32 replies to this topic

[VVVRoom]

Now that I have the MY04 V70R home and have driven a couple hundred miles, I think the 1st performace enhancing aftermarket option I need to consider is radar/laser detection/protection system. Does anyone have experience with the K40 products (www.K40.om), especially the "undetectable dual remote"?

[Amiro]

Most people i know generally go with the Escort Passport 8500 or the Valentine 1. I'd never heard of the the K40 company. Are they new in the radar detector business?

You can try sites like radartest.com to check out some reviews.

[VVVRoom]

The K40 was recommended by the Volvo dealer. I don't know their product from experience, but they market an installation that is completely concealed - not even my wife would know it was there - and is said to be effective for laser as well as radar.

[Rob]

From what I've read on many automotive enthusiast sites (both Volvo and non-Volvo), I've noticed a strong preference for the Valentine 1 and Escort 8500 series. Even on people who participate in road races at very high speeds > 140 mph they seem to swear by them - especially the V1, as it is commonly known.

Rob

[EntertheR]

IMO radar detectors seem to give a false sense of security when you own one. I use it for situational awareness and don't depend solely on it to keep me out of trouble. I don't know what country you are in but in the US, some places use a type of radar called instant on. By the time you break your speed, the cops are starting up to come get you! How ever in Germany, Potugal, and UK, where there are alot of stationary photo radars and RD's are really useful. As far as I know the US is the only place widely using instant on. So if you live somewhere else and want to reduce(not eliminate) the stack of tickets and court apperance then look into a decent detector. I have heard of K40 but don't have any experience. Alot of people I know go for BEL, Whistler, Escort, and Uniden. Lots of option, lot of money.

[Rob]

EntertheR, on Aug 31 2003, 12:39 PM, said:

IMO radar detectors seem to give a false sense of security when you own one. I use it for situational awareness and don't depend solely on it to keep me out of trouble.

Couldn't agree with you more on that one... I have long contemplated getting radar detection equipment but worried that it would make me complacent and too reliant on it. Over the last 10-15 years I have developped a sort of "natural" radar detection and avoidance mechanism... getting used to routes, traps, spotter vehicles and so forth.

I've always been worried that an electronic radar detection system would coax me into driving fast all the time and overriding my natural instincts. It's a similar situation with the "cruise control" feature - I rarely, if ever use it. I find it detracts from the driving experience. It's enough that I have an automatic transmission, but add cruise control and radar detectors to the mix and I see myself setting the cruise to 150 km/h and forgetting about my own "intuition."

Now, this being said, I still would like to have an "upper edge"... I mean the police combine technology with instinct and use it to apply the law - whether it's a combination of ingenious spotter/radar location and actual equipment technology... it's a never ending battle.

I realise I'm veering off from the actual topic of which radar detection system is best, but I thought it would be worth adding my $0.02 about the overall worth of a radar or laser detection system...

Cheers,

Rob

[defgh1]

VVVRoom, on Aug 31 2003, 10:25 AM, said:

Now that I have the MY04 V70R home and have driven a couple hundred miles, I think the 1st performace enhancing aftermarket option I need to consider is radar/laser detection/protection system.    Does anyone have experience with the K40 products (www.K40.om), especially the "undetectable dual remote"?

I am not familiar with the K40 series but I have owned a Valentine 1 and highly recommend it. Like others have said it is not the Ultimate protection and still requires common sense in use. The biggested problem I am now having in Maryland is the great majority of Police use laser for speed monitoring. With laser when your detector goes off you have already been clocked. You need a good laser jammer in MD.

Doug

Edited by defgh1, 01 September 2003 - 12:35 PM.

[Masterkim]

Radartest hates the k40. Go with the Escort or Valentine, they are both consistently highly rated. I had a k40 and i was disappointed: it falsed all the time, and seemed to "leak", so that my BEL right next to it kept detecting the k40! not good. Also, K40s seem to be sold primarily through dealers that don't sell other brands. Not a great way to get unbiased advice. If I was going to spend over a thousand bucks to install the concealed radar, laser unit discussed above, I would absolutely go with the escort. It has radar detection and active laser jamming. I forget what model number it is, but it is pricey.

I have had the Escort 8500 for a few years now, and it works pretty well. As long as you know the limitations of a radar detector -- it is no cloak of immunity, for sure -- it is a fine unit. Next time, I will buy another escort or valentine

The valentine is the most highly rated, generally, and has two benefits that the others don't really have. 1), you can tell in which direction the bogeys are located. Most experts seem to think this is a throwaway benefit, since radar is almost always in front of you. 2) the more salient benefit is that the valentine enumerates multiple bogeys, so you can tell how many signals are ahead of you. This is apparently worthwhile if you run into a really hairy speedtrap where two or more cops are trying to weed out guys with radar detectors: they pass the first cop like choirboys, then step on the gas, just in time to run into the other set of cops waiting a mile down the road. The valentine would give you the info to avoid that second trap. Can't say it's ever happened to me, but . . .


Regarding Laser jammers, they do work, as long as you don't fall for one of those passive Rocky Mountain jobbies. Do the research, go to radartest.com, and buy yourself an active jammer. I have had a lidatek for 4 years, and I believe it works. I have never had 100%, unequivocal confirmation of that, but I have passed several laser traps, and it went off once, and I have never been nailed for speeding by laser. The unit only falses if i am near a strobe (ambulance, police car, etc. or very rarely a stray reflection on a very sunny day. I am very happy with the unit, and I understand that a new model is out now that updates for the new generation of laser guns which my old unit will not work against.

Anyway, let me know what you decide, and good luck! And don't listen to those other guys talking about false sense of security. All I know is, I want to make sure my speedometer works past 110mph every now and then, and when I do, I dang well want a radar detector on my dashboard! And a laser jammer, and maybe a bearcat scanner, infrared, and some cop's mom in the passenger seat!

Edited by Masterkim, 03 September 2003 - 04:31 AM.

[VVVRoom]

Thanks for the report!
One other criteria I have is that the installation needs to be so
inconspicuous that my wife does not notice that it is there. That is the real benefit of the K40. Nevertheless, I continue to hear negative reports about it and understand that K40 (whose primary innovation was the 40" CB radio antenna) has pretty much just repackged Whistler technology to be more inconspicuous.

BTW, was your K40 experience with a recent (2000) model?

I have an appointment with an experienced installer (who reps several products and delivers/installs at your location!) to pursue the Escort installation later today. Looking at Passport SR7 with Laser Shifter ZR3, which offers protection against an instant-on gun.

I don't habitually travel in wild excess of the limits, but often do 150 mile day trips for work and those long expanses of interstate are pretty safe for high speed travel at 2 am (in vehicle such as V70R), except for the potential ticket.

[Masterkim]

The Escort Passport SR7 is the unit I will likely get next time as well. Just make sure the unit doesn't make its noises automatically when the car is started. My Lidatek is so loud every time the key turns that I think Helen Keller would probably know there was something fishy under the dash!

I did not have a new K40, it was bought around 1995 I think. Man! getting old!!

Good luck with the install, and let me know how much they are asking for the SR7.