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Just to be clear, MEM-TEK's theories above are very feasible if it was applied to "straight line sensitivity" not “forward facing"?
Below, I am talking about "straight line sensitivity"
Personally I like how my 9500I's horn flairs down rather than up. I feel more comfortable mounting it real high because of the flair down. Obviously there will be more chance of a small reflection from the ground/hood rather than the sky by radar in front of you.
Why would there be horn's flaired up?
Hi CJR,Quote:
Originally Posted by CJR238
I've been using my 9500i mounted above my RVM for a few weeks now. It does an excellent job of additionally picking up reflections off of my car's hood, but only if there isn't a gas guzzling SUV right in front of me! When mounted high, you definitely want to make sure that the 9500i is mounted level. Once in a while I deliberately use an incorrect notch on the windshield bracket so that my 9500i points slightly up, and so that I can more easily access its buttons. In this slight upward position there are several extremely weak and distant falses around town in Highway mode which do not produce an alert. As soon as I adjust my 9500i so that it is truly level and gaining the benefit of detecting additional hood reflections, I always get those extremely weak false alerts. After using my new 9500i for a few solid weeks, there is no way that I will sell it since its sensitivity is excellent, yet its spooky how it filters out false alerts around town even in highway mode.
Hmm...Why would there be horns flared up? Design convenience and the desired shape of the radar detector case are the only reasons. Fortunately for the 9500i, it was far more practical to flip the whole horn and main circuit board design upside down in order to allow room for the GPS board to be installed directly above the main circuit board without requiring an overly thick radar detector case. This, along with a few undisclosed firmware tweaks, is why the 9500i is nearly as sensitive as the V1.
--Michael
I love how an Escort zombie and Beltronics lover are just sucking each others dick :roll:
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyVOLVOrob
If what we state is not fact, or based on a logical opinion, dispute it logically like everyone else. Don’t whine like the little inadequate Volvo driver you are. :cry:
I was simply confirming that the "straight line sensitivity" test reflection is a factor and horn design is also a factor. no mater how small it is.
I can understand that you feel V1 is threatened now because the 9500I is right on its ass.
Personally I think there must have been something done at the test that improved the 9500I's performance. Weather it was how it was leveled or a tree just in the right spot for better reflection. I find it hard to believe an update to the unit can almost double its sensitivity without changing something big.
Pleas try to provide something of value. :wink: if you actually can. :?
Recommending that users mount ANY detector tipped downwards in order to "detect additional radar reflections off the hood and the ground" is exceptionally BAD advice, no matter how you slice it!
It's really great to see MEM-TEK thinking about things and advancing his personal theories, no matter how radical or imaginary they might be. But it's unfortunate that he continues to make a habit of presenting his personal theories on this forum as if they were widely accepted facts, and this is especially misleading to average forum members with no technical background. I have pointed this out to him in the past, but for some reason he continues to do it... perhaps he just can't control himself? Anyway, when attempting to evaluate the factual content of his posts, one would be well advised to read the disclaimer in his signature!
One time my 9500I was off by just a bit and it affected the performance dramatically. Even when I knew nothing about RD's I would always try to keep it striate and level.Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbonzzz
A question for you. Internally why do manufactures make there horns flared down or up? 9500I flared down and X50 up?
Jim, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Finally someone (who's opinion is totally respected on this forum) agrees with me. Not that I'm slamming MemTek, but as I've mentioned/questioned before, this whole radar horn angle, front hood reflection stuff is just his own personal theory. While I also commend him for "thinking outside the box" , the graphs and images of the radar signals bouncing directly into the antenna horn are misleading.Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbonzzz
Mount your detector nice and level. That's how its designed to be used, until PROVEN otherwise.
J/
This weekend I am going to make a video using several different radar detector models with flared downward, flared upward and neutral flared horns to illustrate and confirm my theories. Regardless, my theories are based on years of experimentation with the horn designs used in a variety of radar detectors. I didn't just "throw these theories out there" based merely on some thoughts and half baked ideas. :)
This is the fact. Think about this and disregard the flare horn for a moment. Think about why the Bel/Escort units do not respond to quick trigger pulls regardless of where you point the radar gun at a distance of 10 feet. You can call it either filtering on the Bel/Escort units or you can call it increase V1 sensitivity. Either way, i don't have the right answer technically wise. But I know one answer for sure that the V1 responds to quick trigger pulls better than the Bel/Escort units. With just this thought alone, you can now rule out MEM-TEK's theory of the flared horn regardless of where the signal is coming from.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJR238
Agreed. And makes sense. The reflection/horn angle thing is very unlikely to give any real benefit and any RD should never be angled. The radar swath is huge by the time it hits your car anyway.
Sorry to bring up the stupid horn thing, I find it interesting/smart that V1 uses a whole horn and Belscort uses 1/2 a horn.
There might be a good possibility that it can make a difference as far as size of the horn. But previous tests like aiming the radar gun away from the horn does not make much difference as far as response time is concerned. There is a possibility IMO that having 2 horns can make a big difference sensitivity wise vs Bel/Escort 1 horn only. The other thing that i can think of is the possibility that Bel/Escort units have some sort of filtering. But i'm not sure if it is how their technology works. Real world results also tells me that Bel/Escort units are capable of giving the user enough time to react or respond to threats. IMO, Bel/Escort units give you too much time to react.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJR238
All of us agree that the V1, Bel and Escort units is not 100 % a ticket free ride. I even tried a cobra unit for a couple weeks and it still does it's job by giving you enough time to slow down. The price we pay are for features and some sensitivity when we consider the top RD's vs the lower priced RD's.
I was curious to know - during the custom settings section, did you have Ku band enabled (I would assume so being as it states All Bands ON), but just wanted to make sure.