RADAR DETECTORS...

[Kanchou]

Anyone have any experience buying them? What are some reasonable models that are easy to use and have good features? Ideally under 2 man.

[Mike Oxlong]

There was this thread a couple years back that had some good info...somebody here might have updates or other points of view.

[Yokohammer]

[Kanchou]

I went to Autobacs and they have a lot (many of them are over 3 man), but they're all running in demo mode, and the ones that aren't touch screen have remotes, which weren't present, so you can't really get a feel for whether they're easy to use or not...

I want something with a good, responsive speedometer function with peak hold, a touch screen, and the ability to easily be upgraded with new GPS data.

[Kanchou]

But here's what gives me pause. These things are used to detect police radars, right? But you're going to get pulled over at times, even if you're not speeding, right? So the cop sees a radar detector on your dash and immediately knows that you normally exceed the speed limit (who doesn't?) and have the radar to avoid being caught. Does that give him/them cause to make life more difficult for you than he/they normally would?

For the most part, ORBIS cameras are a bigger threat than actual police cars and shirobai. The GPS features tell you where they're located. As well as where police like to lay speed traps.

If you get a mirror-type detector and turn the screen off, they're pretty hard to distinguish from a regular clip-on aftermarket mirror.

[Coligny]

But here's what gives me pause. These things are used to detect police radars, right? But you're going to get pulled over at times, even if you're not speeding, right? So the cop sees a radar detector on your dash and immediately knows that you normally exceed the speed limit (who doesn't?) and have the radar to avoid being caught. Does that give him/them cause to make life more difficult for you than he/they normally would?

It's like 90% of the cars around here have a radar detector...

These days I'd pay good money for a windspeed tachometer. Have to fight to stay on the left lane... (WTF weather BTW, since when december is also the 'plane fall from the sky' season ?)

[Yokohammer]

For the most part, ORBIS cameras are a bigger threat than actual police cars and shirobai. The GPS features tell you where they're located. As well as where police like to lay speed traps.

Didn't know that ... good info. Guess I'll be looking around then.

The only thing is I want something small. I have built-in navigation systems in both my cars, and don't want another honking great screen cluttering up the cockpit.

Let us know what you find!

[Kanchou]

They actually don't make anything bigger than about 2.5" wide. They all seem to be around the same size overall.

Typically I don't drive fast enough to actually activate speed cameras on the highway (you have to be going more than 40 over for them to go off). Still...

[Russell]

It seems most cameras in Hyogo-prefecture do not work, because they are (almost ?) out of film. They bought a large stock a decade or so ago, when production finished, but now they are out, and they do not have the money to install electronic cameras.

BTW, are these non-marked patrol cars also equipped with radar? If not, it would not make sense to have a radar detector here.

[matsuki]

It seems most cameras in Hyogo-prefecture do not work, because they are (almost ?) out of film. They bought a large stock a decade or so ago, when production finished, but now they are out, and they do not have the money to install electronic cameras.

BTW, are these non-marked patrol cars also equipped with radar? If not, it would not make sense to have a radar detector here.

Radar jammer would be more useful

[Coligny]

Radar jammer would be more useful

Problems with jammers only is they would need to be always on. And since be design you need them to be quite powerfull in order to reach a bit ahead it might not be the healthiest solution. My cell phone jammer despite it's externally mounted antennas (untunned unfortunately) is really efficient at triggerring migrainas when I forget to turn it off...

[waruta]

Radar jammer would be more useful

Aren't all the speed-sensing guns laser now? There is no way to protect against a laser as it uses any convenient reflective surface to get a lock on the car/bike and can't jam it. Only thing I can think of is non-reflective surfaces or shooting a laser back

[matsuki]

Problems with jammers only is they would need to be always on. And since be design you need them to be quite powerfull in order to reach a bit ahead it might not be the healthiest solution. My cell phone jammer despite it's externally mounted antennas (untunned unfortunately) is really efficient at triggerring migrainas when I forget to turn it off...

LOL, oh how I need to buy one of those setups...

Aren't all the speed-sensing guns laser now? There is no way to protect against a laser as it uses any convenient reflective surface to get a lock on the car/bike and can't jam it. Only thing I can think of is non-reflective surfaces or [color="Red"]shooting[/color] a laser [color="Red"]back [/color]:)

Now you're talkin!

[Kanchou]

The only way to beat a laser detector would be to cover the entire car in astronomy-grade mirrors... if it doesn't bounce the beam back to the car, it won't read.

No, not all speed guns are laser. They don work when moving and have to be manually aimed, unlike radar which works from a fixed position, or while driving.

[Coligny]

The only way to beat a laser detector would be to cover the entire car in astronomy-grade mirrors... if it doesn't bounce the beam back to the car, it won't read.

No, not all speed guns are laser. They don work when moving and have to be manually aimed, unlike radar which works from a fixed position, or while driving.

Yeah, but you also need a special body shape no ? Like this one:



And avoid going anywhere near Serbia... at all costs...

[Kanchou]

Yeah, but you also need a special body shape no ? Like this one:



And avoid going anywhere near Serbia... at all costs...

A laser is a straight beam of light. Assuming you had a perfect mirror, you would have to be at almost exactly 90 degrees for it to be reflected back to the source. Very unlikely.

Radar OTOH is a radio wave... it's harder to fool.

Even the F-22 will appear on a radar... except as the size of a small bird of an insect. Apparently the B-2 is the size of a bee.

Stealth simply reduces the detection range of radar to the point where the planes can simply fly through the gaps.

[FG Lurker]

Saw a nighttime speed trap just now (21:05 in Osaka.) Fuckers were using instant-on as well. Looks like they're getting more serious with speed checks.

[Coligny]

Saw a nighttime speed trap just now (21:05 in Osaka.) Fuckers were using instant-on as well. Looks like they're getting more serious with speed checks.

Seasonnal... Lots of end of year party / drunkz... Bonus time for them cops...

[BigInJapan]

Seasonnal... Lots of end of year party / drunkz... Bonus time for them cops...

Yep, my wife saw a unmarked patrol car that had pulled over some lawbreaker here in inaka today. It's definitely that time of the year.

[Coligny]

I forgot to put my turning light once this evening... Me bitch was telling the shitstorm she unleashed at a safety meeting, her narration was even less coherent than usual (there's people that can tell stories... -Georges Carlin being one of them- and at the other end of the scope there's... her...) and I was trying to make sense of the story involving a pregnant nurse, NICU team last minute call, ICU chief nurse being less than careful on the job and I could already picture some female staff crying after me bitch calmed down a bit...

Bu bu bu buttt...

I stoped in the middle of the crossing waiting to turn right and realised after the fact that I forgot to signal...

I hate when this happenz... I also partly blame the fact that I take this road between 2 and 4 times everyday... and the car tend to drive it by himself... [yes cars are female, but this one being blue is a He, beside we named him Tojo, in relation to my previous dentist who died just before we bought it and looked like a smily Hideki Tojo... it was a good dentist always telling stories when he worked on prisonners letting the worse one with raging toothackes for days ubtil they banged their heads to the walls before treating them. His son was a former student of me bitch when she was university prof... task she hated with passion (see the "can't tell stories for shit" part...)]

(Don't have a lot of people to talk to these days... maybe starting to showz...)

[FG Lurker]

I've seen lots of nighttime DUI checks and seat belt checks, and the ghost cars / regular patrol cars are always around. It's the first time I've seen an actual speed trap set up at night though -- the type where one cop sits on the side of the road with a radar gun on a mini-tripod while his cohorts wait up the road to flag down speeders. Nights and rainy days have always been trap-free in my experience here.

[matsuki]

BTW, are these non-marked patrol cars also equipped with radar? If not, it would not make sense to have a radar detector here.

Does anyone have a good answer to this? With all my high speed antics of late, I'm thinking I should buy a radar detector IF these undercover patrol cars are using radar. (otherwise it's pretty useless for highway driving)

[Taro Toporific]

... What are some reasonable models that are easy to use and have good features?

Radar detectors have NO FUCKING VALUE on Japan's major expressways because the East, Central, West highway authorities have placed decoy radar/microwave/laser units every couple km. When I drive from Tokyo to rice ranch in south Shikoku both of my 40,000+ ¥en radar detectors* go off every minute so you need a radar detector that also has the GPS w/pre-entered coordinates of all the stationary laser/LiDAR camera traps that don't use radar.

Bottom Line: Nothing works J-tollroads---You need an illegal radar/laser jammer(s), which of course some J-cops have a way of detecting too.

*Japanese radar detectors work well in the US,
so I take them home with me to use
in the Land-of-the-Free.

[Kanchou]

Well, not any more. Now it's all about GPS-based locations of induction coil speed cameras and such. The radar/laser detection is basically a secondary feature now.

[Taro Toporific]

Well, not any more. Now it's all about GPS-based locations of induction coil speed cameras and such. The radar/laser detection is basically a secondary feature now.

And... those GPS-based locations of passive-nothing-to-detect induction coil speed cameras* (which are very stationary and seldom moved) only account for a percentage of the speed traps. Nothing is even 50% sure when it comes to detection.

*Cameras are meant to catch "tourists"
and not hardcore speed freaks.

[Yokohammer]

I have GPS/radar detectors in both cars now, and I'm really glad I do. I don't know for sure that they've saved my ass, but I have been heeding their warnings for the past two years (almost) and haven't been pulled over once.

[matsuki]

Pretty much anything under 120 seems to work on the J-toll roads when it comes to the speed cameras/traps/etc....it's those pesky undercover patrol cars one has to watch. (at least during the day, I NEVER see them after 9ish) So if what you're saying it true, I shouldn't bother with anything...as I don't fly/drive like an ass on shitamichi as there enough obstacles to deter any sane person from attempting to go too fast there.

[Russell]

I have never been caught speeding, even if I do not have a radar detector.

On highways, I do keep track of cars in my rear mirror to detect the ones that might be a speed control. They are recognized as follows:

. Brand: Toyota Mark II or something like that

. Color: White, gray, or black

. Mirrors on the fender, I have been told (though I did not confirm this)

. There is some obstacle hanging from the roof in between the two passengers: this is the siren light coming out of the roof when used. This obstacle can be seen clearly enough when it is dark, because the car behind it shines its lights through the car's back and front window.

. Car tends to keep some distance, while keeping the same speed as you.

I also noticed that they usually have patrols when the weather is reasonable. I only saw one patrol in all those years in rainy weather. They do have night service, though I do not know if they patrol after 1:00 AM. When there is a traffic jam in the going direction or the opposite direction, there are no patrols (because they cannot easily return).

I pass a police station along the highway very frequently, and in surrounding stretches of highway they tend to patrol. Obviously, in that area my speeding is down to up to 20 km/h above the limit. They won't catch you up to 20 km/h on the highway. On local roads they do catch offenders below 20 km/h over the limit, so be careful.

I do not speed on the local roads, or only somewhat on the ones I know very well. Local roads tend to have more frequent controls than highways, especially in some seasons (safety season = bonus season).

Some may comment that my behavior is irresponsible, but if I go 30 km/h over the limit, than I still only go 90 km/h on most stretches of highway I frequently use. Compare that to the regular limits of 100 km/h or 120 km/h in the Netherlands on highways (occasionally 80 km/h and 130 km/h): then again in the Netherlands, it is pretty strictly enforced.

I won't talk about Germany this time, because some people might go ballistic...

[Taro Toporific]

I just these helpful message from a very kind fellow, Mr. Phentermine, about radar detectors...

Screen Shot 2014-01-11 at 5.13.42 PM.jpg

[yanpa]

I have decoded the message: "Kamikaze cows" is an alliteration for the females of the Yamato nation, and Mr. Phentermine is saying we need radar to detect their nipples.