i bought that 60$ cobra one. only had it for a day but ive seen reviews on it and i feel like i wasted my money. :/

any insight? whats everyone else have/like? and whats the best one for the money?

 

i have the escort 9500 i paid 450 for it n got pulled that night for rolling a stop sign. guess he didnt have his radar on

 

if you want my opinion, they are all a waste of money none of them work 100% of the time and all they do is make noise and clutter the dashboard up.

 

Not all cops have their radar on 100% of the time. The hardest place to use a radar detector is in the city. It will pick up automatic sliding doors too. Thats why I mainly use mines on the highways.

 

I LOVE my Escort 8500. It has great range and sure it picks up stuff in the city, but I don't even notice anymore. Mine's hardwired in and I never turn it off. Best $$$ I've ever spent.

 

lol the term "you get what you paid for" applies in this situation

 

^^ agreed. I figured... A ticket plus court supervision on my one and only ticket (which I might add was 3 days after my detector was stolen) was in the $300 range. So that was how much I was willing to spend.

 

mine works fairly well, im satisfied with it

 

i have an old bell (10+years old) and the only times its failed me was when it was either unplugged by accident or i was doing something stupid and the cop "one shot" me.

at the time of purchase it was around $80 i believe. you just have to pick the right one and not be a retard. it's meant to warn you, not prevent you from getting ticketed.

 

I, personally, wouldn't buy a cobra.

I would stick with Valentine, Escort and Beltronics.

The difference between their different price levels, speaking in terms of beltronics, is their level of sensitivity. What that means is it gives you the opportunity to be alerted at an increased distance, along with that it also means there is a potential for more false alerts.

I have a Beltronics V995, I then upgraded to a Beltronics RX65 and i'm completely satisfied.

Remember police don't always have their radar on so a good instant on detection rate, meaning when they see you flying and flip it on, is a good metric.

Also, no current detector can notify you of a laser alert quick enough for you to not to be clocked, by that I mean they can alert you but your reaction time may be too slow, but the good thing is they have to clock you twice so you have time once it alters you to immediately brake to throw off the average moving speed and by the time they clock you the 3rd time you show be moving slow enough to where they won't pull you over, this is assuming you weren't going 120mph.

Here are a few sites that do testing:

http://www.007radardetectors.com/tests.htm

http://www.speedzones.com/radar-detection.html

http://www.radarbusters.com/2006best...orsarticle.cfm

http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleid=9090

They may seem expensive bu after my first $400+ speeding ticket and $1000 lawyer, it probably has paid for itself many times over.

If you buy a detector that is $200 or less, you end up getting what you pay for.

 

I have Escort 9500i with blue screen and its a pretty good radar detector, on the highway it detect cops pretty far and with enought time to slow down. i payed 400 for it.

 

They aren't worth the money...I got one because it seemed like I saw cops all the time and thought I might get some use out of it. But in the 2 weeks that I had it, it went off twice...1st time, I'd seen the cop about 25-30 seconds before it went off. 2nd time was in relatively small city, so it's not like i would've been going fast anyway.

it was a $100 cobra radar detector and i got it at radio shack. I ended up taking it back 2 weeks later because i had better things to do with the hundred bucks lol.

 

Oh and please click this button up at the top:

There are 75480284802 threads on this already...

 

yeah only good radar detectors are the more expensive one, might aswell not waste your money on a cobra. I got an 8500 x50, its saved me from so many tickets so far. The thing you have to remember is that just cuz you have a radar detector, it doesn't mean that you're never getting pulled over. After, its a radar detector, not a cop detector. I remember reading the manual to my x50 when I first got it and the manual clearly says something along these lines. "Learn how to use a radar detector, don't rely simply on the beeps" and that's very true, even though the thing simply beeps, you still have to learn what they mean, and use those beeps while looking at the environment around you to figure out whats going on.

here are my two stories:

1) coming home at 1 in the morning from work, doing 95 on the empty highway. Radar detector starts going off, I slow down to the speed limit (55), Come around the bend. First thing I see is a state trooper SUV right before a work zone staring right at me.

2) Only time I ever got a speeding ticket was when I left my radar detector at home.

Has it paid for itself, Yes, many times. Does it give you the right to drive like a d-bag? no. Its not bullet proof. It does help tho.

 

^^ word. It isnt bullet proof but does help alot. I vouch for my valentine1 100% good investment.

 

Well said.

 

by the way, Cobras are one of the ____tiest radar detectors ever...

if you can afford get something like Escort 9500xi or Beltronics STI

 

^^I agree Cobra is junk! you might as well use that cobra for a paperweight, that's about all it's good for. Sorry to be harsh but it's the truth. I've seen cobra's in action, it's really sad. Take it back if you can to get your $$$ back.

Beltronics (Bel), Escort and Valentine are the ONLY ones worth buying, period. the haters only got caught using the cheap junk. Try a good one and you'll see

 

Another suggestion is to use traffic to your advantage. For example: I usually cruise at 75-80 (10-15 over) until I come across someone going faster than me. Then I just follow them in the right lane and use them as a shield to cops on the median.

 

That really doesn't help you if you are following closely. Technically, if the cop can clock the first one and you're moving at the same rate of speed you're as good as caught too. He may even try to pull you both over in one action, if that doesn't work and you don't stop you won't be able to out run motorola which is what he'll be using to call ahead to a buddy.