Phoenix/Scottsdale Help!

[sixgun95]

What is generally used in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area? Trying to decide what I need to buy. Radar, Laser...both. Which rig, V1 or 9500ix. Help me out here please. Thanks.

[zr1]

The mighty V1 is very good. Very good indeed. It's very sensitive to get signals from far away and it'll alert at the weakest signals. If I'm driving to Globe, Safford, Tombstone, Payson, Sedona, or Vegas...this is exactly what I'm wanting. Same deal with riding the motorcycle through the hills or canyons.

But in the 99% daily commute through the East Valley and Phoenix, a very sensitive detector would be alerting to false signals from every Circle K, airport, and school-"this-is-your-speed"-sign. Sure, some hard-core-enthusiasts like it, but that's just too chatty of a detector for me.

Using SAVVY on the V1 helps a lot...such as in the parking lots of Fry's, but it's just nowhere the filtering capability of a GPS-detector like the 9500ix.

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The 9500ix is very good at the GPS thing. It will learn the GPS locations and signal frequencies of false signals and after a week or so of driving your common route, your daily commute will get really quiet. It's not just the quiet that helps...but when you get a real signal...people say they are more apt to take it seriously.

I'm using the GX65, which is the same as the 9500ix except:
* Autolock on the 9500ix and True-Lock on the Bel (on the Bel version one has to press a button to lock it out, which I prefer anyway)
* Different sets of sounds/voices (man-voice on Bel, sexy Scarlett Johansson-type voice on the Escort)
* Case styling (optional colors and LED colors on the Escort...on the Bel...it's one case color with red LEDs)
* Spec Display is slightly different (both will track multiple signals, but the Escort will show 3-x, 3-K, and 3-Ka at the same time...the Bel will only show up to 1-x, 1-k, 1-Ka at the same time)
* Ramp-up - 9500ix has almost no "ramping" and just goes to full-strength on most signals. The Bel has some pretty good ramp up so you can tell if you're getting a weak signal or not (by comparison, the V1 has even better ramp-up). The ramp-up issue is one of the bigger reasons I chose the Bel.
*Price
- Escort - $499
- GX65 - ~ $320
- PRO-500 - $399 (The PRO-500 is the newer GX65 from Bel and all of the above applies...though it has more recent logic programming)

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So I don't really do the City-mode/Highway-mode thing much. I use two RD's.
* GPS version in town
* Raw performance model for out of town

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Laser (LIDAR)
I don't use my radar detector to "notify" me of laser...using it this way, it's just notifying me that the officer already has my speed and I'm toast. With laser it's very rare to get an alert and you're not the target.

For this, I'd look into laser jammers...legal in AZ, but use them stealthily so the officer never knows you have it.
* The jammer alerts and starts automatically jamming
* Slow to the speed limit (without putting on a show for the officer)
* Hit the "off" button on the jammer to allow the officer to get your (now legal) speed
* The officer will never know the difference and you just F-117'd your way to avoid high points

Two top brands to look at are Laser Interceptor and Blinder (their new 905).

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On all of the above, use Google and YouTube to look up the models I mentioned to get a feel for their performance and behaviors. Also take note of who's reviewing...people that get no gain from selling detectors are emphasized.

There are people that are in the "detector-biz" that give honest reviews...but sometimes it's just not easy to decipher/recreate their testing data to confirm.

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Heat
If you have installed components (such as the laser jammer or an installed radar like the awesome STiR+), then it's just out in the heat. For a windshield detector, you can take them in out of the heat...but I leave mine in the car all the time...but mounted in a shaded spot out of the sun (and so a person standing next to the car can't see it). Leaving them in the heat may (in theory) shorten the lifespan and figure $100 return to the factory for it in a couple of years to refurbish it.