Radar detectors, NZ tuned?

[puddytat]

Does a radar detector need to be N.Z tuned? Im looking at getting one on ebay from the states (Bel rx 65Pro) for 350 incl. freight,and it seems to cover all the n.z bands, but I see several on trademe with "N.Z tuned"...is that for real or a cunning ploy?

[slopster]

Cunning ploy. You only need Ka and laser band here so you can turn of the X and K bands. Its only a matter of pushing a few buttons

[Swoop]

I have a Bel RX65 Pro. Simply turn off the bands not required here, as Slopster has said.
The Bel also has an extra (unused) band which will be rather handy if the NZ upgrade their systems...

[TLMAN]

Cunning ploy. You only need Ka and laser band here so you can turn of the X and K bands. Its only a matter of pushing a few buttons

Are you sure???
Ive had a few X band warnings then shortly after ive seen a cop car, the first was an unmarked mazda on the motorway then the second was a traffic commonwhore on Northcote Rd!!

[Blackbird]

Are you sure???
Ive had a few X band warnings then shortly after ive seen a cop car, the first was an unmarked mazda on the motorway then the second was a traffic commonwhore on Northcote Rd!!

He's correct. The HWP had X band years ago and I'd be very surprised if there are still any about. Ka is the standard microwave band, plus laser also. Scumdog or Bykey Cop should be able to confirm this. POP mode may be under test but not in use in NZ as far as I know. If you have POP mode turned on, I understand that some types of acricultural equipment will sometimes trigger it. I have POP mode enabled for no good reason and have occcasionally got a warning in the countryside which I put down to agricultural equipment.

[Delphinus]

Are you sure???
Ive had a few X band warnings then shortly after ive seen a cop car, the first was an unmarked mazda on the motorway then the second was a traffic commonwhore on Northcote Rd!!

Really? Thats interesting. I was told to turn X of as well. It goes nuts anywhere in town otherwise for me. I wonder if X had higher priority over Ka ie it didnt show Ka as it was showing X?

How long ago was that TLMAN?

[TLMAN]

Really? Thats interesting. I was told to turn X of as well. It goes nuts anywhere in town otherwise for me. I wonder if X had higher priority over Ka ie it didnt show Ka as it was showing X?

How long ago was that TLMAN?

Yesterday when I went for a blast to test out my new radar detector.

[Blackbird]

X band is commonly used for things like automatic door openers in town and some of them seem to have a fair bit of range. I had lots of X band warnings on my old detector as I wasn't able to turn it off.

[TLMAN]

Just had a dig around the net and came up with the attached pic below.

All i know now is that i dont fully trust my radar detector because i am positive that it was the cop car that set it off.

I wonder if the radio communication frequency the police use has anything to do with it??

[What?]

Does a radar detector need to be N.Z tuned?

Despite what some companies here will tell you, there is no such thing as NZ Spec radar detectors. All these people do is switch off X and K bands, and in some cases alter or replace the packaging.
Example - Bel somethingorother AUS/NZ model sold by a certain company in Auckland (who do provide good, if expensive service). I wrote to the manufacturers, who responded with:

It is good to hear from you! We do not ship outside the US and legal
provinces in Canada, and we have no distributors over-seas. You could
place the order and ship to a friend in the US or Canada, and they could
forward to you.
We do not monitor the frequencies used in other countries, and can not
guarantee our detectors will pick up everything being used. If you can
find out what is used, the Passport 8500 X50 and our other current
models will pick up the following:
X- Band = 10.525 GHz +/- 25 MHZ
K-Band = 24.150 GHz +/- 100 MHz
Ka-Band = 34.700 GHz +/- 1300 MHz
Laser is 904nm, 33 MHz bandwidth.

And the speed detection equipment makers also do not make NZ Spec gear - the market is just too small.
So, what works in Merka will work here.

[Homy]

Ive got 2 X50's and a V1 from the states as well as a V1 from Radar Direct(nz spec...whatever)
they all work the same the only difference is RD turn off X and K on the V1...which you can do yourself ...easy as(for the V1 that is..havent got around to much playing with the X50's...)

[Delphinus]

X50's are easy as to turn off too

[pritch]

I just followed the instructions that came with the unit and turned off what wasn't needed. It works fine.

As others have said he "tuned for NZ" thing is simply to milk money from the ill informed.

Don't overlook cartertonryan on TradeMe as a source... Brilliant!

[NinjaBoy]

I've configured my X50 to display the actual freq it is picking up and have been using it in the car a lot recently. All mobile and mobile speed camera's consistently read as 34.7xx Mhz. I also get false alarms at 33.xxx Mhz and this is in the Ka band range. Quite a handy feature.

[QMOTO]

Was at Sema car show a couple of years back and the Beltronics dude told me there is no such thing as a nz spec radar and said they just say so for the NZ distributor.