Radar Detector Interference

StuLax18 said:
Depends what kind of tint. I think some newer Mercedes had a tint that wouldn't allow detectors to pick up radar/laser.
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Yup that's right, my dad has a new bmw 750li and his radar detector wouldn't Pickup laser/radar signals. Benz has this issue has well.
 
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I used to have an '09 Cadillac CTS-V with an Escort 9500ix with a Blendmount and I would get consistent laser alerts when the nav screen would toggle between night/day, but not any other time. For example, when driving around and the display screen would change from dark to bright (either automatically or when I manually changed screen brightness) I would get a laser alert that lasted a good 10 seconds and then go away. My solution was to either keep the display off automatic dimming or just accept that when it toggled back and forth I would just hit the mute button.

In response to laser alerts being nothing more than "it's too late, you're getting a ticket", you're absolutely right (doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't slow down though). A light beam (aka laser) from a Lidar (laser Radar) unit is usually only a few feet wide when it hits your car. Meaning, even if the officer has their sights aligned on your front license plate, your radar detector might not even go off because none of the actual light beam reaches the detector. Think of a highly focused spotlight. You can point it at an object in the darkness and you won't be able to see your surroundings. This is why laser is so accurate and isn't affected by other close-by cars. Radar on the other hand is more like a flood beam and isn't able to discern between one car and the car next to it. When an officer is using their Radar it is very much likely going to set off your detector because the beam is so wide that by the time it reaches your car, the beam can be 20, 60, 100+, etc. feet wide.

Tony
 
Thanks guys....I disabled my X band....I can't believe I haven't disabled earlier. I noticed my POP was on, which I guess by default is off, but has never gone off for me.
 
jdTrader said:
Thanks guys....I disabled my X band....I can't believe I haven't disabled earlier. I noticed my POP was on, which I guess by default is off, but has never gone off for me.
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What detector do you have?
 
I've never had a POP alert, but it's on.
What's so special about it?
 
Here are some notes from Escort:

POP is simply a super fast form of instant on radar. In POP mode the radar's computer triggers the radar on and off extremely fast. The intention of POP mode is to get a reading without radar detectors detecting them.

Radar detectors are like radio scanners, they scan through all the radar bands that police radar uses and alert when they see a signal. POP is so fast that the detector either doesn't see it, or the detector thinks it's a spurious signal and ignores it.

POP mode is only available on a few radar guns which are all made by MPH. MPH recommends that POP mode only be used to get a preliminary speed reading. After the preliminary POP reading the operator is supposed to switch to normal radar mode to get a tracking history speed reading in order to issue a citation, which is mandated in radar operator training.

There are several reasons why the factory default is POP off.

1) When you enable POP mode the Passport not only scans the normal radar frequencies but it also has to keep going back and looking at the frequencies which POP transmits on. Because it has to keep dwelling on the POP frequencies normal radar alerts can be delayed.

2) POP false alerts. Because there isn't any time for the Passport to confirm whether it is receiving a true POP signal or another non-threat signal, the Passport will alert to any signal it receives on POP frequencies as a POP alert. If you enable POP detection then expect to regularly receive POP "false" alerts. These are mainly from the strong emissions from other cheap radar detectors (eg Cobras).

3) POP is very rarely used today. The guns that have POP are expensive to purchase. Add in the fact that the operator is not supposed to use POP alone to issue citations and the cost benefit just isn't there.

I do not recommend using POP mode, the performance hit and the extra annoyances are just not worth it for the extremely slim chance that you will ever be shot with it.
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escort 9500ix the red one so it matches my dash and stuff very nicely, blendmount and wired.....I have the livechord too but never use it. I'm surprised I haven't sold it in classifieds I guess....I guess I'm hoping that one day it gets more popular, but I can't give up the no chord.

Yeah, I know I can disable POP alert, but I never got that alert crossing multiple states and now using it over a year...I'm almost curious to leave it on just to see if it ever goes off....I don't even know what it would be for.
 
I have the escort 9500 too, how do I disable pop and x band?
 
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