I have an Escort 9500 and am trying to eliminate as many false alarms as I can. It comes with a lot of bands that it searches for. X, K, Ka, Ku, POP, and LASER
From what ive read X and Ku are the ones i can confidently turn off as X is no longer used and old technology and Ku is only used in Europe.
However 2 times now I have been scared by POP when driving on the highway a little quicker it started beeping, I stomped on my brakes only to find it to be POP radar and drive along and not see a cop anywhere.
From what ive searched POP is an instant on radar just like LASER so its hard to detect it when a cop points it at you but ive never seen a cop with POP.
So my question is, is it safe to turn POP off or may it come in handy one day. Does anyone use it?

 

Pretty sure POP is radio waves, not a radar. If you're getting hit with a laser, K will go off I believe, and no one really uses anything else but laser anymore.

I don't use a radar detector, causes more trouble IMO. People get scared and will cause traffic jams or not be paying full attention to driving and moreso looking out for cops.

If you're gonna be caught, you're gonna be caught. Nothing you can do to change it really. Radio waves will help you sometimes, but even then, POP is really nothing to be concerned with. It is not a radar of any sort (from what I remember). If your POP starts to go off, just be wary, but don't freak out.

 

All kinds of bad info. laser will set of LASER. Watch for K in smaller towns, and anything Ka is trouble. Pop is fast radar technology that is basically not usable for a ticket. The manufacturer even says that POP shouldn't be used for traffic stops due to the fact that it comes on to fast to be stable enough for an accurate reading. You can turn it off if you want. 99% of the time POP is just noise. Once you set your 9500 right, it only comes on for cops.

 

Now I feel like a tard.

 

SgtB is right on with his info. Lasers can still be athreat because in most cases, when you get the reading, you may well have already been clocked. I have a background in high energy physics and Ill tell you, the lazer has a very narrow beam in which to detect, roughly about 3 feet on average once it gets to you. Of course that number can always vary with distance, but once you get that alret, the doppler shift the cops want has already been sent back to their gun. I like the idea of the lazer shifters but have not dont any real testing to conclude their effectiveness.

The reason the detectors are so much better at reading radar is; the police radar has a lower frequency or energy beam and creates alot more scatter, and scater is what saves your ass when a radar detector goes off. And in the physics terms, scatter is any radiation that devistes away from the primary beam.

I made a post sometime how to effectivels use a radar detector and what it does. To sum it up, it will only serves, theoretically, as an early warning indicator and the second yuo see it that means its time to slow down. If you are the only car in the road, no way in hell its going to save you because youre the only one getting the tag.

 

KA still widely used. Laser is now more commong in big cities and impossible to beat now that the guns all code out jammers.

POP is a very big deal in NV and the few places that do use it, otherwise ignore it.

 

[QUOTE=619Nick06,Nov 5 2008, 02:58 AM] Now I feel like a tard.

 

I got nailed by laser at 562 feet. I saw the readout on the gun. My 9500 picked up nothing.

 

I have a frkin' chippy training center near me. Nothing says pucker when the guy jumps out from the bridge abutment and there are 4 chase cars lined up.

 

yeah... i'm pretty sure X band is mostly motion sensors these days, k band is motion sensitive doors and stationary speed-readout signs (from what I can tell), and Ka is the typical trooper. Sometimes cops that are using laser also have their car's radar gun on, and that is why you may get a Ka reading prior to getting popped by laser. At least that's what happened to me... Beltronics picked up both signals and saved my ass.