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Detection Range
First and always most important is detection range. If you don’t have enough time to slow down once you’ve been alerted, nothing else really matters. You’re toast. You might just as well have a block of wood on your dash. One thing often forgotten is the significance of what type of vehicle you drive. If you drive a very small car like a Miata, the typical radar gun will get you at 500 to 1000 feet. If you drive a larger SUV, figure 1500 to 2000 feet. Drive a big rig like a Kenworth or Peterbilt with an attached semi-trailer, they can spot your butt 5000 to 7000 feet away. In short, the larger your vehicle, the longer-range detector you’ll need. Many of the more mediocre detectors on the market today have less range that the cop’s gun. In short, they’re totally worthless. A really strong detector can easily exceed gun range by a factor of two or three depending on other issues such as geography, weather conditions, etc. If the operator is turning the gun off-and-on as each target approaches (generally referred as “instant-on” or “pulse” radar) you’ll need even more range, since your only hope is to reach out far enough ahead to detect when the cars ahead of you in the traffic stream are being targeted. |
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