I have an escort 9500ci professionally installed on my car (silver mustang) almost a year ago.
Since then I have been lased ~25 times by police (city and state) and have never been pulled over, flagged or ticketed. I assume that means it worked every time.
But, today I got my first ticket: My jammer detected it and gave me the usual 'front laser alert' message, but I got pulled over and ticketed(44 in what turned out to be a 30 zone)!
Setup:
The radar antenna is mounted in the center under my front bumper and the two laser emitters are on either side of it. The rear sensor is mounted above my rear license plate. I don't have a front license plate, but my car is silver colored.
Environment:
The road was slightly uphill (~5-10 degrees). It was a little overcast. I don't think it was raining at all, but it had been, so there would have been some water droplets kicked up by other cars, though there was plenty of space in front of me.
The officer was standing in the middle of the road flagging cars down, with his motorcycle on the side of the road.
Questions:
Its possible given the angle of the road that he was aiming for my hood(I don't have a front license plate)? I have been lased going uphill and downhill, before without a problem.
Instead of using the gun-type form factor I've seen before, what he had seemed to be a side-by-side system like binoculars. It was hanging from a neck strap so I saw it up close when came to give me the ticket. It was all black, maybe 10 inches deep, 8 inches wide and 4 thick, so it looks a little bigger than products I found in my search (though size is hard to judge).
Within seconds of letting me go, I saw he was flagging down another car. It didn't seem like he'd have had enough time, or been in a good position to lase them. This is also a new location for police to be.
I am wondering if they were testing something new? Maybe it was coordinated with a laser on his motorcycle?
I hadn't seen a lidar system like that before. Although I've never seen one up close in person, just as I'm driving by or pictures on a web site.
What he had looks similar to a SpeedLaser-Torch (MPH Industries) or a Laser-Atlanta SpeedLaser (similar product name - maybe they're the same company?)
Doing some research, it sounds like Laser-Atlanta has a 'Stealth Mode' feature introduced a few years ago but I also found that the 9500ci was upgraded to counter it.
I don't know if he knew I had a laser jammer(I assume he would've been mean instead of nice). The Laser-Atlanta system is supposed to check if you have one.
Could this be something new? Is this a Laser-Atlanta with 'Stealth Mode' that somehow got past my 9500ci? Does a 9500ci not (always) block this Stealth Mode?
None of the lidar guns I have been lased with before looked like this model. Could the police have gotten through on some of the ~25 other times I have been lased and just let me go? (There have only been a few times when I was going fast enough for them to have trouble catching up).
No defense system is perfect but 1 failure out of 25 isn't so good. It was really shocking/upsetting. Is there anything more I can do to keep a lidar system from getting a reading on my car?
My research:
Laser Atlanta Stealth Mode - Guys of LIDAR
SpeedLaser LIDAR - Handheld Police Speed Detector Laser
MPH Industries - Police Radar and Lidar Products
[link removed]
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