Yesterday my fiancee' and I were in sepaerate vehicles travelling down the road. I have a 3 month old ESCORT 8500 in my CLS and she has 1.5 year old V1 in her car. She is about 10 car lengths behind me when all of a sudden I get a full laser alert. Like they do in NASCAR I raise my hand and check up. A couple of seconds later there it is again full laser alert. I look up the road and there is a motorcycle cop sitting on the median picking and choosing who to fire laser at. Further down the road there is 2 more motorcycle cops with people pulled over. My cell phone rings and it's my fiancee telling me her V1 never went off and were the cops the reason I raised my hand? I explained to her I got 2 full laser alerts from the cop sitting on the median. I also told her to check her volume and to be sure the V1 was on. She checked and all was well with the V1. Now I know laser is directional, but my fiancee's V1 should have picked up some laser deflection from my car being shot at. As much as that V1 falses it should have done better. Anyway . . ... I'm glad I've got the 8500 in my car, or I might have been poped by the locals!

 

That's strange.... I thought I read that the V1's laser was tested to produce an alert further then the Escort 8500 in the last tests that were run

Either way I've never had a problem with my V1... picks up laser everytime so far.....

 

laser is pretty direct...its hard to pick up. I had a no name cobra like 3000 or something for 75$ and it picked up a laser my brothers v1 didn't....my car is also more flashy with rims and exhaust bumping my system so he shot me and the v1 never go it

 

That's a very similar situation. I'm sure he shot at me because my Xenon's were on and I was easily identifiable. Still, the V1's in both of our cases should have alerted on the very near by laser.

 

Agreed.... My V1 has pickeup nearby laser shots as well as direct shots. Obviously it's hard to distinguish the two... but there are times you can usually tell. I honestly don't care... as long as it picks them up.

Doesn't matter anyway.. b/c 98% of the time if you're getting alerted.. that means you've been hit... and it's already too late...

 

exactly, thats why detectors are useless and we need to get the k40

 

Laser is difficult to pick. Unless you get a direct hit or a direct reflection of the shot it's VERY hard to pick up. The pigs have the advantage here and there isn't much we can do about it.

Case and point:

Tollplaza on the way home from work. It has lasers mounted to dectect when cars pass by so the ticket come out. I pass through the same lane everyday. I have to be sitting directly at the line of site for the V1 to go off, otherwise i don't get anything.

 

I agree also, but in this case I got 2 full laser alerts. I'm almost positive the first alert was laser not shot at me, but at the car ahead of me. This is what concerns me about the V1 in my fiancee's car behind me. The deflection from the shot at me was not picked up by her V1 like my 8500 did for car shot at in front of me.

 

mmmmmm, K40

 

where did u mount it??? where did she mount it???

most times, situations like this r due to the windshield...thickness of glass, any dirt in line of sight, any smoke from a smoker leaving a film on the inside part of the windshield, any tint, colored tint strip on top of the windshield all can reduce coverage area...even if u don't wash & clean the inside of the windshield leaves a small film u often cannot see...same thing on the rear

it's certainly possible that an indirect hit will NOT get picked up by yer fiance, while a direct hit will b picked up...that's assuming the windshield is somehow the culprit

also, which models of V1 did u use??? is one older than the other??? r they both the latest model???

 

What's dat??

 

Yes, LASER detection is sketchy at best.
As for the scenario, who knows? Maybe your car was blocking the signal to her detector better then the car in front of you. Or it could be where the detector is mounted in the car or how close she was to your bumper.

Question….
Do you 8500 guys get false alarms from the new GM SUV’s.
I spoke with Mike Valentine in detail about this via E-Mail and he said there is no way to avoid the false alarms without compromising the LASER sensitivity.

But, like others have said above, if you’re the first “target” selected by the cop for a LASER blast all the detector is going to do is let you know ahead of time to pull over for your ticket.

Shawn S

 

Both my 8500 and her V1 are mounted mid windshiled with the suction cups. The rake on my wisdshield is much greater than on her Suzuki Grand Vitara. Both windshields were prefectly clean and neither of us have more than factory tinting. I don't know the software version of her V1, but as mentioned it is about 1.5 years old.

 

Yes, my 8500 has alerted on GM's latest LED brake lights. However, from what I've read here I have to be much closer to get the alert. For example: I don't get an alert unless I'm directly behind them at a light and the brake lights are on. If I'm 2 cars behind them I don't get the alert.
Another wierd one for V1. One time when I had the V1 in my car I got it close to the navi screen when I was mounting it. It gives a full laser alert when the antenna is close to the NAVI screen. Move it as little as an inch further away from the Navi screen and it's quiet. I found that out strictly by accident.

 

k40 is a 900$ laser/radar jammer that mounts in your front and rear bumpers with side sensors also. Its insane. and they pay for your tickets

 

Laser is tough to detect because it doesn't "spray" like RADAR. Therefore ther is not much stray signal to detect; especially if your car is close behind the target car. Laser is light so think of it in terms of someone shining a flashlight at the car in front of you...you will be in the shadow if you are close behind.

 

do they bail u outta jail too???

 

Granted, but once laser hits something solid it will scatter as it is reflected back to the source. Detecting that scatter is where I believe the V1 is proving itself not as strong as the 8500. I don't mean to start another V1 vs 8500 war. I just wanted to relay my most recent experience with both.

 

Same here for my V1.
When directly behind one at a red light I get a full LASER alert, but if I’m back 20FT or so I’m fine.

Shawn S

 

there may b an upgrade in store for a model that old...u might wanna check the V1 site and see if yer serial number needs an upgrade or not...that may explain the reason y it didn't go off...i dunno

the signal may have just been too weak

 

I have a review of three Laser Jammer units (including the K40) that I was going to scan and post the other day, but I forgot.
I’ll do it tonight.
They all worked with varied successes, but no single unit was perfect.

Shawn S

 

Be careful how you use the word scatter. When laser hits a solid surface, it changes direction according to the angle of the surface. That's why laser guns are aimed at the front license plate, so it'll return to the source and give an accurate reading. Laser doesn't scatter like, for example K-band when it hits a surface. This is why laser is a bitch to detect, because there is no "scatter".

I agree with the others, in that you were the one to get nailed with the laser. Since your woman was a considerable distance back, it doesn't surprise me she didn't pick anything up.

 

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question396.htm

Question

How does a laser speed gun work to measure a car's speed? How is it different from a radar gun?

Answer

If you have read the article entitled How Radar Works, then you know how normal radar works. A normal radar set sends out a radio pulse and waits for the reflection. Then it measures the doppler shift in the signal and uses the shift to determine the speed.

The new laser speed guns use a more direct method that relies on the reflection time of light rather than doppler shift. You have probably experienced the reflection time of sound waves in the form of an echo. For example, if you shout down a well or across a canyon, the sound takes a noticeable amount of time to reach the bottom of the well and travel back to your ear. Sound travels at something like 1,000 feet (300 meters) per second, so a deep well or a wide canyon creates a very apparent round-trip time for the sound.

A laser speed gun measures the round-trip time for light to reach a car and reflect back. Light from a laser speed gun moves a lot faster than sound -- about 984,000,000 feet per second (300,000,000 meters), or roughly 1 foot (30 cm) per nanosecond. A laser speed gun shoots a very short burst of infrared laser light and then waits for it to reflect off the vehicle. The gun counts the number of nanoseconds it takes for the round trip, and by dividing by 2 it can calculate the distance to the car. If the gun takes 1,000 samples per second, it can compare the change in distance between samples and calculate the speed of the car. By taking several hundred samples over the course of a third of a second or so, the accuracy can be very high.

The advantage of a laser speed gun (for the police anyway) is that the size of the "cone" of light that the gun emits is very small, even at a range like 1,000 feet (300 meters). The cone at this distance might be 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter. This allows the gun to target a specific vehicle. A laser speed gun is also very accurate. The disadvantage is that the officer has to aim a laser speed gun -- normal police radar with a broad radar beam can detect doppler shift without aiming.

 

I no longer have my 8500. I switched to V1 for my truck, & CL-S. The new one I got, is the lasest version, & I might have the same model being discussed here as the other V1 is also 1.5 yesrs old. I can tell you the laser on the new version is more sensitive. The older V1 does not pick up a laser alert from the GM break lights. The new one does. I have been hit with a real laser only 2 times, with the 8500. So I don't have much experience with it. The 8500 also did alert when going to through the toll booths. Neither V1 does. List of cars that make laser go off with my V1 so far, are most GM SUV's, & the BMW Z8.

 

Here is the info on the k40!?

http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/K401000

 

i've had the brake lights from 3-series bimmers set my laser off...my girl was with me when it's happened too... they'd let off the brake, quiet...they'd get back on it, laser hit...freaky when it happens like that

 

Most states do not require front license plates. Mine included. Thanks to aerodynamics most cars do not have 90 degree right angles to reflect off of. Therefore, YES police laser scatters at the same time it is reflected. The ratio of reflection on most cars is 75% reflection and about 25% scatter. Triucks with right angles have a greater percentage of reflection and less scatter. This ratio is stated in the users manual for the police laser in my brother's police car.
Finally, my fiancee' was not a considerable distance back. She was normal distance for 65 mph. Her V1 should have picked up the shot at me just like my 8500 picked up the shot at the car in front of me.

 

"normal" distance at 65MPH is 6.5 car lengths...if the average length of a car is about 180 inches (15 feet), yer talkin 97.5 feet behind the person...good luck getting an indirect signal

there's another theory i've been thinking bout...when i was once behind a 3-series, and the laser went off when his brake was on, sometimes, he'd tap his brake, and the alert didn't go off...perhaps it is possible that when a smokey aims and fires at u, he/she doesn't keep the laser on long enough to b picked up by the detectors...i know it's a long shot, but if it can happen to me with a car standing still a few feet in front of me, i'd say it's equally possible 25/50/100+ feet away

 

Nice theroy, but one can not decide how long to leave police laser "on". Once the officer pulls the trigger it's all automatic. The only thing that can be "set" is the sampling rate. And even then the officer in the field can not set the sampling rate. At least for my brother's department only maintenance can set the sampling rate.

 

the 8500 has saved me NUMEROUS times w/ laser in nova, and md area.

I know what all you hard core v1's are gonna say.
" the radar is 1.5 years old, get a new one blah blah..."
anyways, the GM's led brakes dont make my laser go off but the navi's do. I have mine directly mounted under the tint on the front windshield.

 

I'm not an expert on this, but laser light scatters MUCH differently than a conventional police radar band. While your angle argument does sound resonable, I still disagree with the whole scattering premise. Laser doesn't scatter like you're claiming it does. And that's why I'm 100% sure why your g/f didn't pick up the signal.

It's certainly possible that the V1 COULD have missed the laser signal, but I really think it just didn't have anything to detect.

 

This is a tough one. My laser experiences are well documented on this board because I try to post about every incident as I encounter them and thus far they have been on both sides when it comes to the V1.

Once day I have the great situation where I was saved by V1 because I was able to detect numerous laser shots ahead of me prior to getting clocked myself. I get reflections all over the place and at long distances and behind me, too. How wonderful.

Then there's the day I am disappointed when I was not speeding but found myself in a laser trap with no prior warning. So I go around the block, over and over and over; and not a single alert from V1. You'd think V1 wasn't working.

I can only conclude that it is the situation and not the detector. I know the contrast with 8500 makes this whole deal suspect but the only way to discover the truth would have been to go back thru the trap repeatedly until you could ascertain the facts. Changing positions, changing lanes. Sometimes this is not practical but I find myself always wanting an explanation.

I know one thing for sure. The V1 will full laser alert every time without fail on those damn Trailblazer SUV tail lights...that's for sure.

 

You got that right man!

 

I'll tell you what. I'll forget what I read in the police laser user's manual as well as my brother's deputy sheriff training and go with what you think. OK? NOT!

 

Ok, so what crawled up your ass and died? I disagree with your claim and you get your panties in a bundle. I throw out something that I THINK is true and you get this complex or sorts because it's NOT how you feel. So maybe you are right. There's no need to come off like a fucking asshole.

Good day...

 

I figured you'd miss the point. What I've been telling you about police laser is not something I feel, think, or therorize as you've been doing. The information I've passed on about police laser is from a police laser user's manual and someone who has been trained by the manufacturer. There is nothing for you to disagree with here. Unless you've been hiding your PHD in physics and or are a competing police laser manufacturer. I have no complex I'm simply telling you your theroy is wrong as I've read and been told by someone knowledgeable in the field. Now read your quote above and then tell me who's the asshole?!

 

hmmmm

it's weird b/c i could swear i get laser alerts sometimes b/c other's get directly hit, which gives me just enough warning to brake

 

I'm not missing the point here. I'm sharing the knowledge that I have (albeit perhaps limited) on the issue and you come off as being the "fore most authority" on this; You're right, everyone else is wrong. Prove me that I'm wrong, would ya??? Again, I've fully admitted that I don't know much about this, and I'm fully ready to say "You were right Bill, I was wrong", as soon as I see the proof. I have no problem with that.

But please don't throw out the snide comments and then not think you won’t receive anything back. I simply disagree with you in that laser does NOT scatter like conventional doppler-based police radar and that's why your girlfriend didn't pick up the warning. It doesn't go any further than that. If you can prove me wrong, please do and I'll retract all my statements, no problem.

But answer me this... Why have all radar detector manufactures admitted that laser is the most difficult to pick up? Certainly if there was scatter like you’ve mentioned, this wouldn’t be an issue for them, correct?

This is entirely possible, but my whole beef is that laser does NOT scatter like conventional doppler-based police radars. When I think of the word "scatter" I like of "goes everywhere". And I don't think that's the case with laser. If it was, detectors wouldn't have a problem detecting them, right???

 

I'm sure you do. There is no way a cop can aim and shoot perfect every time. The times that he misses and or hits, but it isn't a direct hit you get laser scatter. This is what sets the detectors off when someone else is shot at. I started this thread because my V1 doesn't seem to be as good as detecting the scatter as my 8500. A straight on shot I'm sure the 2 are near equal. Which by the way if you take a straight on shot your detector only lets you know you've been caught. You're only hope when it comes to laser is detecting the misses and the scatter.

 

yeah maybe there's a misunderstanding here...i believe the laser scatters like radar but to a much lessor degree...as we all know, detecting laser is much harder and has much less notice, so this kinda ties into what we were talking bout before with the whole distance from each other issue