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I just got in my Whistler Pro78 today, and was wondering what might be the best settings for this detector. According to the Veil Guy in his report of this unit, he found it best if with the POP OFF - SWS OFF, and no additional filter modes enabled—just the FILTER display. I live in south Louisiana and I am not that sure of Radar/Laser detections being used in this parts.
Thank you in advance for in help given.
Whistler Man
filter 2 really cuts down on falses by 90% as per my experience. pop off is a must to avoid falses. check speed trap info to see what bands are being used at lA. i keep x off at my location. i use highway mode all the time.
Yep those sound good, drive around for awhile and if you get to many K or KA blips randomly from other radar detectors move it up to Filter 1.
definitely agree on Filter 2...which cuts on the falses by a wide margin.
POP OFF, FILTER 2, SWS ON.
I vary my settings a bit, but I generally run:
POP Off
Voice On
SWS On (it doesn't affect filtering OR sensitivity)
Btry Saver On
Autodim On
Autoquiet On
Tone 3
LED Flash (need to change this to OFF)
Where I vary it is what mode I'm running. MOST of the time, i run in City2 mode. No X-band threat in my daily, around-town driving. If, however, I hit the highway, I go to HIGHWAY mode. If my wife is in the car, I go to CITY mode, so the RD beeps only once for all alerts.
pfft LED flash is a lot more fun ;-)
I've toyed trying to hook up some Luxeon K2's in there... but then decided that a flickering 80 lumen LED might be a safety hazard ;-)
LOL. Well, since I'm hiding my RD behind the tint strip, flashing LEDs might be counterproductive.Quote:
Originally Posted by jdong
Ok guys, I made a 90 mile trip yesterday from Slidell, La. to Baton Rouge La. with my just arrived Whistler Pro78. As suggested by a few of you my settings were the following:
POP OFF
FILTER 2
SWS OFF
On the way it did to seem work good picking up a couple of Leo's driving towards me on I-12 from a pretty good distance. Also, it picked up the Radar Signs on the side of I-12 in Baton Rouge, that shows the speed of the people driving by the signs from a very long distance away. I was very please with that. However, I do believe I was getting some false readings when I passed up people who had Radar Detectors in their cars too.
There were a couple of encounters I would like your opinion on that happen to me.
First encounter: When I first got into Baton Rouge there were 2 Leo's parked on the side of I-12 (1 of which had a car parked on the side the road giving them a ticket) and the other Leo was out of his car with a Gun in his hand walking and pointing at the on coming cars in which I was one of them. The speed limit on that part of I-12 was 60 so I was not there for very long. If he was standing out on the highway I would think he was using POP or Lasar.
Question 1) My Pro78 did not go off at all, so can you explain why?
My thinking on this is that maybe he was using POP, and maybe he did not have the trigger pushed at the time I was passing him. BTW, my Laser setting was turned to the ON position so I would not think it was a Laser gun.
Question 2) If he was using POP would my detector not detect his gun, since I had it in the POP OFF position?
The second encounter was: When finally driving home on Hwy 41 in Pearl River La. I reached up and changed my X band from ON and switched it OFF, just to see if it would beep when I passed this service station to see if the Automatic door was a X band, but it still beeped and it was K band. Also, sometimes it does not beep at all when the store is closed at night, so am I picking up a automatic door opener or possibly a Alarm system.
Question 3) What do you think about this?
Thanks in advance for any helpful information given.
More than likely he was using LIDAR (laser). It is extremely difficult to detect laser when you're close because the beam is so narrow that it doesn't reflect up to the sensor in your RD. If you were close enough to see he wasn't squeezing the trigger, it was way too close to detect LIDAR without a jammer.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
Your RD would have given you a brief K-band alert, but no POP warning. In other words, it would treat the signal like a normal k-band signal. I have confirmed this with my Pro-78.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
That part's easy. The Pro-78 detects K and X on the same sweep, and this sometimes results in some confusion of the two bands, so sometimes with the X-band off, the RD will incorrectly ID an X-band signal as K-band. Also, it is possible there are two signals there: a strong X-band and a weak K-band. In that case, with X on, your Pro-78 will alert to X-band first because it is the stronger signal. With X-off, it would alert only to the K-band signal.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
It was probably just a K-band door opener.
If it was Laser, why would my detector not alert me to Laser when I was a farther distance away? There was never a Laser warning at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stealthcb
bkrell,
Do they have business alarm systems that can make the detector go off, because it does not go off when the service station is closed for the night?
Could it not beep too, if the automatic door is turned off at night?
Yes, alarms can make the detector go off. So can doors...
May not have seen it, still. Especially if you're high-mounted. If it was POP, your Whistler WOULD have alerted on it. Mine does, and quite well.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
Yes, perimeter alarm systems can alert on K and X band.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whistlerman
So are you saying a high-mount does not pick up Laser?Quote:
Originally Posted by Stealthcb
Also, are you saying it alerts to POP even with the POP OFF?
BTW, it was high-mounted next to my rear view window.
Yes, it just doesn't TELL you it's POP.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
Are you saying a high-mount does not pick up Laser?Quote:
Originally Posted by Stealthcb
It depends on the specific angles and distances involved, but remember -- LEOs target your plates and headlights most often with LIDAR. So your chances are LOWER with High-mount. That said, mine is above the RVM and picks up laser off every stinking Lexus or Toyota it passes.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
Stealthcb,Quote:
Originally Posted by Stealthcb
I have both a Toyota Corolla and Camry. :twisted:
Are you saying my 2 cars are stinky. :mrgreen: :lol:
Yes, like StealthCB said, laser is aimed low and has a very narrow spread compared to radar. The lower you mount, the closer you are to the targeted areas. That's why so many companies state "mount in center of windshield for maximum range." It's not really maximum on either; it's a compromise.
Only if they have laser adaptive cruise control. If they don't, they're not stinky. Just slow. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
Thanks for you reply bkrell.Quote:
Originally Posted by bkrell
BTW bkrell, I was up your way in Shreveport on Aug. 17-20 bowling a Senior Scratch bowling tournament at All Star bowling Lanes.
I wish I had time to bowl. :cry: That was something I enjoyed before kids 1,2, and 3 came along. :lol:
Come back and stay a while the next time one of those little storms blows into the Gulf! :wink:
The last time I did that I was in Pensacola Fl for almost 3 months. You see I lived in Arabi La. in St. Bernard Parish and had 15ft of salt water in my house for 3 weeks from Katrina. Needless to say I lost everything, and only a slab exist on my property now. :cry:Quote:
Originally Posted by bkrell
Everyone I knew from St. Bernard moved out! Can't say as I blame them. I know it's good living down there, but I'm counting my lucky stars that I'm a north Louisiana redneck! :o
I loved living there as it was home for me for 35 years, but you are right, it will never be the same place it once was, so I bought a house on the northshore of St. Tammany parish in Hickory, La.
Even a low-mount doesn't always detect laser. Realistically, if you aren't the target, there's a 0% chance you'll pick up laser. If you are the target and have a low mount, I'd say your chances are 90%+ at 500 ft or further.... If you're high-mounted, I'd say less than 40%Quote:
Originally Posted by WhistlerMan
Yes, even with POP OFF, there is a decent probability that the detector will still pick up POP anyway, and issue a regular alert. I believe I was told the probability of this happening on the earlier Pro-73 model is 40% or so.Quote:
Also, are you saying it alerts to POP even with the POP OFF?
BTW, it was high-mounted next to my rear view window.
If the Pro-73 would detect POP at 40%, I would think the higher-end Pro-78 would even be greater. I think I will increase my chances by mounting my detector lower about 3" above the windshield wipers. Also, it will increase my chance of possibly detecting a Laser signal.
From my own real world experience. Not some closed control road testing. I have recieved countless warnings with a mount slightly below the rear view mirror on laser. A long time ago on this forum I even ran across a laser trap several times to test this theory out. The thing I have found is getting the detector as level as you can is essential.
Hmmm... seems like that makes alot of sense. I have mine mounted just above the mirror but it might be at an angle of some sort. I will try and fix that. I guess the only way to get laser for sure is either use a V1 or have a jammer with sensors in the front :|Quote:
Originally Posted by whistlerfan
I think as soon as i start seeing lidar used in my area I will buy a jammer.
From my own experience, both with high and low mounts and Whistler detectors, I could not find any mount position that gave me very consistent laser warnings when driving through laser speed traps. So be aware, YMMV.