Best radar detector for bikes?

[FJRider]

With radar detectors it's important to remember they will give you lots of warning ... If a cop has his radar on all the time.
However if out riding, going a big to fast and very little traffic around. If a cop is driving around and only turning his radar on when he sees you you are screwed.

Radars help, but not the complete dogs bollocks!
My 2 cents

Translation .. regardless what model radar detector you get ... the odds are good that you will STILL get a ticket.

[CaMo]

You may still get a ticket but you'll certainly get less. It's all in the way you use them. On the road by yourself, no one in sight and speeding will Prob land you a ticket. Generally someone going in the same direction even 2km down the road, and chances are you'll pick up the cop going for him first, giving lots of notice. I use an Escort x50 and have only ever had one ticket since getting it many moons ago. That was my careless fault. I'd like a new one that gets the vans but unsure on howhow. Much better they ate.

[Mike.Gayner]

Translation .. regardless what model radar detector you get ... the odds are good that you will STILL get a ticket.

According to you and the rest of the safety bridge, common sense and radar detectors are mutually exclusive. To the rest of us, they're tools that work in tandem. But evidently you don't possess the brainpower for that to work. You'd better not get a radar detector.

[Blackbird]

You may still get a ticket but you'll certainly get less. It's all in the way you use them. On the road by yourself, no one in sight and speeding will Prob land you a ticket. Generally someone going in the same direction even 2km down the road, and chances are you'll pick up the cop going for him first, giving lots of notice. I use an Escort x50 and have only ever had one ticket since getting it many moons ago. That was my careless fault. I'd like a new one that gets the vans but unsure on howhow. Much better they ate.

My x50 picks up vans, why doesn't yours unless you have some bands turned off? As far as I know, all vans are either K or KA band and the x50 picks both those frequencies up.

[Laz]

Well, I just bought a Beltronics STI Magnum and now need to mount it on my bike, So need to either make a mount or buy a mount for a centre steering shaft mount. And just to comment on the people slagging off radar detectors on this thread, It's my decision to buy one so if you don't believe in them that's fine. I've got a fast bike and sometimes I look down at the speedo and think HOLY FUCK I'm doing xxx and I don't even realise I'm doing it. So it will come in handy.

[CaMo]

My x50 picks up vans, why doesn't yours unless you have some bands turned off? As far as I know, all vans are either K or KA band and the x50 picks both those frequencies up.

Hmm. Is yours an 8500? I turned K off to stop all the false alerts but I've seen no ka band ones around the southern motorway/Waikato/coromandel

[Blackbird]

Hmm. Is yours an 8500? I turned K off to stop all the false alerts but I've seen no ka band ones around the southern motorway/Waikato/coromandel

Yep, it's an 8500 with a screamer for audible alerts - had it for a good few years now. I live in Coromandel so I'm pretty familiar with the scene in that area. All the camera vans used to be Ka but a few with K started appearing 2 or 3 years ago. Generally pick both up about 400 metres or so away. Have no idea what the mix between K and Ka is now. I'm no expert on detectors, just what I've picked up from practical experience and a fair bit of reading, but if it's of any interest: http://geoffjames.blogspot.co.nz/201...th-having.html . I have X band turned off for false alerts. I re-enabled K band for the reasons I mentioned above. My screamer has a mute switch so I use that in town where commercial use of K band is quite common.

Cheers,

Geoff

[pritch]

Translation .. regardless what model radar detector you get ... the odds are good that you will STILL get a ticket.

Yeah nah. The jury is still out but so far that is wrong. As Scummy likes to point out though, we have to be lucky all the time, they just need to get lucky once.

[pritch]

My x50 picks up vans, why doesn't yours unless you have some bands turned off? As far as I know, all vans are either K or KA band and the x50 picks both those frequencies up.

The speed camera vans are on the band that gives all the spurious warnings so I turned that band off. If I went on a trip, and if I remembered, I'd turn it back on. So far though I've never managed to do that.

The warning from a van is much less than you'd normally get because the radar is pointing diagonally across the road, not towards you as it would be in a patrol car.

[Mike.Gayner]

Vans are the least of my worries seeing as you see then before you pass them 95% of the time. And obviously no front plate.

[PistonBlown]

Just one question as vans keep being mentioned - don't the van's just take a photo of the front so they can't see your number plate anyway? I always thought that was one of the advantages of riding a motorbike:-)

[nosebleed]

According to you and the rest of the safety bridge, common sense and radar detectors are mutually exclusive. To the rest of us, they're tools that work in tandem. But evidently you don't possess the brainpower for that to work. You'd better not get a radar detector.

much more eloquent than the response I was formulating

[flashg]

Just one question as vans keep being mentioned - don't the van's just take a photo of the front so they can't see your number plate anyway? I always thought that was one of the advantages of riding a motorbike:-)

Yeah nah........
The driver sits in the van and writes your number down and you get ticket in the mail,then you request photo proof, then you pay.
They can read your number plate in town, but might struggle in 100km zone

[CaMo]

Yep, it's an 8500 with a screamer for audible alerts - had it for a good few years now. I live in Coromandel so I'm pretty familiar with the scene in that area. All the camera vans used to be Ka but a few with K started appearing 2 or 3 years ago. Generally pick both up about 400 metres or so away. Have no idea what the mix between K and Ka is now. I'm no expert on detectors, just what I've picked up from practical experience and a fair bit of reading, but if it's of any interest: http://geoffjames.blogspot.co.nz/201...th-having.html . I have X band turned off for false alerts. I re-enabled K band for the reasons I mentioned above. My screamer has a mute switch so I use that in town where commercial use of K band is quite common.

Cheers,

Geoff

Geoff, would you mind taking a snap of the bottom of your unit. I think there is 2 versions and I'd be interested to see if there is a difference. I'll put K back on and see what I get. I also get the odd false on ka which is strange. Like a sudden blast bit then notice the car coming towards me has a detector too. Do you get this?

[PistonBlown]

Yeah nah........
The driver sits in the van and writes your number down and you get ticket in the mail,then you request photo proof, then you pay.
They can read your number plate in town, but might struggle in 100km zone

Oh hadn't thought of that - will not feel quite so cocky when I go past one now:-)