It seems as if all radar detector manufacturers say that to gain the best results from your radar detector, you should mount it so the sensors have as little blocking them as possible. For instance, most people mount them on the middle or upper part of their windshields.

Seeing as we have convertibles, and some of us are less inclined to install an alarm just so we can have electronics in plain view to passers-by, I was wondering if anyone has experimented with putting their radar detectors in other places to try to guage effectiveness -- like in/on the dash, or under the dash on the passenger side (above where their knees would be), or anything of the like.

Any takers?

 

Most of the stuff in the cockpit, such as the secret compartment, is plastic...this isn't going to have any appreciable effect on sensitivity. However, metal certainly will, so you couldn't place it in the dash without losing sensitivity since the firewall will weaken any signals coming from the front of the car...same with the rear if put too low. I believe the best solution is in the secret compartment, as has been done recently. The compartment is high enough to be generally above and/or away from the firewalls, and still hidden enough that no one would have a clue what's in there.

 

I tried mounting my V1 into the lid of the secret compartment. I cut holes front and rear to give the sensors a window through which to see to minimize any interference that might occur (which I expected to be minimal). I then went out to some known false signal locations to test the sensitivity.

Unfortunately, the mounting location did have quite an adverse effect. I noticed a slight decrease in sensitivity, but that was not the worst of it. Due to the decreased sensitivity and what I suspect was a differing amount of sensitivity change between the front and rear antennae, the directional indicator of the V1 got confused and did not as accurately pinpoint/follow the location of the signal as it did when the unit was installed on the windshield.

Based on this, I scrapped the idea of mounting the V1 in the secret compartment and have it mounted on the windshield.

Clark