Jedi, I've mounted my V1 with the suction cups in the top left corner of my windshield for a couple reasons.

First, I don't like having it visible to anybody behind me. If it is you'll find that from time to time you'll pick up a shadow, someone who likes to drive along using your detector. He'll always be close enough to watch your lights - way too close.

Second, it's a bit closer reach when I want to hit the MUTE button or adjust something on it.

Third (and this doesn't apply to you youngsters) every inch that it's closer to me makes it easier to hear. At road speed I just plain can't hear it if it's more than a foot away no matter how loud I make it. I'm deaf in the frequency range it sounds in.

Even if I don't hear it, though, I will still see it light up out of the corner of my eye.

Downsides: Well, not much. You lose laser detection to the rear, but really, laser protection is such a minor thing in the overall scheme of these things that it's no real sacrifice. IMHO, quibbling over whether to mount high or low for laser detection is an argument without meaning - there may be measurable differences in a set-up test, but I'd bet willing to be a bunch that as a practical matter on the road it doesn't matter. To me, convenience of mounting does, so that's the choice I've made.

Radar detection to the rear may be compromised a tiny bit, but I doubt it matters. Radar penetrates your head, and it scatters, too, so a good, sensitive detector will read it anyway.

There's a thread about hardwired installations in the electronics section of this board. This URL connects to the second page of the thread, where Hard8 talks about how he did his, complete with photos. I just mounted mine higher up than he did.

If you want to mount yours somewhere in the center there's no reason you can't use this method and just run the wire all the way across to the mirror, tucking it under the edge of the headliner.

Pilgrim

Hey Pilgrim,

Thanks for your post! Unfortunately the link isn't working for me...

Link worked for me.
Try this one - same thread.
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=8242.html

BTW - If you go w/ the center mount, I can help you wire it like I did mine.

You need to use protection in layers.

1. V1 or BEL RX65

Note- Laser are too specific and can calculate your speed too quickly, for laser detection to be very uselful. The V1 is somewhat useful, if the cops are popping people ahead of you with the laser. At best you will have a 1 to 2 second alert time against the laser and if you are going really fast, you will not be able to react or slow down fast enough. Against radar, the V1 and BEL are fine.

V1 has better laser protection. The Bel RX65 is easier to program. The V1 gives more false alarms, so the Bel is better from this aspect. Both will detect radar and laser from behind, but the V1 will show you with arrows exactly where the signal is coming from.

2. Laser Jammers . Examples- Blinder M40 Laser Jammer, Escort ZR3 Laser Shifter, etc....

The confuse Laser speed guns and decrease their effective range against you. Combined with a Radar/Laser detector, they can give you the edge you need to avoid speed traps. This can get expensive. If you don't have the cash, than consider just getting the Radar/Laser detector and Photo-Radar/Laser plates (no. 3) shown below.

3. Photo-Radar and Anti-Laser reflective license plates- http://www.ontrackcorp.com/total-eclipse.cfm?id=08

2 companies make them, ontrack is one of them. Its called Total Eclipse. With a good Radar/Laser detector, it can be very effective. They are also cheap, so it will not cost you much to buy with a Radar/Laser detector. They have been shown to work, by a number of T.V. shows. From personal experience, they do work...

These prevent Photo-Radar/Laser machines, which are cash cow for city governments, from reading your license plate clearly at an angle. If you are directly behind them, the cops can still see your license plates, so thats why they are legal. Many city gov'ts purposely lower their speed limits or allow f*cked up traffic lights that stay red to long or have bad timing and turn red when another turns green, so they can make extra money. They love the photo-radar machines and they are screwing the public with them, instead of fixing the traffic lights or having engineers verify safe speeds for a particular road.

4. GPS radar detector- http://www.radarbusters.com/products...r/navalert.asp

Note- Countries like Japan and England have combination GPS/Radar/Laser Detectors. The U.S. is just starting to come around. One day, you could get a good "all in one product" in the U.S.


If you are going to speed and don't want to get endless tickets, than you need to protect yourself and get at least a radar/laser detector and Photo-Radar/Laser reflective License Plates.

The thing about LASER (and RADAR for that matter) that hasn't been taken into consideration here is the legal distance from which an officer is allowed to use a reading.

When they operate a trap, they will paint you as soon as they see you to start the measurement.
However, they are not allowed to write the ticket until they measure you within the allocated distance (500 ft. in most places).
That is where LASER detection in particular is useful, since the cop will paint you way out and wait.

Am I the only one who sees the folly in being so certain that all these countermeasures absolutely "work"? How do you know that YOU were the target and your reflective plate cover saved you? Especially with plate covers, when your headlights are an equal or better target for that laser...

Again... Lack of tickets is not evidence that your phalanx of anti-radar/laser equipment is responsible for said lack of tickets.

Besides, equipping my car to emulate a stealth fighter is way more work than I'm willing to invest in...

I was going to get one of these radar detectors. I've heard enough. I think my best choice is the Escort Passport 8500 X50. I can get one on Ebay for about $240. (blue display) .. Although, I think the red display is basically the same but color-wise different.

o this post is back alive?
i got the escort nd so far it hasn't saved me, but it showed that i got lasered by the police like three times when i was going to streets of willow +_+;

Hasn't? Hm.. I brought it back to life because I was thinking of getting a detector. :)

I could have used one two days ago! I took my eyes off the road for a second and I look up and there's a motorcycle cop pointing his radar gun right at me!!!
I looked down and I was doing 46mph which I think it was too fast because there were a bunch of commercial buildings on that street.

I drove right past him to see 3 of his friends all with cars pulled over. Guess he either was a Rotary lover or I just got lucky...

a lot of people rely tooo heavily on radar detectors......they aren't a guarantee that you won't get caught. they are your 2nd set of eyes. you gotta use your 1st set too.

amen!

after reading this thread, I bought a total Eclipse. (El Paso has just installed a million traffic light cameras at all the major intersections (CASH COW) And I'm getting a x50.

i use a v1 and love it it has saved me soooo many times bought it used on ebay and its still upgradeable all the guys over at aka rally sight swear by them

Not that I don't seem to watch the road.. It's coming back from work at 11pm-12am. I pretty much hit high 90s on the highway since it's nearly empty. Don't want to be caught by a hidden cop somewhere. ;)

I have a passport 8500 X50 and I have never received a speeding ticket for the last two years that I have owned it. I have had a few problems with the antenna not correctly calibrating which causes the screen to flash "Service Required", rendering it useless. This isnt all that bad if you have the warranty, but if you don't, be prepared to be detector free and $50 service charge for a few weeks. Then thats not to say that the detector is fixed, like last week when I was headed across I-10 to Tallahassee(about an hour's drive) and I was in a hurry to meet some females for a lunch date so I was going 90-100ish and all of a sudden "&*^$%#$" My detector goes off FULL ALARM on the Ka Band. I immediately slam on the brakes and look for a cop. THERE WAS NOTHING! So I turned it off to reset it. About 5 minutes later, same thing. Then after i reset if AGAIN, it goes right to full alarm. So me being the victim of being stuck previously with no protection, i whip out my cell and go straight to Escort's #. I talk to a guy and he tells me that their service is only good for 90 days, so I would have to pay another $50 for ANOTHER service. I explained the deal, and he took pitty on me I guess, and sent me a Free UPS shipping label and said it would be done free of charge. So, I am waiting for my detector now. Maybe they could be nice and send me a new one.
In Summary:
It works. Great Detector.
Not to many false alarms, but when it has them, they are as easily noticed as a pregnant waitress at Hooters.
Can be costly to fix if you don't have the warranty, I bought mine used so as of right now I am still ahead than if I would have bought a new one.
No speeding tickets in two year, did I mention I am a High School Senior who owns an RX-8 and had previously owned the British Racing Edition Miata?
-Mark-

I bought a $40 radar detector when I turned 16. 5 years and 3 cars later im still using the same one. I have only gotten 1 ticket with my detector in the car. It saves my ass at least once a week. http://www.radarbusters.com Check out this site it will tell you alot about the competition. This guy is a former cop who now test anti-cop equipment. Also read what he has to say about the V1. It definitely gave me a different perspective on it.

i never even really speed. i just use detectors as a backup to know when cops might be around so i can panic...lol.

I bought an Escort SR7 w/ laser deflectors off Ebay a while ago and installed it myself. Cost me $620 new in a sealed box. It's an easy install if you take your time, read the instructions, and get the deflectors level.

The radar detector works extremely well and it's already saved my ass twice from cops coming up behind me with their guns on. This morning was the first time I saw a cop with a gun and it didn't go off. At all. I'm guessing it was a laser gun and he didn't fire it at me. I was going under the speed limit due to heavy traffic and I was in one of the far (inside) lanes from where he was.

I'd recommend one to HELP you. I would not buy a radar detector and then rely on it to save you from any and all threats. No radar detector is going to save you from a flying pig. And it's not always going to save you from the ones on the side of the road. And it's not going to save you if you go screaming past an unmarked patrol car that doesn't have it's radar gun on. You still need to be on the lookout for das po-po.

I own a Valentine One, and its great. Its kept my from countless tickets, so i love it.

I know other people that have had both the escort 8500 and Valentine, and say that the valentine was way better, saying that it detected the signal way before the escort, so im not so sure about that website.

But, now that i own one, i really couldnt imagine driving without a detector.

It seems odd they picked the Beltronics RX65 overall after saying the Escort 8500 X50 did better with laser, offered much fewer false positives, and performed great in X, K, and Ka bands. The only reason it seems to get the Beltronics over the Escort is because of the features like remote volume, band audio clarity, smaller size, and dark mode. To me it seems the better laser performnace and fewer false positives of the Escort would be the way to go.

Regarding mounting position of the radar detector and deflectors:

I have the radar detector mounted behind the front bumper. It's left of the Mazda emblem on the front of the car by about 6". Even mounted in that location I get accurate readings of radar behind me. There are several "Your speed" signs in my area that are just there to tell you if you're speeding. They have an X band radar detector in them. Approaching and driving away from them always shows a signal.

The rear laser shifter is mounted to the bottom license plate screws. Running the wire neatly/hidden required removing the rear bumper to do that.

The front laser shifters are mounted below the grille as far out to the sides as I could get them. Mounting them required removing the front bumper. The Escort shifters have ~18" radius of coverage where they are going to be accurate. Much beyond that and the likelihood of them doing anything to the laser signal drops off rapidly. This is actually not too big a deal since they usually fire at the front license plate (if you have one) or the headlights. Where mine are sitting they cover that whole area with a little bit of overlap in the middle.

I mounted the display on the upper left hand corner of the dash. You have to really look for it when you're outside the car to even see that it's there. Traffic following me cannot see it at all. The Escort SR7 also has a remote 'mute' button that turns off the audible alarm and kills the shifters for 60 seconds (if they went off). I mounted the remote mute button is right above the ash tray lid. It's basically in a position where if my hand is on the shifter I can hit the button with my index finger without taking my hand off the shifter.

I seem to recall that if you are caught speeding in some states and if you just happen to have a radar detector to aid your criminal behavior they get to give you bigger fines and longer jail stays...

My V1 saved my ass tonight coming home on 66 from delmont, wouldnt traide it for anything

really? ouch. all i know is that the highway patrol will be a bitch to you. lol