed trap. They are a hardwire install, expensive ($600 CDN or so) and legal everywhere in Canada.

More and more cops are going to laser (in the west, anyway). Your fancy radar/laser detector (including the excellent Valentine) is completely useless against laser. Once the laser detector goes off - too late - you are toast - no other option but to kiss your unit and butt goodbye.

In the US, the legality of having a radar detector has never been truly tested, AFAIK. Remember, a state legislature cannot make any law they want - they are limited by state and US Constitutions, and sometimes by federal statutes (the Federal Communications Act in this case). That would be a hard fought battle if you wanted to fight it, however.

Practically speaking, a hidden detector would be hard for the cops to find if it were switched off by the time they stopped you. This applies to a quality detector, not to the el cheapo heterodyne things which emit like crazy.

So, I disagree with Purrybonker in some respects.

There is no such thing as "laser radar" anywhere in the air traffic control system. In fact, there is no such thing as "laser radar." Laser is laser, radar is radar. The former uses light, the latter uses microwave. If controllers at LAX "used laser radar for airplanes on approach," it would be useless, assuming such a thing existed, if the visibilty was lousy...which is exactly when you'd most want it.

Been a pilot for 38 years, and the only radar I've ever experienced is microwave.

Stephan

I think the term "laser radar" is proper as both work via the same principle: the doppler effect. Or something like that.
"Microwave radar" vs "Laser radar"?

Kato

Semantically not possible. Radar stands for "RAdio Detection And Ranging." Laser stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation." Combine the two phrases and they make no sense.

In any case, using laser as a radar-like device--i.e. to measure the range between the emitter and the object being lased, and to calculate the change and rate of change of that range--only works when the visibility is good enough for the laser light to be transmitted successfully. That's why laser target designators don't work in bad weather and why you couldn't track aircraft in IFR conditions with a laser "radar."

Some car manufacturers, such as Mercedes, have true rader cruise control, which uses microwave energy. They work in all conditions, as long as you don't put something impervious to microwaves in front of the transmitter (usually somewhere in the grille). Other manufacturers, such as Lexus, use a laser for their "radar" cruise control. (And yes, they call it "radar," but that doesn't make it right.) They don't work worth a damn in bad weather or if you get dirt on the laser.

Stephan

No such thing as laser? My Bel 880 says it detects X, K and Ka band radar AND Total Tracking Laser (TTL). So there is a laser system, we don't have to call it radar so don't worry your pretty little heads about it, but it does exist. But as I said before, whatever system the police use it's so easy for them to write tickets that they get sloppy and that's where the detectors pay off. Mostly they just leave the system in their patrol cars on all the time so not only do you not get speeding tickets but you don't get moving violations either.

Read the thread. I didn't say "there's no such thing as laser." I was responding to a poster who claimed to have sensed "laser radar" used at LAX "to track aircraft on approach."

Stephan

Let's just call it Lidar.


And, BTW, if you think there is a lot of it around commercial airports, try driving near the USAF flight test areas in the Mojave -- drove my V1 nuts.

Touchy, touchy! You could be an English teacher.

That would be me. Let me clarify, I used the term radar incorrectly. They use laser to track aircraft on approach. I have a radar detector and it detects a laser signal when I drive near the airports or in the terminals.

How does a 'radar detector' detector work? I thought radar/laser detectors were simply passive receptors of a signal and did not emit a signal themselves.
Has anyone here tried to the Escort laser jammer? It would be a nice supplement to a Valentine detector since, as others have noted, once the laser detector goes off, you have already been zapped (as I found out the hard way). There is also an increasing amount of 'instant on' radar where I live.

In a nutshell: Like most radio recievers, a radar detector generates an internal signal and hetrodynes or "beats" (superimposes the wqaves in a certain way) the two signals. This makes it easier to discriminate the outside signal...

A 'detector' detector is able to pick up leakage from those circuits thru the box and your car...
Ever notice your radar det. often goes off when going past a big truck? It is picking up from the trucks (usually cheap) radar det.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: ;)

Chris, Chris:D Shall I get out the back hoe or would you like to stop while you still only have the very large shovel in your hand?

Forget Laser when thinking aviation. Let it go. Let it go.;)

Radar is used for tracking aircraft.

Actually, there is another way to track airplanes over Oceanic airspace, but I won't go there...

I apologize as this is an assumption on my part that laser is used to track aircraft on approach. I assumed they used a system such as LIDAR or similiar to LIDAR to help determine distance.

I will throw in a little more for you guys to read where I based my assumptions -

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-04-12-laser-entrepreneur_x.htm

In context they could. LASER light is a form of EM. So are radiowaves. The LASER light in this context is being used to detect doppler shifts and catch speeders. So it could be called LASERURADAR. U=used for

?

but really. It's ridiculous to go on about this as LASER and RADAR technologies are being used to detect doppler shifts to determine your instantaneous speed. Er something.

Kato