Radar detectors do work, but not the cheap $69 ones.
Get an Escort 8500, V1, or Bel 980 which range from $300-400. I have the Escort 8500 which is an awesome detector.
No offense to you BT, but unless you are shooting radar catching people speeding coming around a curve or coming over a big rise on the highway, when everyone needs to check their speed anyway, you would never nab me with your radar.
A radar detector is just a tool to detect radar, but if you don't use common sense or read what it is telling you, you will still get tickets. The Escort 8500 has many different modes on it, properly set, will not give false alarms. If you take a new detector out of the box and plug it in, I guarantee it will beep at everything, including the wind. It's all in the manual how to configure it.
On the Escort 8500: In CA, X band is not used for police radar, so I turn X band detection off. That cuts down on 95% of false alarms from alarm systems and automatic doors on businesses. I also put mine in Expert mode, this allows the detector to track 2-Ka, 2-K, and 4-X band signals simultanously with signal strenth bars for each signal. That's eight separate signal strenth bars that allow you to detect cops who try to hide in areas where false alarms are prevalent. If I am in an area that normally gives me false Ka band alerts but now I show two signals, I know a cop is hiding nearby.
You also have Auto, City, and Hwy modes. City mode reduces sensitivity and range to help reduce false alerts. Hwy mode gives you up to two miles range sensitivity, great for the Hwy but gives false alerts like crazy in the city. Auto mode will adjust sensitivity automatically using computer logic processors. This is what I use because i don't want to keep pushing the button to change modes all of the time.
Listening to the beeps and correctly interpreting them is what saves you from speed traps and moving radar. Probably 80% of your dectors use will be in your daily commute where you normally ride the same roads. I know which areas give me false alerts, and I am sure the cops know them too. That's why having a detector that picks up multiple signals are very helpful. The V1 has a digital readout that tells you how many signals it picks up, including the direction where they came from.
If I am going down the road and get a very short beep every few seconds and a strength bar that keeps going higher as I go down the road, I know a cop is using "instant-on" radar up ahead. If the strength bar keeps getting lower, then I know I am moving away and it was behind me.
If the strength bar and beep quickly starts to ramp up in intensity, you are either approaching a cop or he he is rolling up behind you. SLOW YER A$$ DOWN!!! If you have any doubt if an alert is real, SLOW YER A$$ DOWN and look around. The sound of a false alert and a real police radar detection sound very different with a quality detector.
In the area where I live, the CHP have installed devices that give you alerts that radar is around, usually on some long secluded secondary roads and a couple of the long bridges.
In conclusion, cheap radar detectors are BAD, and the more expensive detectors are GOOD. Listening to what your detector is telling you, PRICELESS.
