EXTREME-stealth install suggestions?

[Bookm]

AS far as installation goes, I am very specific about what I want in an RD. When I was a teenager, I modified an old Fuzzbuster (antique) in the following manner:
- Mounted the unit in a coffee can (painted flat black) beside the radiator of my old Mercury Comet.
- I hacked the power cord to run off a toggle switch under my dash.
- I pulled out the little red light and speaker and ran long wires for both inside the car (speaker in the roof liner over the left window, and light in my instrument panel). Each were on their own toggle switch.

Since RD's are illegal here, I would typically only run the speaker so as not to grab the eye of a hawkeye LEO. But would turn the light on if playing the stereo too loud. This setup virtually saved my lisence (heavy foot / muscle car days / ahh the 70's)

Now (all grown up) I want to buy a new RD that can offer this type of extreme flexibility, as losing it to the law is not an option (would be 2nd conviction = expensive). I don't want my car to look like a rock concert when a LEO pulls up beside me at a light! I lost another RD because I got lazy about stealth, and plan to go overboard with concealment this time. So I need an RD with sound/light separate from the unit, without opening the case and voiding any warrantees.

Dash/visor mounting is out of the question. I'd be way to nervous about "suspicion=vehicle search". (In Ontario, any LEO has grounds for search with just "suspicion"). Besides, I use my visor for blocking the sun! I don't want to go into panic mode when being pulled over, so a clever install in the nose is my preferred setup (not worried about the rear... (for now).

Any SUPER-CLEVER ideas would be appreciated. Pretend the LEO is now in the car... searching!!
Thanks
Book

[spankyaf]

Very interesting now we just use an Sti and hardwire mount in a CD case around the visor.

Its not detectable electronically so that pretty well covers it for most people

I guess you could go to some stealth extreme but since the cops dont have a probable cause to search your car anymore its a bit of waste.

[Synbios]

It can still be detected by the SPECTRE but the cop will probably not be able to figure out which car the signal is coming from if you are amongst other cars. The SR7 by escort is probably the best concealed detector you can get. It will cost you around $1k I believe, and is mountable in the nose of the car behind the grille. You can put the display just about anywhere you want. You could easily incorporate a kill switch for when a LEO is spotted. This is my best suggestion.

Although the STi is SPECTRE immune, the unit still has to be placed somewhere visible. Only other option I can imagine is to get an STi and hardwire it HIGH above the RVM and run it on ALL DARK mode all the time.

[spankyaf]

It can still be detected by the SPECTRE but the cop will probably not be able to figure out which car the signal is coming from if you are amongst other cars. The SR7 by escort is probably the best concealed detector you can get. It will cost you around $1k I believe, and is mountable in the nose of the car behind the grille. You can put the display just about anywhere you want. You could easily incorporate a kill switch for when a LEO is spotted. This is my best suggestion.

Although the STi is SPECTRE immune, the unit still has to be placed somewhere visible. Only other option I can imagine is to get an STi and hardwire it HIGH above the RVM and run it on ALL DARK mode all the time.

Cmon up to Spectre land and we'll show you how

[wanderingmind]

Just curious, how often do cops run the RDD's?

[spankyaf]

Theres lots of info in the Spectre Forum.

But in a nutshell.... you know how your rd alerts when its near a Cobra....thats how the Spectre works. Its mounted to the windshield with suctions cups they can rotate to give it directional indicator and the Spectre III has a gain control. If you're in a group of cars they dont know which one... by yourself youre screwed. The Spectre alert gives the cop propable cause to search.

They used to run quite a bit in the early days and they caught bucketfuls of rds. Now its not a priority but you're always looking over your shoulder.

No ones been caught with an Sti that we know of.

[takk]

Ooh ooh... someone who's as paranoid of their RD being seen as me

Seriously -- get an STi!

Here's what I did...

I got the visor mounting thing that has two pockets in it (from radarbusters.com). One pocket is a "real" pocket -- i.e., closed at one end and has a flap on the other end (it's meant for sunglasses and whatnot). The other pocket is for the STi and it's open at both ends (one for the RD antenna lens and the other so you can see the display).

I positioned it on my visor with the 'real' pocket flap facing the windshield, and the closed end facing me (with the visor up) -- i.e., backwards. I put the RD in the 'real' pocket (NOT the RD pocket). I can't see the display b/c it's at the closed end of the pocket but I don't need to. When I'm using the RD, I open the flap and tuck it under the visor so now the RD antenna is pointing at the windshield, and I pull it forwards so it's sticking out a bit (on the reasoning that I might get better detection that way). When I park somewhere a cop might drive by, I just flip the flap of the pocket down and it closes with velcro.

I have it hard-wired with an LED lit switch in one of the empty switch slots on my lower dash, and the speaker mounted out of sight, behind the dash next to the switch. It's plenty loud! I hid the mute button switch with the flashing light under the dash out of sight because I don't need it, but you could presumably put it somewhere where you could see it if you wanted to.

I cut a hole in the side of the pocket so that I can unhook the wires from the RD and take it down in a second if I need to... I didn't like the look of the hole in the side, soooo... over the top of this whole visor unit, I put one of those flat CD holders for visors -- it hides everything really nicely!

I can also put my visor down -- when I do, the RD is no longer pointed at the windshield (it's pointing up at the ceiling, safe in its pocket) but I figure I'm not likely to be speeding if I'm driving into glaring sun... and from what I understand, it will still pick up radar anyway, just not laser.

I'm telling you... I am super paranoid (just ask these guys, lol... or read the thread in the Beltronics forum I started about issues with having the STi on the visor -- yeah, they told me to take a pill :P ) partly because we have road blocks set up around here a lot with cops checking vehicle inspection stickers and I was sure they were gonna see my RD -- but the set-up I have is great. I feel totally secure -- no-one would ever know there's an RD on my visor just by looking at it... even if they got close and inspected.

[Arashi666]

now if the SR7 and the STI got together and had a kid............ that would be your RD right there

[SmaartAasSaabr]

oh yeah... just throw some GPS in there too... integrate navigation too for the sissies who use that kind of thing :wink:

[Bookm]

Ya, I had hoped the STI could be configured in a stealthy manner, and now I see it can
I sincerely appreciate the replys, and can now make a more informed decision.

Thanks much, and FIGHT those tickets!!