Escort Passport x500 not picking up cops? [Archive]

rapid van cleef

7th July 2010, 19:59

well, i rode about 280 through bay of plenty today, from whakatane to rotorua to tauranga and back home. i passed maybe 4 cop cars going the other way and not once did me detector get so much as a chirp.

im hoping the cops either cant be arsed to turn on their radar cos theyre too busy eating donuts and wiping crumbs off the dash,

or

they simply dont have radar in their cars?

weird

and yes, my detector seems to be working fine, going off when i approach shops and the like.

this was on urban roads and highways

no, non of the cops turned and pursued me, becuase i wasnt doing anything wrong!!!!

thats quite werid really, in the uk the cops would usually turn and follow just to put some pressure on you.

anyone else had this happen? i know its not a problem really. i was just suprised that i didnt get anything on me detector from any of the cars

Jantar

7th July 2010, 20:26

Check that you've got Ka band enabled. The fact that you are picking up shops shows that K band is turned on (only usefull for camera vans), but how about Ka band?

rapid van cleef

7th July 2010, 21:28

yeah, i checked, all bands turned on, i did a factory reset on the unit, switching all bands on.

grusomhat

7th July 2010, 22:18

Lots of cars don't have radar and a few more don't turn it on a lot of the time. Other's use instant on and they may have not felt the need to check you.

rapid van cleef

7th July 2010, 22:19

thanks for the reply matey. i pressume you have some insider knowledge in order to make such a statement?

SMOKEU

7th July 2010, 22:27

Most cops don't even bother turning their radar guns on if they have them because it just creates too much extra paper work, and most of them don't really have the time to hand out petty infringement notices.

marty

7th July 2010, 22:41

Check that you've got Ka band enabled. The fact that you are picking up shops shows that K band is turned on (only usefull for camera vans), but how about Ka band?

Camera vans have upgraded to ultra low output 24.100 K band - most detectors including V1 and Bell won't pick them up, or will only pick them up when in direct (as opposed to scattered) beam.

grusomhat

7th July 2010, 23:58

thanks for the reply matey. i pressume you have some insider knowledge in order to make such a statement?

I wish! Nah, just general observations. I don't know how many highway patrol cars don't have radar, I imagine most would being that's their purpose but other than that if you ride with a radar detector for a while you'll soon pickup on how many cars have what.

SS90

8th July 2010, 07:40

That seems really absurd to me..... With all the anti speeding legislation out there (rightly so), I would have thought every single cop car in the country had one.

I am sure they all pay for themselves in the first year!

MSTRS

8th July 2010, 08:31

And you are certain they were all HP? All cars entering the farce are blue/yellow now, regardless of HP/GD.

rapid van cleef

8th July 2010, 09:16

wow, how many abbreviations.

hp= highway patrol ?

gd = ???????

MSTRS

8th July 2010, 09:24

General Duties

blackdog

8th July 2010, 09:25

im guessing general duties?

scumdog

8th July 2010, 09:33

roogazza

8th July 2010, 09:38

Camera vans have upgraded to ultra low output 24.100 K band - most detectors including V1 and Bell won't pick them up, or will only pick them up when in direct (as opposed to scattered) beam.
Noticed it was harder to pick them with the V1 myself.

rapid van cleef

8th July 2010, 09:54

thanks. camera vans are easy to spot anyway. its those dam cars. i found that my first ride out with the x50 on made me much more paranoid on the open road, especially after pasing a few patrol cars and 'nothing'. nothing replaces good old spidey senses!

SMOKEU

8th July 2010, 10:20

Are you a cop or something??

Like maybe a troll?

I wish! I'm not a troll though, I'm just telling it like it is.

scumdog

8th July 2010, 16:52

I wish! I'm not a troll though, I'm just telling it like it is.

Hmmm, somehow all your 'like it is' is a whole lot different to my experience!

(And the 'experience' of all those KBers that rant about the speed ticket they got)

SMOKEU

8th July 2010, 18:49

Hmmm, somehow all your 'like it is' is a whole lot different to my experience!

(And the 'experience' of all those KBers that rant about the speed ticket they got)

That must be why the only infringement notice I've had to pay was for a noisy exhaust. The other fine I received got dismissed after a few polite letters I send to NZ Police gang HQ.

scumdog

8th July 2010, 21:20

That must be why the only infringement notice I've had to pay was for a noisy exhaust. The other fine I received got dismissed after a few polite letters I send to NZ Police gang HQ.

Give it time....give it time...

SMOKEU

8th July 2010, 22:28

Give it time....give it time...

5 years of driving/riding, and so far so good.

onearmedbandit

8th July 2010, 23:07

I was like that when I was younger. Then the cops stopped giving me chances.

j_redley

13th July 2010, 19:24

I've been lucky enough not to be pinged by the cops lately, however I have noticed that the Camera Van's around these ways have started being much more sneaky than they used to be. They park just around a corner hiding behind trees, even saw one parked in a long line of cars which I thought was random. Not such a biggy on a bike with no front plate, but a bitch in the car.

rapid van cleef

13th July 2010, 19:30

well, picked up a cop car a couple of days ago, radar detector went off, no wirries its still working! funny. twice in the last 2 days ive been sat at traffic lights side by side with a patrol car and expected them to pull me over just cos ive got a detector mounted. they didnt bother...........must have been happy hour at dunkin donuts!

EZAS

14th July 2010, 15:06

5 years of driving/riding, and so far so good.

5 years of riding and you're still only on a 250?

SMOKEU

14th July 2010, 17:20

5 years of riding and you're still only on a 250?

I only started riding about 2 years ago. I've been driving for 6 years to come to think of it.

imdying

15th July 2010, 18:12

5 years of riding and you're still only on a 250?15 years and I went back to one... what of it?

Swoop

19th July 2010, 15:36

most detectors including V1 and Bell won't pick them up
Not quite true...

rapid van cleef

19th July 2010, 16:23

wow. it actually works

was driving through te puke yesterday and i was approcahing the brow of a hill and the ka band alert went off. i went over the hill, still no cops in sight, then around 10 seconds in total from the alarm going off, a cop car came round the corner around 3-4oo metres in front of me........plenty of time to check and make appropriate adjustments.....if needed.

what a cool gadget!

scumdog

19th July 2010, 21:27

SMOKEU

19th July 2010, 22:15

Just don't depend on it - or one day Mr Instant-on will get you.

If it's a straight, flat road then a good radar detector should pick up a radar gun from around 2km away - mine does exactly that. If there is other traffic around, then the cop will probably want to 'shoot' other vehicles in front with their radar gun as well, which should, in theory, give the speedster some warning to the presence of the officer.

I have only ever seen cops sitting on the side of the road with a radar gun on busy motorways (busy for NZ standards!), and other major roads where there is plenty of other traffic.

rapid van cleef

19th July 2010, 22:44

If it's a straight, flat road then a good radar detector should pick up a radar gun from around 2km away - mine does exactly that. If there is other traffic around, then the cop will probably want to 'shoot' other vehicles in front with their radar gun as well, which should, in theory, give the speedster some warning to the presence of the officer.

I have only ever seen cops sitting on the side of the road with a radar gun on busy motorways (busy for NZ standards!), and other major roads where there is plenty of other traffic.

so, does anyone know from how far away can a cop 'ping you'? surely it cant be too far or else you may turn off the road whether you have seen him or not and off you go n your merry way

jamjam

21st July 2010, 15:08

I've been riding/driving with a radar detector for years and not all cars have them, they aren't always on and they can run them in standby and ping you if you appear to be speeding. I don't know the exact distances but i think they can get you at about 700m max from memory but about 400m is the norm.
They aren't illegal so cops can't harass you for it. Once a cop pulled me up because i appeared to be speeding but my radar detector never went off. He asked if it worked and i said "yes" so he let me go knowing i knew he hadn't actually clocked me.
Worth their weight in gold, but oddly enough i actually find it slows me down a bit because i am conscious of it being there it works on my psychy to be vigilant of my speed.

scumdog

21st July 2010, 18:14

so, does anyone know from how far away can a cop 'ping you'? surely it cant be too far or else you may turn off the road whether you have seen him or not and off you go n your merry way

1.7km longest 'shot' for me, long straight, no side road(s).

And they're aint to many 'side-roads' down here in a lot of places people tend to crank it on, maybe you're lucky and there's a lot up your way.

slofox

21st July 2010, 18:52

I got to find out that the TPX detector WILL pick up speed camera vans on Sunday.
Course, i was right beside the van when the thing went off...:rofl:

And going well under the limit may I add....it was pretty foggy at the time...

SMOKEU

22nd July 2010, 00:44

1.7km longest 'shot' for me, long straight, no side road(s).

And they're aint to many 'side-roads' down here in a lot of places people tend to crank it on, maybe you're lucky and there's a lot up your way.

You must have pretty good eye sight if you can see a vehicle clearly from that distance.

TimeOut

22nd July 2010, 06:25

Once a cop pulled me up because i appeared to be speeding but my radar detector never went off. He asked if it worked and i said "yes" so he let me go knowing i knew he hadn't actually clocked me.
.

I had a similar experence, I passed a string of about eight cars (didn't see the mufti in the middle) by the time he got passed them(on a yellow line) and got his radar on I knew he didn't have a reading on me for more than the speed limit.
As soon as he saw the R.D just told me to be more careful in the future.

tonywri

23rd July 2010, 18:33

I was locked on at 940 metres on chch motorway

scumdog

23rd July 2010, 22:42

You must have pretty good eye sight if you can see a vehicle clearly from that distance.

Ya just got to know where to cruise :shifty:- and down here it's not like Christchurch with it's mobile traffic-jams.:innocent:

SMOKEU

24th July 2010, 13:28

Ya just got to know where to cruise :shifty:- and down here it's not like Christchurch with it's mobile traffic-jams.:innocent:

There's a time and a place for everything.

rapid van cleef

25th July 2010, 00:35

went off again today going through rotorua, cruising round the lake towards the luge and escort was going nuts for ka band. like 20 seconds at least went by before i seen the patrol car coming the other way.................

well chuffed!

what a great gadget!