Waterloo for the Radar Detector?

I love my V1 radar detector. It has without doubt saved me thousands that would otherwise been mulcted out of my hide by radar-trapping cops – and it has made driving fun again.

But it’s got an issue you probably ought to be aware of.

I suspect other radar detectors have the same issue, too.

More and more new cars now come with some form of “adaptive” cruise control, or park sensors, or collision- avoidance/lane departure warning systems. Some of these systems use – you guessed it – radar orlaser signals to sense the presence of objects around the perimeter of the car. These signals constantly emanate from within (and around) the car.

The V1 picks up this “noise” – and constantly false alerts –  because it cannot weed out the signals generated by your car’s electronics (which in my experience generate police-type K band signals) and police radar, which is almost always K or Ka band. So, as you’re driving along, the detector is constantly beeping the tone for K band – and the LED warning lights are dancing –  even when there’s no cop around for miles.

Literally.

I can say this because I live on 16 acres adjacent to several hundred acres out in the middle of Nowhere, VA. There are no radar traps on my land – or on the adjacent land. Not unless the squirrels and deer are manning radar guns behind the trees . . . .

Yet the V1 – in a late model car equipped with adaptive cruise or any of the technologies mentioned above – will immediately light up like the proverbial Christmas tree as soon as I turn the car on (see video above). And it will stay lit.

And make noise, too.

This really mucks up the usefulness of the device.

Most people – me along them – are not going to drive down the road with their radar detector constantly beeping. So, they turn down or turn off the audible warning – which inherently reduces the effectiveness of the device. Also, the driver must now try to sort out the real threats from the constant false alerts triggered by the car’s electronics.

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