Does anyone have any recommendations for radar detectors? I want one mainly for highway/interstate driving. Thanks !!

 

Look at the Valentine V1 and the
Escort Max 360 and the Escort iXc
and pick one of those.

 

I would look in to a unit that Blocks lasers, that is the culprit on the highways. There are a lot of radar detectors that detect lasers as well, problem is, by the time your radar detector alerts you, you've already been painted.

 

With most of the police switching to laser, detectors are pretty much useless these days. You don't get any forewarning with laser.

You're likely better off just using Google Maps or Waze for speed traps.

 

The Escort models I mentioned come
with a gps enabled updatable
database of speed traps, red light
cameras, speed cameras, etc.
I have a older BEL GX65 Pro which is
basically the same as an Escort
9500ix that has these features along
with very good radar and lidar
detection.
Not much Lidar use here in PA yet,
and not a lot in MD either.
NJ is another story-lots of Lidar use
there for quite a while.

 

Used a V1 for years with good success. Mostly driving west of the Mississippi River.

Been quite a few years since I bought the unit -- sometime back in 2002 IIRC -- but it has proved to be a real quality product.

My experience is laser is not used that often. But I have gotten an early warning.

In some areas even with a V1 it just doesn't make sense to drive any over the limit. When I'm on the freeway and come to a reduced speed limit for say a town that the freeway passes through I slow down to the limit *before* I reach the speed limit sign. I have spotted traffic enforcement often enough in these situations to just know there's likely to be one.

I do use it to give me early warning so I can drop down a few MPH under the limit, but this doesn't always help. I got pulled over once down on I-20 in TX when in my Boxster I created a slight hill and knew there was a "city kitty" in the middle. Even though I had slowed 5mph under the limit another car decided to pass mine and zoomed on past and it was that car the radar picked up but my car the cop saw and the car he pulled over. Not supposed to argue and I generally don't when pulled over but his pulling my over was so blatantly wrong I did argue, politely and calmly, that he pulled over the wrong car even pointing out I had the V1 and knew he was ahead of me long before he even saw the glow from my car's headlights. I must have had a convincing argument because he gave me a warning.

On the open highway/freeway especially out west (and outside of CA) a hand held CB radio is a real asset as one can listen to "bear" reports from the big rig drivers. And traffic/road problems.

I'd not rely too much on Waze. I watch CA Highway Patrol (CHP) work the freeway where I live. After a stop the officer drives down to the next exit or two and sets up shop so any reports of his presence when he was doing the stop is old news. Or he'll flip sides.

 

I currently use the Valentine 1 and Waze combo but plan on upgrading to one of these Escorts since they are the technology leaders in all the radar detector tests that ive read.
The V1 hasn't been upgraded in a while and even with the apps that connect with V1 it still doesn't compete with the newer Escort models.

 

V1 since 2008. Updated when it became available. Hardwired into the overhead light and it works very well. Always in Laser mode.

 

For a great budget radar detector that still works, look at a Uniden DFR9. Great detector. I travel from Memphis to Nashville weekly at 90 plus.