Johneboy

Hi
I've had my scooby for about 8 months now (UK MY 99) and after having a clean licence for 15 years it now looks like I will have 6 points on my licence. Got the first one on the way to NetworkQ rally in Nov by motorway police with a gun and the second by a camera on the A3. I only get to have fun in the car at weekends but at this rate I'll be travelling on a bus by December. Are their any effective radar detectors on the market, are they legal, and costs.
Thanks in advance.

John-BUS PASS

Grubby

Take a look further down the page at the thread Radar Detectors, this has some useful info!

Tim

Johneboy,

I've recently invested in one of these and the results are brilliant. Sometimes it is a little annoying but it has excellent muting features.

Johneboy

Thanks Tim & Grubby

V1 looks pretty good, I see this is a US product, does that cause a prolem in the UK and is it effective on picking up GATSO cameras which are my main concern, this may be a stupid question but I not up on laser technology.
Thanks

Nick

I have a Bell 990 which I bought from radar Express for £349 - they are in short supply at the moment.

With Gatsos, I get around 200m warning when they are facing away from me & half a mile warning when they are facing me.

The Bell 990 has switchable band selection & is software upgradable.

Email me if you have more questions.

RussP

Not sure any of them work that well on GATSO's (unfair Bl**dy things!) as they were designed very much with detectors in mind.

My Cobra 6100 works brilliant on lasers/guns, but i guess if you see a picture of a camera by the side of the road, you better just slow down!

fender

I have a Bell Europa and am glad I have it.

However, its ability with gatsos depends on the traffic in front of you. If you have n o traffic it cannot detect the Gatso. This is because the radar in a gatso is pointing down the road. It needs to hit another vehicle and be reflected back to be detected.

RussP

Does that mean either the car in front gets knicked OR you do?

jwhitton

I got 6 points and 300 quid with laser on the M6 south between J26 and J25!

Leason learnt: do not do over the 100mph on motorways. Speed on A-roads that you know and buy a radar detector. You need to know the road and where false alarms are usually heard. Any other detect is the fuzz with a gun - slow down.

jon

Justin Foden

Hi,
I recently arranged a bulk discount
for the superb Bel990 reduced from £349.99
to £299.99 (for the supra group)

Please email me direct if you are interested.

Thrustin

Kevin Atkins

I have been using a Val 1 for eight months now, and it picks up Gatso's well in advance.Laser is not a problem only in as much as you don't get much warning, just hope it is a car a couple in front of you, then you can scrub some speed off.

Lee

I've had a V1 for yonks - if I were to go out today I'd go for the top-of-the-line Bel..it now has the edge.

that said they are all useless against laser if you're leading "the pack"

Nick

My Bell 990 seems much better at false readings & doesn't pick up the microwaves you often get on motorways.
It is VERY good with Gatsos but there are a lot of door openers (petrol stations etc) that use K band. It's best not to bother with City mode & just switch the thing off. It does seem to rattle slightly in it's mount on bumpy roads although Radar Express have promised to send me a new mount.
The Quick-on option is excellent & much better than the usual 30 second chirp routine on start up.

John DBM

Johneboy here,
thanks everyone for the info, looks like a toss up between the V1 and Bell 990. However the V1 does look a little like my Cabel TV set top box! I certainly will be purchasing either by next weekend as I never driven my car so slowly today, after receiving my letter from the boys in blue yesterday. I guess it must work then!

Cheers

S55 DVM

I bought a Bel 970 Vector LR from a place in the US (www.radarguys.com). A mate living in Dallas brought it back for me at Xmas, but even if you get it shipped it will still cost under £200 (including all vat and duties), about £100 less than UK. Shipping to the UK is about $30, you can watch the progress via the UPS tracking service.

It works pretty good, I'm getting at least 200m warning on Gatsos, often much more. I bought it after reading earlier threads, circa Sept '99, decided this was the best value. Valentine V1 I think may be the best performer, but it can't be supplied from the US by Valentine direct, and is far too expensive in the UK at £500+.

Anyway, hope this info is useful.

David.

Jonathan Witts

Hi Guys

I bought a Snooper SD815is for £299 a couple of months ago. I usualy get 100 yrd warning on GATSO's. I have not been zapped by a laser yet. In London its a bit of a pain with door's etc on K band, but in the country it is well worth the money.

I am amased at how many GATSO's are not working most of the time.

Be Safe

Jon

gregh

I notice Beltronics market their systems as being 'software upgradeable', however in practise what does this mean?

My Bell LR is 'sw upgradeable' so I should be able to upgrade it to look for the Ku band, however why would Beltronics offer this?

So is s/w upgradeable just a marketing ploy?

Greg