Yeah, I know that rearwards-facing radar has been around for years, but here's what I can't quite figure out. (Maybe I'm just being dense on this.) We were going in opposite directions. So imagine he's going west at 60mph, and I'm going east at 60mph. He turns his radar on. Let's just assume for the sake of argument that the time required for the radar to zero itself isn't an issue. What I don't quite understand is, whatever reading his radar gives him, how does he know the radar isn't just bouncing the signal off of a tree he just passed, or building or parked car or whatever. I mean, even if the road were completely empty, if he turned his radar on, wouldn't it bounce off the nearest object behind him? And wouldn't it read 60mph? Because if he's traveling at 60mph, then whatever stationary object the signal bounces off of is, relative to him, moving away at 60mph, right? So did he know I was doing 60 because his radar showed an object moving at -120mph? As you can see, I'm a tad confused.

Actually, maybe it does make sense. If the cop is going West at 60mph, and his radar unit zeroes itself at that speed, then any object moving away from him in the rear at 60mph would automatically be adjusted to show as zero. That would automatically filter out stationary objects. Any object moving away at more than 60mph would register as a positive speed. So an object moving away at, say, 100mph would show as doing 40mph. An object moving away at 120mph would show as doing 60mph, and so on.

Maybe, I keep trying to get a friend to let me test his radar equipment and find out the limits on what exactly they can/cannot read and report.

I have been using a Passport 8500 for the past several years. It seems to detect X, K, and Ka band well in advance of the radar (at least when it is continuously on).

But overall, I'm not sure the unit is all that great and perhaps due to seeing few cops and everyone driving fast in Utah may be why it seems to perform OK. I have been stopped twice for speeding and neither time did the alarm go off. I received a warning on one and got lucky on the second when the cop had to go to an emergency and did not have time to give me a ticket. I did not asked them how they foiled my detector.

I have also had a problem with the laser detection mode and had to turn disable that function in my WRX (laser function was on when I was stopped previously as stated above). The problem with the laser was when I would accelerate in the WRX. On occassion, the laser detector would go off while accelerating, presumability due to an increase in voltage that was causing the laser detector to go off (??). I plan to turn that function back on and see if the Z causes it to go off.

Detectors may help in some situations, but now days I think you just have to lucky to not go by the cops or be following other fast cars for interference (and be on the lookout). With instant on, laser, pictures, aircraft, pacing, etc, there are too many ways to be caught.

Your pretty close to the right answer. Plus, it locks in on you.

Really? How does it lock in? Can you elaborate? I wasn't aware that radar could lock in on a particular car. I always thought one of the big criticisms of radar is that if there are multiple cars on the road, there's no way to tell which car's speed is being displayed.

I had the wife ask a traffic officer at work, they get off at 5pm. I'll try to get the answer before Monday. If not, then it will be Monday before she sees one again.
(small department, odd hours for some officers)

This is true according to my research, as well as comments by an ez-officer I know ........ It picks up speed, but doesn't tell the cop who is going that speed. On two different occasions years ago, my dectector went off on the interstate, just before a curve ...... I slow down quickly, the Corvette keeps on going. The cop pulls out and pulls the Corvette. He was in the middle lane going much slower than I was, appeared to be doing the speed limit. This is why I HATE radar .................. accurate as to speed sometimes, not accurate as to who is producing that speed.

John

Laser beam!

That makes zero sense to me. If they're locking in with laser, then it's a laser gun, not a radar gun.

Maybe this will help...
Police Radar Guns for Speed Law Enforcement - Best Police Radar Gun Gear


http://www.radarguns.com/how-radar-guns-work.html

I received my third Passport 9500ix and it works perfect, finally. The first one fell apart, because of a problem with the screw size being too short that Escort used in making some of these radars. The second problem was that the gps receiver totally malfunctioned & would just glitch up constantly. I guess their right when they say, "Third Time"s the Charm" ;)

Glad to hear it finally worked out for you. How was their customer service in all of this?

Escort's customer service sucked, however the company I bought it from has shown me the best customer service I have ever experenced.

What company was that?