| Author | Message | ||
     M1combat  |
I've been considering buying a V1 radar detector. I'm interested in knowing how my amber windscreen on the 12R will affect the incoming laser. I have a dark smoke double bubble on there now, and I'll probably replace it with another, less tinted, screen when I get the fuzz buster. I wouldn't mind going to an amber double bubble... Anyone have any ideas? | ||
| Reepicheep  |
Not positive what light wavelength the police lasers run at, but I would say there is a decent chance it is the same infra red range a TV remote runs at. Modern video cameras will typically pick up infra red light. Grab a sony camera and your tv remote, and look out the screen with the camera while you push the remote. You should see the remote LED glowing. See how much light is blocked. You should see how much infra red the IR serial port on my thinkpad puts out! It'll light up a room (if you can see IR that is). There are IR signal strength meter programs that run on a palm pilot as well, if you don't have a video camera that picks up IR (most do). Your digital still camera or camera phone will probably also pick up the light. Fun to go snooping for infra red light sources. (Message edited by reepicheep on January 19, 2005) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Here is my Dell taken with my camera phone. The bright light is the infra red LED, you can watch it blink through the phone.  Yes. I am easily amused. | ||
| Xbolt12 |
Even though I use the latest Escort radar/laser detector, I believe a laser detector will probably only let you know that you just got a ticket. I seriously doubt there is enough stray light to give you early warning no matter what the marketing folks say. Now radar is an different matter and my detector picks up KA well in advance. Just my opinion. BTW: A mirror mount for a Kawi ZX9 works well on the xb12r with no mods except a double bubble screen. xbolt12 | ||
| M1combat |
I was reading the Valentine one site and they mentioned that tints and some types of glass severely limit the effectiveness of radar detectors... Down to something like 35% of the range. I'm curios what the type of plastic the Zero Gravity company uses in their windscreens would do to the range, and if maybe that particular color would somehow amplify it (I wouldn't be suprised to hear someone like Erik or another Buell employee to incorporated something like that  )... Just a thought... I don't really even know where to look to find what colors may amplify radar to a radar detector (if color even matters as opposed to the tint). | ||
| Reepicheep |
No filter can amplify light, just block it to a lesser degree. It might be possible to have a particular type of material that will strongly block everything *but* the light frequency that the lasers use, which *might* give the detector a better signal to noise ratio. If there were such a material, it would be built into the front of your laser detector from the factory. I am inclined to agree with Xbolt12. I don't think a laser detector does anything but tell you that you were just sucessfully clocked. | ||
| Mikej  |
Sometimes they'll pick up a bounced or skip signal for a possible heads-up. Beyond that, yep, they just give you a chance to start picking a place to pull over and start prepping a story. | ||
| Gowindward  |
Take a look at www.radarbusters.com There's some good information on the site. | ||
| Henrik  |
I've heard about some car windshields blocking certain light frequencies. Had a rental once, that would block EZ-pass reading of my pass. Had to tape the pass to the bumper ... Also, a friend of mine had a V1 mounted on his RC51, and the laser alarm would go off in certain twilight situations, such as heading into a tunnel (which was interesting the first few times it happened on a BRP trip ). Other than that, he didn't have any issues using a double bubble screen on the RC. but I agree with John, unless you're unreasonably lucky, the laser detector will just let you know that you just earned yourself a ticket  The radar detector however has paid for itself many times over ... and I really like the V1 directional arrows. That alone is worth the extra $$. I wonder when their patent on that technology runs out?? Henrik | ||
| M1combat |
"No filter can amplify light, just block it to a lesser degree. " I KNEW someone was going to call me on that . |
