Temporary radar detector suggestion/advice

[AbeFroman]

After reading the forum for a few days now I have a good idea of the type of radar detector I'll be picking up eventually. The problem is, I'll need to save the money for a month or two (and convince the wife ). This leaves me in the position of choosing between two nearly ancient detectors for temporary use:

- Escort Passport 3100 with the laser add-on (Passport 1000?)
- Uniden 6199SW (X, K, Ka, Laser)

Can anyone offer any advice on these? I found an online manual for the Uniden and it seems to be "ok", but in use it seems to false on birds/trees/grass/air etc. I've not been able to find any information about the Passport 3100, so I don't even know all of the bands it can detect. Thanks!

[jimbonzzz]

The passport 3100 is only has "wideband Ka", meaning that it covers only 34.2-35.2 and will only alert to one brand of Ka unit out there: the Stalkers at 34.7 GHz, and will miss the other Ka units.

The Uniden has "Superwide Ka" capability, covering the entire police Ka band.

So if you have to use something, use the Uniden. But you should use it mainly for fun, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to rely on it too much for protection because performance would be pretty poor by today's standards.

[fire65]

Just do without till you can afford a top of the line RD. Skip a few lunches, save a few more bucks. It will be cheaper in the long run than wasting money on inferior detection. Really, if you can't afford 150 for detection, you probably can't afford to be speeding anyway. That one ticket will pay for a good RD.

[Paperlantern]

The passport 3100 is only has "wideband Ka", meaning that it covers only 34.2-35.2 and will only alert to one brand of Ka unit out there: the Stalkers at 34.7 GHz, and will miss the other Ka units.

The Uniden has "Superwide Ka" capability, covering the entire police Ka band.

So if you have to use something, use the Uniden. But you should use it mainly for fun, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to rely on it too much for protection because performance would be pretty poor by today's standards.

I agree with Jim here, though having run Unidens for a good many years it will probably do well enough, and perhaps even surprise you at its range. By today's standards it will be shorter, but it should be ENOUGH to slow down in time. I love those detectors still, and envy you for having one, the three Unidens that Ive owned from 1996 - 2006 had well over 30 saves (im not a heavy driver, and I dont count "saves" unless i was in a scenario when i would have surely gotten ticketed).

[Paperlantern]

Just do without till you can afford a top of the line RD. Skip a few lunches, save a few more bucks. It will be cheaper in the long run than wasting money on inferior detection. Really, if you can't afford 150 for detection, you probably can't afford to be speeding anyway. That one ticket will pay for a good RD.

I dont think he is "wasting" money on anything, the way it reads, he already has them, or has access to them, he just wants our opinion on which to use.

[AbeFroman]

The passport 3100 is only has "wideband Ka", meaning that it covers only 34.2-35.2 and will only alert to one brand of Ka unit out there: the Stalkers at 34.7 GHz, and will miss the other Ka units.

The Uniden has "Superwide Ka" capability, covering the entire police Ka band.

So if you have to use something, use the Uniden. But you should use it mainly for fun, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to rely on it too much for protection because performance would be pretty poor by today's standards.

jimbonzzz - Thank you SO much for this information! Exactly what I was looking for in relation to the 3100. Using the Uniden will certainly be mostly for fun, generally during my drive to and from work.

I agree with Jim here, though having run Unidens for a good many years it will probably do well enough, and perhaps even surprise you at its range. By today's standards it will be shorter, but it should be ENOUGH to slow down in time. I love those detectors still, and envy you for having one, the three Unidens that Ive owned from 1996 - 2006 had well over 30 saves (im not a heavy driver, and I dont count "saves" unless i was in a scenario when i would have surely gotten ticketed).

In your experience how is the range on these Unidens...I'm guessing less than a mile under optimal conditions? At least with all the colorful LED's it still looks pretty cool.

I dont think he is "wasting" money on anything, the way it reads, he already has them, or has access to them, he just wants our opinion on which to use.

For true protection I'm not expecting too much out of either of these, but based on the feedback I'll be running the Uniden. I've had both of these units for roughly 10 years so I won't be out any cash for either one, just the time and trouble of hooking it up.

[noTe]

Just do without till you can afford a top of the line RD. Skip a few lunches, save a few more bucks. It will be cheaper in the long run than wasting money on inferior detection. Really, if you can't afford 150 for detection, you probably can't afford to be speeding anyway. That one ticket will pay for a good RD.

x2

This is what I was going to say but looks like he already did.

[bigalinwv]

I have a Uniden 6599SWS and it gives about half the range of my X50s on K band. I strongly suspect on Ka band it is probably just a ticket notifier.

[fire65]

It will be fine to play with them. But why tell someone it will give you time to slow down and have them learn the hard way that these detectors are out of date. If that is true why do we all want to run the top of the line.

This is just my school of thought, a suggestion to him. Bottom line is, he is deciding. If they are free why even ask, start testing or sell them both and use the money toward a new one.

[Paperlantern]

jimbonzzz - Thank you SO much for this information! Exactly what I was looking for in relation to the 3100. Using the Uniden will certainly be mostly for fun, generally during my drive to and from work.



In your experience how is the range on these Unidens...I'm guessing less than a mile under optimal conditions? At least with all the colorful LED's it still looks pretty cool. [replacer_img]



For true protection I'm not expecting too much out of either of these, but based on the feedback I'll be running the Uniden. I've had both of these units for roughly 10 years so I won't be out any cash for either one, just the time and trouble of hooking it up.

I have a Uniden LRD937 still, and it alerts at approximately 3/4 the distance of my Bel V955, which in turn alerts at about 8 or 9 tenths of the distance of my V1. Even on Ka, there is a Ka drone here on 71 north/south that i get an alert at approximately 3 or 4 tenths of a mile on the V1, and its 2 tenths of a mile with the Uniden. Considering the age, yours could be in any level of "tune", so my advise would be as jim said to just play with it, if it turns out to be any kind of a good detector, then maybe you can put a little faith in it. But I would still suggest keeping at "toy" status since its old, it probably doesnt have good response to many of the different variations of Radar there are out now that definitly werent around 10 years ago. But I still have faith in those Unidens.