Well, these radar detectors do indeed slow one down

[scumdog]

They are the best investment I have made. No tickets for two and a half years. When it goes off slow down fast and stay down for a few k's Look for the cop. Then pick the speed up again. Could be different for you big city boys but out here in the slow parts of the country they are great. I have gone from 140 down to 90 with instant on and got away with it. I have trained myself to hit the brakes very hard when ever it beeps in the ear. You must always know what is behind you cos the cage will run you over. I know I will get a ticket in the near future because I will slip up but it has saved me so much money and "no" licence time. It is worth every $$ spent.

Don't be TOO confident - down here anyway there are several cops who allow a bit more 'latitude' with bikes and you may think it was your detector that saved you getting pulled over - all you need is one cop who is a bit meaner than the rest and he'll have you.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Don't be TOO confident - down here anyway there are several cops who allow a bit more 'latitude' with bikes and you may think it was your detector that saved you getting pulled over - all you need is one cop who is a bit meaner than the rest and he'll have you.

yup i got pinged for 55 in a 50k zone...

[Ixion]

Car coming towards me last night, locked on at 122kph. and getting faster for a second or so after locked speed on.

Roadside discussion "Why didn't my radar detector pick you up when you were coming towards me before you locked my speed"

Obviously never heard of instant-on.

I'll save my money for important things like skull masks rather than waste it on fripperies like radar detectors.

But that's down here, maybe up in the busy part of NZ they're worth it.

CHEAT!

That is why a pilot fish is invaluable. I suspect that may end up being the main use of mine.

[scumdog]

CHEAT!

That is why a pilot fish is invaluable. I suspect that may end up being the main use of mine.

Often found the last car in the line is the fastest one, especially if there is a bit of a gap between the second-last and it, at times don't check the 'pilot fish' (leave radar on 'instant-on) but wait until last vehicle in line is 'in my sights'.

Get a few like that.

[Ixion]

That's why I said about not being so close to the fish that I get copped too. Knew about that trick.

But with a detector I reckon I can let the fish run ahead clear out of sight. So the cop spotting the fish won't see me, just a single target. But I'll hear the ping as he pings the fish.

[scumdog]

That's why I said about not being so close to the fish that I get copped too. Knew about that trick.

But with a detector I reckon I can let the fish run ahead clear out of sight. So the cop spotting the fish won't see me, just a single target. But I'll hear the ping as he pings the fish.

Done the same myself however, like I say: Don't count on him going for the 'fish' ALL the time, for various reasons he may not have a 'go' at that one but decide to try you instead, cops can be random people at times...

[Ixion]

True enough. And on a bike there's the possibility of encountering a cop who just hates "those damn dangerous things".

But it is all a matter of reducing the odds. Motorcycling is a dangerous business, no getting round that. If we wanted to be quite safe, we would drive Nissan Micras. So some degree of danger , we have to live with. But we can push the odds in our favour in various ways Anything, like radar detectors, that helps reduce the danger, even if it doesn't eliminate it, must be a good thing.

[Lou Girardin]

Ixion may be getting false alerts from other detectors. Usually this manifests itself by a low freq alert, it's quite easy to pick the difference from that or when Plod zaps you.
I've used detectors for 20 years now, AND I've been let off a ticket with the Valentine in plain sight.
The three tickets I've had in that time were due to me not paying attention rather than the detctor not doing it's job.
I'll take the chance on aggravating a cop's attitude with one rather than riding unprotected thanks.

[sAsLEX]

apparently, it's legal to own, illegal to operate. Go figure..

You need a license to transmit in the radio spectrum hence them not being allowed to be used by the unlicensed

[MaPeXi]

Can somebody please explain the "fish" and "instant-on" terms to me?

[sAsLEX]

Can somebody please explain the "fish" and "instant-on" terms to me?

The "pilot fish" is letting someone faster in front of you and following behind them in the hope that they get pinged by the cop instead of you.


Instant on is a radar mode that allows the cop to basically only "shoot" individual vehicles rather than leaving his radar emitting. This is so there is only brief bursts of radar from him to try avoid being picked up by radar detectors.

[pritch]

Can somebody please explain the "fish" and "instant-on" terms to me?

I assume "pilot fish" to be what I have called a rabbit. You find a guy who wants to travel at roughly the same (illegal?) speed as you and you just sit back somewhat behind him hoping if anybody gets a ticket it's him.

Instant on is the kind of radar the cops are using now. They don't drive around transmitting all the time, only when they want to check the speed of a particular vehicle. One of them could explain that bette though...

[rwh]

There is a massive need for some effective way to carry communications into helmets. I have the same problem with cellphones. I don't want to use the phone whilst riding, much too hard and risky, but I DO want to know when it rings. GPS devices would have the same issue.

I'm tempted by the Nolan helmets with their N-com system - allows for bluetooth headset and other audio functionality in the helmet. The helmet's rather pricier than my current (HJC) one, though ($599 vs $260 IIRC), and the required kits for my phone (basic kit plus bluetooth kit) added up to another $3-400. And the bike shop people don't really know the details of the bluetooth headset features I want, so I'd have to dig further. And I haven't actually tried on a Nolan helmet, so I don't know if it would fit my head ...

On the other hand, I've discovered I can hear my phone ring much better if it's in the map pocket on my tank bag than when I carried it in my jacket pocket.

Richard

[MrMelon]

I just got myself an old escort 8500 a few weeks ago and its paid for itself a few times over already. I was just cruising at 120ish out of Havelock the other day and picked up radar from an oncoming line of about 6 cars, so I hit the brakes quick. There was a silver commodore in the middle of them that put his lights on and pulled over, but he never turned around to chase. Don't know what the deal was but I'm sure I just slowed down in time for him to not get a lock. I would've been toast without it.

I'm just using it with a set of headphones at the moment. I ran a headphone jack down so it comes out beside the seat and it's not too much of a pain but I'd really like to have some sort of screamer so I can wear earplugs again!

I made a real rangi mount out of sheetmetal and made some power wires up myself so in the end it just cost about $5 to get it all set up after buying the detector.

[sinned]

Radar Direct in the Hutt have a screamer set up to demonstrate. They imported it after I made enquiries and bought a Beltronics STI. The screamer works with the STI. Havent set up the detector on the bike yet but used it a fair bit in the car and it works well. However, in some situations (cop around a corner with a bank on inside) there is little warning. I am still thinking about fitting the detector to the bike and with a screamer. Has anyone got a screamer fitted and how effective is the screamer at highway speeds?