Hello from a new user..

[b52hbuff]

Due to a need for a new toy, plus a newfound habit of 'slightly' exceeding the posted speed limits, I went out and got an Escort 9500ix. It has been very educational to drive it around the South (San Francisco) Bay Area and see what it picks up and how truelock/autolock works.

What I notice is that there isn't a whole lot of speed enforcement on 237, 85 and 280. During a recent trip to Southern California, I managed several more confirmed hits. On the I-5, I had a couple of hits on the way down and a couple of more on the way back.

The most exciting hit was when I was traveling south on I-5 in Kings County. The Ka warning came up, and I was a bit slow to react. There was a CHP cruiser, coming north in his left lane, that flipped on his lights, and started to execute a high speed u-turn in the median. He finished the turn ~50 ft away from me and went after some other car.

What I think happened in retrospect was that he was running in constant on mode looking for speeders in either lane. It never occured to me that CHP would be looking for speeders in both directions at once.

The other hits were less exciting. One was a speeder getting picked up in the other direction. Another was a pair of officers blocking traffic in the other direction and they must have left their radar on.

My initial observation/understanding is that CHP uses Ka band. K band has always been speed signs. And X-band is always a door opener/motion sensor. I'm thinking about disabling X-band.

[djrams80]

Due to a need for a new toy, plus a newfound habit of 'slightly' exceeding the posted speed limits, I went out and got an Escort 9500ix. It has been very educational to drive it around the South (San Francisco) Bay Area and see what it picks up and how truelock/autolock works.

What I notice is that there isn't a whole lot of speed enforcement on 237, 85 and 280. During a recent trip to Southern California, I managed several more confirmed hits. On the I-5, I had a couple of hits on the way down and a couple of more on the way back.

The most exciting hit was when I was traveling south on I-5 in Kings County. The Ka warning came up, and I was a bit slow to react. There was a CHP cruiser, coming north in his left lane, that flipped on his lights, and started to execute a high speed u-turn in the median. He finished the turn ~50 ft away from me and went after some other car.

What I think happened in retrospect was that he was running in constant on mode looking for speeders in either lane. It never occured to me that CHP would be looking for speeders in both directions at once.

The other hits were less exciting. One was a speeder getting picked up in the other direction. Another was a pair of officers blocking traffic in the other direction and they must have left their radar on.

My initial observation/understanding is that CHP uses Ka band. K band has always been speed signs. And X-band is always a door opener/motion sensor. I'm thinking about disabling X-band.

CHP uses only 34.7Ka band and laser. K band is still in use in a good number of places in Cali, but it's not that popular any more. I still find some K band every couple of months or so. X band has not been seen in Cali in years, but there is no real reason to turn it off, since your 9500ix will eventually lock out all of the false alerts. X band is still an approved radar frequency in Cali. There is nothing to keep some small municipality somewhere from purchasing an old X band radar gun and using it to issue citations. I keep my X band on for this very reason.

As far as speed enforcement on those freeways you mentioned, the 280, 85 and 237, those are mostly enforced by laser. Your 9500ix will probably not save you from laser. It will most likely be a ticket notifier. Only a laser jammer will provide proper defense from laser on a consistent basis.

[b52hbuff]

As far as speed enforcement on those freeways you mentioned, the 280, 85 and 237, those are mostly enforced by laser. Your 9500ix will probably not save you from laser. It will most likely be a ticket notifier. Only a laser jammer will provide proper defense from laser on a consistent basis.

Thanks for the information. Ironically, my next door neighbor is an ex-CHP who used to patrol my commute route. He was showing me his new lidar gun. At the time he was showing me, I didn't have the same 'interest level' that I do now.

Anyway, it looks like LIDAR jamming is illegal in california. So I wonder what the consequences of getting caught might be?

[djrams80]

Thanks for the information. Ironically, my next door neighbor is an ex-CHP who used to patrol my commute route. He was showing me his new lidar gun. At the time he was showing me, I didn't have the same 'interest level' that I do now.

Anyway, it looks like LIDAR jamming is illegal in california. So I wonder what the consequences of getting caught might be?

What did his new LIDAR gun look like? What color was it? Can you pick it out of this lineup?

Laser Guns - Guys of LIDAR

[focalcivic]

What did his new LIDAR gun look like? What color was it? Can you pick it out of this lineup?

Laser Guns - Guys of LIDAR

Did it look like this?

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000EHLB0M/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=165793011&s=toys-and-games"][/ame][ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000EHLB0M/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=165793011&s=toys-and-games"][/ame]

[Just1n]

Focalcivic, your link was bad.

[wegrowhair]

CHP uses only 34.7Ka band and laser. K band is still in use in a good number of places in Cali, but it's not that popular any more. I still find some K band every couple of months or so. X band has not been seen in Cali in years, but there is no real reason to turn it off, since your 9500ix will eventually lock out all of the false alerts. X band is still an approved radar frequency in Cali. There is nothing to keep some small municipality somewhere from purchasing an old X band radar gun and using it to issue citations. I keep my X band on for this very reason.

As far as speed enforcement on those freeways you mentioned, the 280, 85 and 237, those are mostly enforced by laser. Your 9500ix will probably not save you from laser. It will most likely be a ticket notifier. Only a laser jammer will provide proper defense from laser on a consistent basis.

Would the V1 have a better shot at saving someone from laser?

[Freebird]

Only a laser jammer will provide proper defense from laser on a consistent basis.

as dj mentioned here even with a V1 that is the best at laser detection, without a jammer, it is mostly a ticket notifier.

With the laser gun the officer can pick you out of a crowd and get an instant speed. it is a very narrow beam so picking up laser being targeted at another vehicle is very difficult, but with radar the waves cover a large area the farther you are away from the officer, so picking up a warning is alot easier miles before you are the target. Most of the time you get a laser warning you are the target and have no time to adjust your speed, the jammer is needed for this reason.

[Paperlantern]

Would the V1 have a better shot at saving someone from laser?

The answer to this question is "Yes". It is only a very SMALL increase in "shot", but Valentine One is the agreed upon pinnacle of laser detection in windshield mount detectors, so... it IS a better "shot" nonetheless.

[djrams80]

The answer to this question is "Yes". It is only a very SMALL increase in "shot", but Valentine One is the agreed upon pinnacle of laser detection in windshield mount detectors, so... it IS a better "shot" nonetheless.

This answer is 100% correct. The problem with that is with the extra sensitivity, comes more false alerts. My V1 alerts to damn near every Infiniti is sees, due to their LCC(laser guided cruise control) systems. Some Lexus, Toyota, Chrysler and BMW models use these systems also. I run the V1 all the time nowadays and I have never gotten any laser scatter from CHP. To properly defend against laser, you must use a laser jammer.