Is anyone else having trouble finding a good place for their radar detector? No matter where I place it, the cord is always in the way of the radio panel. It looks so unsightly and is such a nuissance that I just end up throwing the thing in the back seat. Any suggestions...

 

Hard wire your detector to the your ignition. Just splice into the power line that runs to the cigarette lighter under the dash (or any other line that goes hot when the ignition is on). This way you won't need to plug the ugly cord into your cigarette lighter and can run it through the headliner or into the dash anywhere you want. I've done this on many of my vehicles.

 

Ran power from the Homelink mirror. Switched by ignition, gets the radar nice and high for early warnings, and puts it behind the black shade around the mirror......
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doc

 

Thanks for the advice. Is there a website or something that shows how to do this so I don't screw up something..

 

Oh yeah...and I don't have homelink, so I can't go with option # 2

 

I mounted mine low on the windshield, to the right of center. The curly cord neatly follows the contour of the join between the center dash area and the passenger's airbag cover. It helps that my 8500 has a mute button in the power plug, so I only have to reach over to the unit itself if I want to switch between city and highway modes.

 

Do you have any concerns that the black shade interfers with the detector?
Otherwise seems like a good location

 

Placement behind the paint on the windshield should not effect the radar detector. It will interfere with laser detection.

 

I wonder if there are still the wiring connectors for the homelink mirror even if you don't have it as an option?

 

My Passport 8500 came with a remote power cord that has an inline muting button.

 

Errmm.. What's wrong with the cordless battery operated radar detectors?? Some of the new ones are neat and small now.

 

The reports I've read suggest that cordless models simply don't have the sensitivity of 12V models, particularly in the Ka band.

 

Really?? I didn't know that.. so now that leaves me with the dilema of maybe getting a ticket or having a big black curly dangly wire in my view, I'll take the ticket..

 

"But before we begin the nuts-and-bolts session, let us mention that cordless operation exacts some compromises. That's because everything revolves around battery life. While it's possible to design a battery-powered detector with every bit of the performance and features of a corded model, it would suck down a set of Double-A alkalines in roughly the time it takes you to back from your garage into the street. This forces designers to walk a tightrope, balancing battery longevity with sensitivity.

To do this, every cordless has a duty cycle; it's shut down a certain percentage of the time to conserve the batteries. We're talking milliseconds here and you won't notice the duty cycle in operation but there's definitely a reduction in sensitivity, especially on Ka band. That's because the extraordinarily wide band, 2600 Megahertz wide to be exact, some 52 times broader than X band, takes detectors a considerable amount of time to scan, looking for a signal that could be anywhere in there. The duty cycle only hinders this process. Net result: lower sensitivity and less advance warning.

So keep in mind that no cordless will approach the performance of the best corded models and maybe never will, barring a breakthrough in battery technology. But freedom from the hassle of power cords, not to mention the decline in conveniently-located 12-volt outlets in many vehicles today, continues to attract a loyal following for cordless detectors. The best analogy we've heard is courtesy of BEL-Tronics exec Don Rich: "It's no different than comparing a laptop to a desktop PC," he told us. "If you want go-anywhere, cordless convenience, you give up a little in performance. It's a tradeoff many are willing to make, particularly if they travel frequently and need the ultimate in portability." Okay, so how much of a compromise are we talking about? Read on and find out."

Taken from:

http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleID=8520

 

are you serious

 

I had a Valentine of recent vintage. While it did well as a radar/laser warning device, it falsed so much that I got annyoyed and finally returned it. Went over to the Escort Store (live in Cincinnait where both companies are headquartered) and tried the 8500. Cord annoyed me and made the cabin look....well....crappy. Although I found it matched the Valentine for radar/laser sensitivity, it was worlds better at rejecting false signals.

Went back to Escort and got the Solo2. While I'm certain it's not as sensitive, I've yet to notice much difference (regardless of what Mike Valentine says).

Bottom line, I returned the 8500 and kept the Solo2. Been very happy ever since.

Oh yea...the best thing is I can put it anywhere I want. Batteries have been in there two months and the little guage on the Solo2 shows they're still in good shape. I'll probably swap them out in a couple more months just for the hell of it, but the Solo2 is supposed to give you a warning when they need to be replaced. The detector also turns itself off if I forget to.

 

How does it know you are done using it?

 

I have the V1. On the plus side, I love the arrows and the military grade construction and the sensitivity. On the minus side, it falses a lot and is fairly large and it needs a power cord. Also, it's really loud when it boots up. I think a little cordless job would rock, but I'm afraid I would really miss the arrows and the sensitivity. On several occasions, the V1 has warned me when the cop was using instant-on around a corner, over a hill or on the other side of an overpass, and I was REALLY glad to have it. I watched other people speed past the cop while I slowed down. It was fun.

Back on thread, I think I'll mount it on my new '8 on the windshield at the bottom using the suction cups, and run a phone cord around the edge of the dash and down to the fusebox.

 

I also have the Solo2 and am very happy with it. Today I fabricated a bracket to mount it on the left of the dash, right at the lower left corner of the windshield. It now hides behind the manditory emissions sticker. Best placement I've found so far, and I have tried everything! If anyone's interested in how I did this, let me know and I'll post pics.

 

Hello. Check this thread out by Attack - it has pics too:

V1 Radar Detector hard wired installation:
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-radar-detector-hard-wired-installation-8242/

rx8cited

 

Actually, my Solo2 has "sniffed out" instant on around corners and hidden traps, too. Sometimes I almost fly past the hidden traps thinking they are just some mall alarm systems setting it off....until I get the repeated "braps" as the fine officers target other cars as I drive by.

 

i use the 8500, and the mute button comes in so handy, drivign on the freeway it helps a lot, because you can pick up so much stuff that button comes in handy,

andrew

 

When my 8 eventually arrives i'm going to get one of these:

http://www.speedcheetah.co.uk/index2.htm

We don't get the homelink mirror here, so it's the neatest, most discrete radar detector possibble. I'll hardwire it into the ignition, job done.

I'm not a fan of anything on the dash, distracting and not very attractive IMO.

Dont know if they would work in the States though.

 

That Cheetah looks cool, although I bet it's uglier in person, that is, I bet it kind of dominates the rearview mirror so it's not as small and elegant as the OEM look. The specs show that it picks up K, Ka and Ku bands (but not X) and laser. Here in the U.S. we don't have Ku and some (rural) police departments are still using X band. Overall, I suspect it would be fine here, unless you're worried about X band. I haven't had a genuine X band alert over the last year or two in Fresno, CA, but I hear there are still some out by the coast here.

I would certainly consider getting that Cheetah.

 

Some things to consider:

-The rear view mirror location is very poor for laser detection. Odds are, it won't even detect a beam aimed at your car (not that a license frame mounted laser detector offers effective pre-warning either).

-The Cheetah's antennae is angled so that it faces straight down the road in England, so it will be angled towards the starboard A-pillar in the Colonies.

-Not only the aforementioned lack of X band, but if I'm not mistaken, the Ka range (X and K band are specific frequencies, while Ka is a wide range of frequencies, which is why it is more difficult for detectors) is different in England.

-The mirror doesn't have ANY dimming capability at all.

-The "universal" type of clip on mounting means that the mirror is probably going to shake, and be blurry.

But the concept is good. I've seen custom installed remote detectors with indicators around the mirror. On one setup, someone had taken a remote display from a V1, and installed it behind the glass in a standard mirror (not an electrochromatic), so that you would only see the arrows when they were lit up (kind of like those LED arrows you see on some SUV side mirrors).

If one wanted (and as long as the tint band at the top of the windshield does not block radar waves), they could do a custom install by taking apart a standard radar detector, locating the antennae on the back of a mirror, and installing the display LEDs above or below the mirror, and the buttons above or below the mirror, or in the back of the mirror. For a real cool install, they could wire the detector so that the steering wheel buttons could also operate the detector. And for the ultimate, they'd figure out how to display the text display from like an Escort 8500 in the stock radio display.

---jps