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Adaptive Technology Motorcycle Radar Detector System

Those of you that have been following my blog know that in March of this year Wayne and Adam from Adaptiv Technology came out to our offices in Arizona to personally hand me their new TPX motorcycle radar detector.
One of the downsides I noted in my blog entry in my review was the false alerts. I was pleased when I met up with Wayne and Adam again, this time at the 2008 Radar Detector Shoot Out in El Paso, and they told me that they changed the filtering characteristics of their unit based upon my observations.
Overall the TPX system is on par with the mid class radar detectors such as the Whistler Pro-78 and would outperform any Cobra on the market today.
The following is an interview taken at SML with Wayne about his motorcycle radar detection system.

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Whistler XTR-695 Radar Detector

During the Radar Detector Shoot Out in El Paso this past weekend Marlin, a Whistler Representative, introduced me to their new XTR-695 Radar Detector.
Whistler has taken their Pro-78, which is one of my top picks in my Radar Detector Buyer’s Guide and improved the platform by adding several user customizable features that will even impress the hard core enthusiasts.
The first thing I noticed was the flat black “stealth” look of the XTR-695. Gone are the fancy chrome ribs and buttons that have a habit of causing windshield glare. Next was the SEVEN color LCD display that allows the user to select a color pleasing to the eye or to choose a distinctive color for each band.
Another feature is Whistler’s exclusive KA RSID that assists in taking out the guess work on Ka alerts. When the detector alerts on Ka it will determine if the frequency is close enough to the commonly used Ka frequency. If it is close enough it will display the normal operating frequency of the source, or it isn’t will simply display Ka.
With this new feature users can identify what commonly used frequencies are used by police in their area. Another advantage is if you have not received any 33.8 hits during your normal commute, you could rule out their use of the MPH Industries POP radar guns and disable POP mode entirely from your detector and further minimize false reporting.
And Whistler also added another exclusive feature called LSID that identifies and assigns the pulse rate the detector is seeing.
These two features are also a big plus as auto makers have been adding radar and laser cruise control systems. As some of these devices are K band based systems they have been causing radar detector alerts.  As the RSID and LSID have been programmed with these known frequencies and pulse rates, thereby reducing these types of false alerts.
Whistler has also changed their laser programming to include detection of the Laser Atlanta stealth mode and have also included an audio out jack to accommodate the Cheetah Mirror as well as other new products coming on the market.

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SML 2008 Review – Radar Detector Shoot Out

Yesterday morning SML crew headed eighty miles east from their testing site to do the long range radar detector test. A couple of the radar detector representatives lined up their detectors and received alerts on all three bands from radar guns being fired toward their direction over ten miles away. The remaining participants had to endure the hot Texas sun and blowing sand until they completed the testing several hours later.
Hats off to Carl Fors and crew for all their hard work and dedication and having another successful “Radar Detector Shoot-Out”.
I also complement Mem-Tek, a dedicated member of the RadarDetector.net forum, for volunteering his time and talents in assisting me and a few other participants in setting up and assisting in the testing.
The full results of this year’s SML tests will be posted on our website(s) once Carl publishes them for public viewing.
Over the course of the next several weeks, I will be publishing various videos of the event.

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SML Day Two – Radar and Laser Testing

This morning I started out the day with Carl’s photo crew, Aaron from Legal Speeding and the crew from Adaptiv with a BMW, Bussa, and two Harley’s to do a photo shoot. We left the SML test site and headed out to the Trans Mountain Highway and put our motorcycle radar detectors through the twisties.
We returned to the testing site five hours later as the El Paso officers were finishing up the POP radar testing.
After a short nap, I was able to test Blinder’s new M25 J15 version against the Stalker, Laser Atlanta, the LTI 20/20, the LTI LR and the Ultra Lite from Kustom Radar.
Its after 10:30 PM now and we have not had a chance to eat dinner or empty the desert sand from our boots. Tomorrow night after I return to my office, I’ll publish the results of my testing of the M25, along with closing comments on this year’s SML event…….

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Radar Detector Tools – Escort 9500ci

Escort Inc. recently released their new “Radar Detector Tools” program. This program enables owners of Escort’s 9500ci remote mounted radar detector to download the latest firmware and traffic enforcement camera database for their detector and installs them to your detector.
The user also has the ability through this program to change/save/upload the detector’s settings such as band detection, display modes, deactivating/activating Truelock feature and automute settings.
Hats off to Escort, as they are the first radar detector company that I know of that allows the end user to update the detectors firmware.
The following video demonstrates the various options with Escort’s new program.

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