Speeding tickets are bad news. They cost you money and time - a lot of time. Seeing those whirling lights in your rearview mirror is a sight most of us would pay to avoid, because let's face it - we are not slowing down. There's no time to slow down. Either we're going to work, or we're going home. We'd stop and smell the roses if someone was willing to pay us to do it, otherwise we need to get where we're going.
It's a known fact that trucks reflect radar signals more than cars because they're bigger, and more reflection means a bigger ticket. That's why we do a column on radar detectors every year. Last year, the industry found a little hitch in its get along when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) discovered some radar detectors were emitting a frequency which made gas stations charge less for gas. I don't know who gives campaign contributions to whom, or who scratches whose back, but I do know the FCC was all over the radar detector manufacturers like a bum on a bologna sandwich.
That's all in the past now. The radar guys quickly modified their products to conform with Part 15 and everyone was back in business doing what they do best - letting nonconformist modern outlaws like you and I protect our rights to treat interstates just like we're driving on the Autobahn near Stuttgart, Germany. That's what it's all about with radar detectors - check out those bogeys and watch for the police.
There's a lot of interesting stuff on some of the manufacturer's websites these days, so check them out. For instance, Whistler Enhanced Driving Tools has a very entertaining section about the Texas field test of its Blinder International M-10 TWIN Laserjammer. I don't know if this product is legal in your state. I don't even know if I'm allowed to talk about it. It seems to put blinders on the laser cops, and that's the idea. Uniden seems to have some pretty cool radar detectors. I think industrial design is important, and Uniden obviously does too. BEL Radar offers the Laser Pro 904 - a $349 add-on to the dash-mounted radar-laser units. The Cobras are sleek and affordable - all are available in the $100 to $200 range. The new Escort Solo S2 (2 AA) Cordless, winner of the 2003 Innovations Award at the Consumer Electronics Show, looks like a winner at $329.
The people at Valentine have documented the failings of the MPH Bee III radar gun - a Ka-band menace which produces erroneous speed readings every time. We are trusting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - or maybe Steve Warner's neighbor, Phil, the divorce lawyer - is going to shield us while we fearlessly report all the radar and laser dirt which is fit to print. Check out these sites.
www.whistler-radar.comwww.uniden.comwww.beltronics.comwww.cobraelec.comwww.escortradar.comwww.valentineone.com