Marginal Differences?

[txautofan]

I've been on this forum long enough to realize its members are primarily hardcore radar/laser enthusiasts. In the endless debate on performance of top of the line products from Belscort and V1, is there necessarily a focus on sometimes immaterial differences in what are otherwise good products (I don't mean functions like GPS or arrows)? I mean similar to an auto magazine saying the BMW "blew away" the Mercedes with 0.1 second difference in 0-60 time?

There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach and focus on such nuances. However, not everyone that comes for advice is necessarily an enthusiast. And sometimes the Q&A overly stresses these differences, which may not help the novice user ("Don't buy X radar--it's off-axis Ka band is not perfect).

Thoughts?

Cheers.

[AirMoore]

^^^

Good post, and I do agree... except I would note a couple points:

1) Any forum will have the hardcore nitty-gritty enthusiasts on there for whatever their hobby is... they are the ones who generally: Know the most, & Keep the forum running (in an information flow sense)...

2) Problems might be 'overstated' as you call it, unless you're the person who gets caught because the deficiency in the product... then you'll wish someone said it. We are about the best on here... and generally I feel like we give a fairly wide-scope when someone asks the pros and cons... even if it is only for the fact that we have V1, Belscort, Whistler zombies all under one-roof, so you generally get information from every-angle.

-A point of interest... this hobby is different from most. When it comes to cars... if your car is .1second slower in 0-60 than the next guy... who cares? No bad will come of that... unless you race them for money etc. You can always modify the car to gain that .1 seconds. If your home-stereo doesn't have the SQL of the next person... who cares... you can't hear that cricket chirp during an explosion in a movie?

As far as RD's are concerned you only get one-chance against an LEO... and you might lose thousands of dollars in the process if your equipment fails you.

[txautofan]

^^^

-A point of interest... this hobby is different from most. When it comes to cars... if your car is .1second slower in 0-60 than the next guy... who cares? No bad will come of that... unless you race them for money etc. You can always modify the car to gain that .1 seconds. If your home-stereo doesn't have the SQL of the next person... who cares... you can't hear that cricket chirp during an explosion in a movie?

As far as RD's are concerned you only get one-chance against an LEO... and you might lose thousands of dollars in the process if your equipment fails you.

Good points. And I was just using the car parallel as one example. I could've used high end two-channel audio equipment. Hardcore is trying to distinguish differences between $150,000 speakers and $30,000 CD players! But you're right no $$$ at stake there

I agree most of the information is very useful and makes you an infinitely better RD user. And deficiencies and differences need to be pointed out. I just feel sometimes of those of those differences might be overstressed at times. However, that's a tendency of enthusiasts of anything; debating stuff theaverage person won't notice, aren't aware of, and/or don't give a hoot about!

[hiddencam]

I don't think the differences are overstressed. But I get your point. The average RD user won't know what the reason is/was/will be when they get a ticket, and will need to come to a place like this to learn why their detector may have failed them. It's at that point they want to learn about the differences you speak of and would probably think, "Shoot, had I know that I'd have bought something else!". The differences are always important, whether they're interesting/fascinating/enthusiast topics or not. Ignorance is bliss until you find out the truth.

[AirMoore]

I don't think the differences are overstressed. But I get your point. The average RD user won't know what the reason is/was/will be when they get a ticket, and will need to come to a place like this to learn why their detector may have failed them. It's at that point they want to learn about the differences you speak of and would probably think, "Shoot, had I know that I'd have bought something else!". The differences are always important, whether they're interesting/fascinating/enthusiast topics or not. Ignorance is bliss until you find out the truth.

Bingo!

[txautofan]

I don't think the differences are overstressed. But I get your point. The average RD user won't know what the reason is/was/will be when they get a ticket, and will need to come to a place like this to learn why their detector may have failed them. It's at that point they want to learn about the differences you speak of and would probably think, "Shoot, had I know that I'd have bought something else!". The differences are always important, whether they're interesting/fascinating/enthusiast topics or not. Ignorance is bliss until you find out the truth.

Bingo!

Yep. A lot of blissful ignorance out there. On the flip side, for the few that actually use RDs, the majority apparently buy cheap, crappy ones. Then, not knowing much at all about radar and how RDs really work, speed indiscriminately and wonder why they get tickets.

[txautofan]

AirMoore: can the retired general of the Escort Army join the Belscort User Group?

[AirMoore]

AirMoore: can the retired general of the Escort Army joing the Belscort User Group?

Not fully sure I understand this mate?

Could you elaborate a bit more please...

[thx1138]

Marginal differences may matter if you encounter 35.5 a lot, or have QT used in your area, or you can't stand falses or you want to filter alerts on your own, or are in a banned area, or don't want to program your RD, or......