Radar detector /too many false alarms

Cpo1944

Cpo1944

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I had to drive to VA in Salisbury NC today, and my Valentine One sounded alarms almost all the way there and back.

I never did see a police car and it went off in the same areas both going and coming. Have the "authorities" installed some kind of jammer device???

Has anyone else noticed this? It was so bad I finally just turned my V1 off , since it was useless as it was .

Does this mean I have to drive the speed limit now?
What a nightmare!!!
 
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Radar Detectors are pretty good on the Highway but when You get near a City They tend to pick up all types of signals.
I used one for about a year but decided it was too much of a pain and it would not pick up the laser at all,But if the detector goes off from a laser it's too late anyway.
I watch the tail lights of the Vehicles further ahead of Me to see if Their tail lights go on,If so I slow down because there could be a speed trap close. But if You obey the Speed Limit there is no need for a Radar Detector.
 
Some of the newer cars have electronic features such as collision avoidance that use radar frequencies. If you check your V1 manual, you may find you can alter the operating mode to minimize false alerts.

You can also enter your V1 serial number on the Valentine web site to see what kind of upgrades are available for your detector.
 
Cops and traffic engineers often use radar-based speed detectors for doing traffic studies. They may either be the kind that display your speed via a display screen or in covert mode, not alerting anyone to speed, but rather just "counting" traffic speed and volume. Or you could have been picking up a "speed camera" somewhere if it was in the same location. Lots of radar sources out there on the same band as the cops' radar in their cars.

I always preferred LIDAR to RADAR anyway.
 
Ain't RADAR detectors illegal in Virginia?

Seems like they was, but I ain't been to Virginia since the early 90s, so memory may be faulty.
 
I had radar detectors in the past but finally concluded it's easier just to stay within 10 of the speed limit. One day I got a ticket on my motorcycle leaving a small town where I'd just had lunch. I was all laid back, really chilled, not paying attention to speed. After 10 or 15 seconds of my detector going off I am like whats that beeping noise? Well it was a cop coming from the other way. 70 in a 55, or was it 45? oops
 
Can't speak for other states, but in NC the cop has to estimate your speed and then verify it by radar. Also, it takes about a nano second to pick up your speed on the radar unit, so the "radar detector" is pretty much useless if the cop knows his job. (I worked traffic for eight years.) I only turned my radar on after I'd estimated your speed.
 
I admit to having been somewhat of a radar jerk. At night, following someone down a major road who had a radar detector visible but hadn't seen me behind them, I enjoyed activating my radar and watching them jump on their brakes. Didn't seem to matter that their speed was reasonable, they would just jump on the brakes. After 3 or 4 radar flash/brake episodes, most finally reached up and shut their detector off.

I guess I am easily entertained.

Like has been said above, a detector may do you very little good if you speed and the radar operator is using proper radar procedures, because they won't activate the radar until they have already visually determined that you are speeding, and with radar beams travelling at the speed of light, your jump on the brakes just confirms the officer's belief that you knew you were driving too fast. My favorite question, when stopping a detector-using driver for speeding, was, "Do you know how fast you were driving when your radar detector went off?"
 
Cpo1944 said:
Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...
As noted, there are many more sources of RF energy on the highways now. Many vehicles have sensor systems for adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance that will trigger radar detectors. Of course, if your traveling in the same direction as one of these vehicles and maintaining a close distance, they trigger your device intermittently. I have noticed that Audi systems seem particularly annoying on my old detector.

Escort claims to have new and improved filters on their latest offerings that block the false alerts, or remember the location of stationary ones and ignore them. They also maintain a database of traffic camera locations and alert you as you approach.

There is a phone "App" called Waze that compiles user input and GPS to alert the driver to road conditions including Police presence.
 
The nice lady on my GPS politely informs me instantaneously at 1mph over, "you are over the speed limit", that's my radar detector. Sometimes I heed the warning most times not.
 
Last edited:
There are a couple of detectors on the market that let you mark the false alarms via GPS, so only new signals in that particular area will trigger subsequent alerts.

The arrows of the V1 are a hard feature to give up, however. The only way to get both is the newest Escort, for around $800, IIRC.
 
Cpo1944 said:
I had to drive to VA in Salisbury NC today, and my Valentine One sounded alarms almost all the way there and back.

I never did see a police car and it went off in the same areas both going and coming. Have the "authorities" installed some kind of jammer device???

Has anyone else noticed this? It was so bad I finally just turned my V1 off , since it was useless as it was .

Does this mean I have to drive the speed limit now?
What a nightmare!!!
Click to expand...

You can go into configuration and disable the POP detection. This should eliminate most of false alarms you see on the highway.

Good Luck
 
Alpo said:
Ain't RADAR detectors illegal in Virginia? Seems like they was, but I ain't been to Virginia since the early 90s, so memory may be faulty.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. They were still verboten in Virginia when I was going to South Carolina 3-4 times a year in the early 2000's.
 
What do you need a radar detector for? Aren't you just naturally an up-standing law-abiding citizen? Only scofflaws who deliberately and habitually violate speed laws need them! Imagine how surprised I am to discover we have some of these as forum members!!!!!:D:D:D
 
Only appropriate, following Alk, that I was once told by a civil servant that he thought having a detector amount to "intent to violate the speed limit."
:(

Since they started using lasers, I've pretty much just kept the Escort stowed in the console. All it was good for was confirming that I was about to be pulled over....
;)
 
Traveling speed trap.....

RSanch111 said:
Cops and traffic engineers often use radar-based speed detectors for doing traffic studies. They may either be the kind that display your speed via a display screen or in covert mode, not alerting anyone to speed, but rather just "counting" traffic speed and volume. Or you could have been picking up a "speed camera" somewhere if it was in the same location. Lots of radar sources out there on the same band as the cops' radar in their cars.

I always preferred LIDAR to RADAR anyway.
Click to expand...

Our PDs have a little trailer with a display of what speed you are going as you approach it. And yeah, it's right on the money.:)
 
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