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Best Radar Detector?
- Thread starter chriSharek
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- Model S
whitex
Well-Known Member
Yea, Stinger ain't cheap, but then again neither is a Model S - you pay a premium for the best.
When I priced it out, the total Stinger price for front radar + front laser + rear radar is just over twice what the equivalent ALP system would cost, though the ALP doesn't yet publish the price for the special third antenna needed for the MRCD gun radar detection - something the Stinger detects very well already. So, for 2x the money you get a screen instead of having to use your phone, more features like more types of radar guns being detected, better noise filtering, better range, tiny laser fibers. Some of features are supposed to come with ALP via software updates (e.g. directional alerts) but no dates have been announced. Of course there are some things that no software update will be able to match - those come from the top tier sensors - the antenna/LNA, laser diodes and sensors. Stinger also seem to have a lot more time in the field.With self-install it will cost me the same as ALP with install
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whitex
Well-Known Member
Not sure where you got this information. From what I see Stinger has regular sw updates. That and when comparing feature for feature, it will take a bunch of future ALP software updates, and one new hardware piece for MRCD antenna, to even reach feature (not performance) parity with current Stinger software.
I have had a Beltronics GX65 since I bought my Porsche Cayenne 5 years ago. On the first Tesla trip to Mammoth we got a ticket coming home because the cord stretching from windshield to center console worked its way loose and neither of us noticed before it was too late.
The next weekend we took both Tesla and Cayenne to Al&Ed's on La Cienega and they installed wiring under the headliners to the mirrors and brackets to hold the detector to the mirror. ~$100 for parts ordered online + $400 labor to do both cars.
I've loved the Beltronics for the 5 years I've had it, good long range detecting with minimal falsing. We've had 3 more Mammoth trips and the detector seems to work as well as in the Cayenne, as it did on the first trip when it was properly plugged in.
The next weekend we took both Tesla and Cayenne to Al&Ed's on La Cienega and they installed wiring under the headliners to the mirrors and brackets to hold the detector to the mirror. ~$100 for parts ordered online + $400 labor to do both cars.
I've loved the Beltronics for the 5 years I've had it, good long range detecting with minimal falsing. We've had 3 more Mammoth trips and the detector seems to work as well as in the Cayenne, as it did on the first trip when it was properly plugged in.
whitex
Well-Known Member
I would strongly suggest you check where your windshield is metalized in your 90D (see picture and comment #5 in this thread). With the detector behind the metalized windshield, the front radar sensitivity is cut by 80% or more. The GX65 in your 90D is probably catching reflections from the sides or back of the car (with Valentine1's front and back antennas it becomes really clear really fast as most of the alerts come from behind, even if I'm looking at the cop with the radar in front of me). You don't want to get another ticket and only then realize you need to get a non windshield-mounted solution, such as Beltronics SRiR plus, ALP, or Stinger VIP (which one will depend on the level you want and of protection and how much you're willing to spend).
TaoJones
Beyond Driven
I've used the Bel(tronics) Pro 500 windshield-mount radar detector for a year and a half and it works juuuuuust fine mounted just to the right of the rv mirror assembly. It has paid for itself probably 10x over in the last month alone (12,000-mile road trip from CA - SD - ME - VT - SC - SLC - Yellowstone (MO/WY) - CA).
It's a tad less sensitive forward than aft due to the metal oxide coating but that's no big deal. It has never not given me enough time to reduce speed.
Having said that, I didn't buy it to enable driving at 30mph over. The car cruises nicely at 100mph, but there's no need to make a habit of that practice. I bought the Bel Pro 500 to avoid speed traps and ticky-tack tickets. If you own a Model S and rely upon the foibles of Nav/Trip Planner, you'll find yourself on many 2-lane state routes through many small towns that seem to have a disproportionate interest in revenue generation through the dubious assertion of public safety via hidden law enforcement vehicles. Further, in the last few years I have noticed a propensity on the part of various highway patrols to work in packs at various state borders.
Anyway, it's not necessary to spend thousands of dollars for an internal system unless you happen to live in a state in which radar detectors are illegal. I think there was one such state out of the 40+ states through which I've driven in the past (less than) 18 months.
The Bel Pro 500 can be found via Amazon for about $300. You'll want to hardwire it into a 12V circuit, for which a cable accessory is sold.
It's a tad less sensitive forward than aft due to the metal oxide coating but that's no big deal. It has never not given me enough time to reduce speed.
Having said that, I didn't buy it to enable driving at 30mph over. The car cruises nicely at 100mph, but there's no need to make a habit of that practice. I bought the Bel Pro 500 to avoid speed traps and ticky-tack tickets. If you own a Model S and rely upon the foibles of Nav/Trip Planner, you'll find yourself on many 2-lane state routes through many small towns that seem to have a disproportionate interest in revenue generation through the dubious assertion of public safety via hidden law enforcement vehicles. Further, in the last few years I have noticed a propensity on the part of various highway patrols to work in packs at various state borders.
Anyway, it's not necessary to spend thousands of dollars for an internal system unless you happen to live in a state in which radar detectors are illegal. I think there was one such state out of the 40+ states through which I've driven in the past (less than) 18 months.
The Bel Pro 500 can be found via Amazon for about $300. You'll want to hardwire it into a 12V circuit, for which a cable accessory is sold.
whitex
Well-Known Member
Yep, V1 worked just fine there in my 2013 MS too, not so much in the 2015 one. Have you looked at where your metalized coating is on your front windshield (see comment #5 if this thread)?
TaoJones
Beyond Driven
I picked up mine at the factory 4 days before 2015. The metalized coating hasn't changed position or positioning since then. I happened to be in a showroom early last week in... Tennessee, and looked at a Model S in the showroom. Same same. Very sad what's happened to the frunk versus my RWD model, but that's another matter.
Again, more sensitive aft than forward, but plenty of warning to reduce speed. No tickets, no warnings, not pulled over once in the Model S.
I presume your choice does laser shifting. Now that I don't have, but laser was detected only twice in my travels.
We will monitor the front sensitivity of the GX65 in the Tesla more closely but it has definitely given us some forward warnings, both CHP driving on the other side of the road and stationary K-Band signs. It is certainly possible those warnings are not as far in advance as in the Cayenne. It probably helps that we drive the Tesla mostly on cruise control for range considerations, and probably at slightly lower speeds than in the Cayenne.
whitex
Well-Known Member
Not exactly. First, between 2013 and 2015 AP was added so the entire area around the rear-view-mirror changed. My 2013 was from November and it did have a nice exclusion area to the right of the mirror. Then, with AP, some owners have reported reporting having an additional "black area" to the right of the rear-view-mirror that is non-metalized (see picture below which came from this post). Unfortunately, my car (pic in comment #5 is from my car) from May 2015, does not have this extra metalized-free zone. So definitely things have been changing. You may have this exclusion zone. You may also only need a general warning (still useful, I've been driving with my crippled V1 and the alarms are still useful, just not as useful as they used to be, which is why I'm installing a new solution now).
PS> I totally get that I could pay a few tickets for a price of a high end system, but really it is more about having your day ruined and/or getting delayed by getting caught by a speed trap doing 75 in a 60 zone because the cops need to make their monthly quota.
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whitex
Well-Known Member
An easy test is to go park the car in front of an automatic door opener (known, fixed source) at a mall or a grocery store. It's usually only X or K band, but good enough for a signal strength test. Then, either compare Cayenne signal strength levels to Tesla (while parked in the same spot), or just compare through the front windshield vs. stick the detector out the window. I did that test and signal strength was showing ~20% through the front glass, but 100% off-the-chart through an open side window. From afar the front didn't show anything, but when driving away from the source the rear was picking it up in the same spot. If you have the black area to the right of the mirror as per comment #30, you may want to place the detector there, though the black part would block the laser detection, so if you know where the laser sensor it, maybe have the detector straddle the black border so that the horn antenna(s) are in the black while the laser sensor is in the clear..
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TaoJones
Beyond Driven
H
Hmmmm. Here's a close-up of where mine is and what the windshield looks like. I should have taken a picture of the new one in the showroom last week, but was too verklempt at the time over the loss of a proper frunk and the obsoleting of my perfectly good microwave luggage. Guess it will get sold with the car. I don't think the new frunk would even hold a set of golf clubs unless one was very short. Maybe.
One thing about AP - with Autosteer, with some limitations at the high end, the car will reduce speed to +5mph over the given limit. This was particularly noticeable on the road coming into or leaving West Yellowstone last week - speed limit stepped down from 70 to 55, 45, 35, and then 25 (which was generally where a cop would be if there was one). As the car recognized each sign while Autosteer was engaged, the car would reduce speed accordingly. Helpful when trying to avoid local revenue-generation efforts - between the detector alert and the car slowing down by itself, I found there was enough time to get into that +5mph range. Caveat being that there are still plenty of jurisdictions in which tickets are written for 5mph over. Back in the day, Oro Valley just outside of Tucson was notorious for writing traffic activity at +1mph, until the State told them to knock it off. And then there are the ever-popular "strict enforcement zones" that seem to crop up now. Bleh.
So not a 100% solution, but every little bit helps.
Hmmmm. Here's a close-up of where mine is and what the windshield looks like. I should have taken a picture of the new one in the showroom last week, but was too verklempt at the time over the loss of a proper frunk and the obsoleting of my perfectly good microwave luggage. Guess it will get sold with the car. I don't think the new frunk would even hold a set of golf clubs unless one was very short. Maybe.
One thing about AP - with Autosteer, with some limitations at the high end, the car will reduce speed to +5mph over the given limit. This was particularly noticeable on the road coming into or leaving West Yellowstone last week - speed limit stepped down from 70 to 55, 45, 35, and then 25 (which was generally where a cop would be if there was one). As the car recognized each sign while Autosteer was engaged, the car would reduce speed accordingly. Helpful when trying to avoid local revenue-generation efforts - between the detector alert and the car slowing down by itself, I found there was enough time to get into that +5mph range. Caveat being that there are still plenty of jurisdictions in which tickets are written for 5mph over. Back in the day, Oro Valley just outside of Tucson was notorious for writing traffic activity at +1mph, until the State told them to knock it off. And then there are the ever-popular "strict enforcement zones" that seem to crop up now. Bleh.
So not a 100% solution, but every little bit helps.
Mike Prachar
Member
So I popped the fuse that feeds the mirror switched 12VDC when hard wiring my V1. I can't find it anywhere in the fuse box 2 or 3 - all of them test good. Does anybody know what fuse feeds the mirror or what other system it may be connected to?
whitex
Well-Known Member
It looks just like my setup. The picture I showed before with the black area is from April'16 production date, but I know I have seen them mentioned back in 2015, so it seems they come and go (different window suppliers maybe?).
Be careful, the +5mph restriction doesn't work if the car thinks you are on an interstate or major highway.
Absolutely. If your plan is to stick to +5mph over the limit, radar detector is not very important - not very likely to get a ticket for that even if you get clocked.
whitex
Well-Known Member
I think I just started thread on that 20 minutes before your comment (Spare 12V in microphone grill, where is it fused?), or is your question about another circuit (since I thought the spare connector was always-on rather than switched). I would like to know this before I pop that fuse (which can happen during installations too). I'll update that thread if I find the answer. Out of curiosity, did anything in the car stop working with the fuse popped? It may give a hint as to what else is on that fuse and therefore which fuse it is.
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TaoJones
Beyond Driven
Different suppliers does sound like the culprit. Clearly, with the demand for toll boxes/transponders, radar detectors, and garage door openers (ok, different thing, but still), some sort of uncoated area makes sense. Yet, last time I looked at the metroexpresslanes site, easily 35 cars were exempted from having to have the box due to coated windshields. Amusingly, the box must still be displayed to deter deputies who have been trained to ticket when they don't see a box in the windshield.
I was glad that the +5mph restriction dropped off at higher speeds. That said, whether +5, +10, or +15mph, the radar detector has provided sufficient warning in every case so far (during this past 12,000 mile trip and every other). There's really no reason to drive +15mph when the speed limit is already 80mph, fwiw.
The biggest value of the AP/Autosteer step-down has been during 100+ mile stretches of state routes which invariably drop to 25/35mph with little warning.
I should note that in areas where there is connectivity (definitely not a given during this last trip through states including Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and other such bastions of periodic emptiness), I also use Waze, which provides a high percentage of surprisingly accurate alerts for police activity. I would have assumed that by now the more ardent packs of revenue-generators would have deployed countermeasures but... not so much. They also leave their Ka on more often than not too.
If I had to rate the relative impact/effectiveness of all the tools referenced above during the last road trip alone, it would resemble:
Radar detector: 40%
Waze: 40%
AP/Autosteer step-down: 20%
Laser detection: <1%
The best speeding-related sign I saw this past trip was in South Carolina leaving Hilton Head Island in an extended construction zone. "$200 fine and 30 days". Yeah, that was the best-behaved string of cars I ever saw in a construction zone. Evidently, they don't screw around in the South. And yet, they don't need/enforce/require front plates. Go figure.
The avoidance of revenue-generating speeding tickets aside (I have always maintained that if you get caught at +40mph over, then you deserve what you get), a couple of stats were notable from Montana overhead signs. First, 76% of their highway fatalities this year have been unbuckled (non-seatbelted) occupants. Second, their fatalities occur approximately/on average every other day. And that's Montana - imagine how bad it is elsewhere (and judging from other states' overhead signs, it is). The day can't come soon enough when most people drive Teslas and by that point,, similarly safer/safest cars. I mean, when most cars on the road that are (auto)driving people... yeah, that.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
I'd rank them a bit differently (I don't have AP):
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: 70%
RadarDetector: 25%
Laser Detector: 5%
Far and away the best defense against speeding tickets is just watching the road, terrain, other cars, etc. It's when you're not paying attention, even with radar/laser detectors, they'll clock you with instant-on or POP and you're done.
TaoJones
Beyond Driven
Particularly during the day and when there are other cars around, yes. As opposed, to say, the dark green, lights-less Vermont state trooper lurking around the corner at midnight as the town limit drops from 55 to 25 with not so much as a courtesy reacharound.
Speaking of situational awareness, almost reflexively I've noticed that I've become more vigilant around state lines. The whole working in packs thing was new to me - but you can see it clear as day via Waze when multiple, evenly-spaced alerts show up. I have a hard time believing that roads near geopolitical delineations are any more or less safe than any other roads, but it is true that sometimes the speed limit and road surface quality do change. As do the dollars of revenue per mile of road, no doubt.
At some point, one has to figure they'll all use laser and we'll be well and truly screwed (unless maybe with laser shifters). Again, I don't mind if someone gets nailed at +40mph over as most of the time, they don't know how to drive anyway. Back in the day, one CHP fellow told me he gets at least one person in excess of 100mph every day (this was near the AZ/CA line outside of Yuma) - and that often the driver does have a radar detector - just not a very good one or it's too old. Hey, more power to the guy - Darwin at work.
It's the +1mph to +9mph tickets that are just offensive. And that working in packs thing. Surely there must be a meth lab that needs busting somewhere instead.
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