Besides $$$ and they are not FCC approved why do I not want a STINGER?

[nine_c1]

I'm wondering if this "double the distance of normal Radar Detectors" is not playing with us a bit.

The patch antenna can be set up for Circular, Vertical or Horizontally biased polarization. A square patch would be indicative of Circular, while a rectangular patch would lend itself to either Vertical or Horizontal polarization.

The Patch used in the Stinger is actually two rectangular patches (one for K and one for Ka) and I suspect their biased more for the Horizontal polarity. That would certainly give the Stinger an advantage against horizontally polarized radar units like the Gatso, Mutlanova and RedFlex units while having rather mundane sensitivity against the Circular polarized radars used in the US.

To my knowledge, horn antennas (like those used in our RD's) are more directional and have higher gain than that which can be realized with a phased array patch antenna.

Both Decatur and Kustom Signals offer a patch antenna (square patch, circularly polarized) in their product lineup, but their stated advantage is in their small size. By every account I've seen, they do not have comparable range to the standard horn antennas.

So the DSI might do well against the few Gatso and RedFlex photo radars set up in the US, but I doubt it can compete with the V1 and top end Belscorts against standard police radar.

[jimbonzzz]

The patch antenna can be set up for Circular, Vertical or Horizontally biased polarization. A square patch would be indicative of Circular, while a rectangular patch would lend itself to either Vertical or Horizontal polarization.

The Patch used in the Stinger is actually two rectangular patches (one for K and one for Ka) and I suspect their biased more for the Horizontal polarity. That would certainly give the Stinger an advantage against horizontally polarized radar units like the Gatso, Mutlanova and RedFlex units while having rather mundane sensitivity against the Circular polarized radars used in the US.

The antenna uses square patches, each fed in the center of one side. Polarization is linear. Circular would require a quadrature or otherwise imbalanced feed.

Surprisingly, installation manual does not specify orientation, but in the diagrams it has the wire coming off the side = horizontal.

[STiMULi]

I'm wondering if this "double the distance of normal Radar Detectors" is not playing with us a bit.

The patch antenna can be set up for Circular, Vertical or Horizontally biased polarization. A square patch would be indicative of Circular, while a rectangular patch would lend itself to either Vertical or Horizontal polarization.

The Patch used in the Stinger is actually two rectangular patches (one for K and one for Ka) and I suspect their biased more for the Horizontal polarity. That would certainly give the Stinger an advantage against horizontally polarized radar units like the Gatso, Mutlanova and RedFlex units while having rather mundane sensitivity against the Circular polarized radars used in the US.

To my knowledge, horn antennas (like those used in our RD's) are more directional and have higher gain than that which can be realized with a phased array patch antenna.

Both Decatur and Kustom Signals offer a patch antenna (square patch, circularly polarized) in their product lineup, but their stated advantage is in their small size. By every account I've seen, they do not have comparable range to the standard horn antennas.

So the DSI might do well against the few Gatso and RedFlex photo radars set up in the US, but I doubt it can compete with the V1 and top end Belscorts against standard police radar.

Any review can be biased and perhaps the one that I read from the UK was but they states that it beats the V1 by almost twice the distance.

As you stated that could be only against the Gatsos and the like.

[nine_c1]

The patch antenna can be set up for Circular, Vertical or Horizontally biased polarization. A square patch would be indicative of Circular, while a rectangular patch would lend itself to either Vertical or Horizontal polarization.

The Patch used in the Stinger is actually two rectangular patches (one for K and one for Ka) and I suspect their biased more for the Horizontal polarity. That would certainly give the Stinger an advantage against horizontally polarized radar units like the Gatso, Mutlanova and RedFlex units while having rather mundane sensitivity against the Circular polarized radars used in the US.

The antenna uses square patches, each fed in the center of one side. Polarization is linear. Circular would require a quadrature or otherwise imbalanced feed.

Surprisingly, installation manual does not specify orientation, but in the diagrams it has the wire coming off the side = horizontal.

I should have said the array configuration as it's the pattern of the arrayed patches that lends to the polarity of the antenna correct?

So this antenna is definitely geared towards the Gatso's used in Europe and should really outperform our V1's and Belscorts which both use a Vertically polarized horn. While the Horizontally polarized antenna is perfectly compatible with a Circularly polarized signal, it's not going to have the same advantage over the V1 and Belscorts against conventional radar.

I do think it's a neat idea though. I imagine there is a point (in size) where a patch array could produce significant gain.

[camkuhns]

I would be interested in one myself if available here in the USA. If it doesn't have L.O. that can be detected by and RDD, it could be useful in VA.

[aa2033]

I would be interested in one myself if available here in the USA. If it doesn't have L.O. that can be detected by and RDD, it could be useful in VA.

VA is the last place i would think about using one of these, they'd hang you if they found it.

VA has C/O, i've seen I/O ONCE. and it was near the MD border. They make it easy on us anyway

[STiMULi]

I would be interested in one myself if available here in the USA. If it doesn't have L.O. that can be detected by and RDD, it could be useful in VA.

VA is the last place i would think about using one of these, they'd hang you if they found it.

VA has C/O, i've seen I/O ONCE. and it was near the MD border. They make it easy on us anyway

It is not a radar detector it is a "spectrum analyzer" so it is not illegal in VA.

One good thing is that they can not USE the RDD and a RG at the same time to my knowledge.

[The Chariot]

I doubt they would recognize it in Virginia, or most any place!

[STiMULi]

That is true. It looks like a cross between a performance meter and a PND from the display point of view and from the reciever point of view I doubt any LEO would even hazard a resonable guess.

[fulcrum]

I live in The Netherlands, and drive around with a Stinger DSI for a few years now.

The only radar you will encounter in The Netherlands is photo radar. This dsi is really very sensitive, and it will give you 1000+ ft warning distance almost always. On the netherlands highways normally a Swiss Multanova Ka band photo radar system is used. They always measure you from behind, so a detector will have to detect the reflections of that radar beam on cars or other objects in front of the radar. (You're coming from behind) Also Gatso K-band photo radar is popular here on most other roads, I sometimes have 3000+ft warning on Gatso photo radar. There is another photo radar here (also K-band) knows as Multanove-c, even the dsi has problems with this radar, because its polarisation is different then the Gatso. (You can add a 2nd "spectrum analyser" unit to solve that problem)

K-band could be perfectly used in the states, Ka band is not wide Ka, so its use in the usa is very limited. (I assume the detector can be adjusted for wideband Ka, but it is not a user adjustable feature) The Stinger doesn't have X-band, and as far as I know this is still needed in the usa. I also think it will not detect pop radar.

One of the important features for us is the fact that it cannot be detected by any current rdd. (Detectors in cars are illegal in The Netherlands)
Added to this; if you get stopped by police, you can quickly erase the detection software from the dsi. It then is not a radar detector anymore as defined by dutch law. When you come home, you connect the stinger display to your pc, and re-install the radar alerting.

I don't have the laser-jamming option installed on my dsi, so I cannot comment on that feature first hand. I use the LI, and am pretty convinced that (from a performance point of view) the LI is better than the Stinger. However the Stringer laser transponders are very small en easy to install on a car, other suppliers can learn from them here.

Radar detection with a stinger dsi is better than the Bell 9xx remote series, it outperformes the V1 (including any behind the screen detectors) easily. It's speed sense works very nice in cities (It has 2 speed settings, although I always use just one). The GPS database is very nice too, as there are more and more fixed (non radar/laser based) speed detection sytems coming to the Netherlands.

The whole "Phased Array F16 technology antenna" is marketing crap. It has a simple "fixed array" AKA patch antenna. A phased array antenna is nice in a weapon system, if you want to point and stear a radar beam from a fixed antenna. I confronted one of the Stinger owners with this, and he had to admiit that the word "phased" is bs. In fact the Stinger has 2 patch antennas integrated on a single circuitboard, 1 for K- and a 2nd one for Ka-band.

Also the term "spectrum analyser" is blown out of proportion. Every radardetector I know is a sort of spectrum analyser, but because the Stinger dsi has a small graphic display, it can display a graph of its band-scanning activity. (And that's the only reason you could call it a spectrum analyser) Stinger would and/or can never call their dsi a radar detector, because radar detectors are illegal here. But with the right software installed it is just that: A radar detector.

These details don't change the fact that this detector is more advanced than anything else I know, Stinger clearly started developing this dsi system with a blank sheet. Stinger as a company has a history overdoing terms and specs, and that impresses people who don't have any technical knowledge on radar.

If stinger wants, they could adjust it for usage in the states. But I think they will have some problems with pop radar, and might have to add X-band to the antenna unit. It will perform VERY well compared to the local models in the states.
It is expensive, but for me value for money.