Review Shifter ZR4 – Speed of Light Protection
Over the past several months I have had the privilege of being one of the “beta testers” for Cincinnati Microwave’s new laser defense system, the Shifter ZR4 with new “Double-Pulse” protection.
Teaming up with Escort’s engineering staff and sharing our cache of laser equipment, we were able to test the ZR4 laser jammer with virtually every make and model of laser gun currently in use in the USA. As a result the engineers were able to fine tune their jamming algorithms to the point where I can say that they have the most advanced LED based laser defense system on the market today.
Escort Radar also made other improvements to their new laser shifter system, such as with their new “ratchet” mounting system for the two front laser jammer heads, making the install in some applications much easier.
There were several new things I do admit that that I learned in working with Escort’s staff and in our testing that I will share.
First many users of the ZR3 that I met with in the past also mounted their rear laser jammer to the front figuring if two heads work well, three heads would be even better. In mentioning this to the engineers they related that the two front laser jammers are designed to operate at a different pulse rate than the one rear head and that because of this the front jamming effectiveness could actually decrease if all three heads were placed in the front. Not one to miss a challenge, we actually took some time to test this at our new testing facility and yes, in some situations we did notice a decrease if jamming when all three heads were all placed in the front.
We then explored using splitters on the output of each head allowing us to plug in four jammer heads to the front. At the time Escort’s engineering staff never explored the possibility of a “diehard” laser jammer enthusiast going out buying two ZR4 shifters and installing all four heads to the front in one system and they didn’t know how their hardware/software would perform in such a situation. Again not one to miss a new opportunity we did test this scenario, however for our application we did not notice any significant performance results that we could measure.
One of the most important factors I did find in our three months of testing was the importance of having the heads perfectly square and level with the vehicle. We first used the new “ratchet mounting” system that comes with the ZR4 for our tests. The install of the front heads were much easier, however we could never get the heads perfectly level as it seemed that we were always off a notch or two. Although we were within the manual’s guidelines of being level within five degrees our performance took a nosedive when tested against the deadly Stalker laser gun. Thankfully the ZR4 comes with an alternate mounting system, so we used double sided automotive mounting tape and changed out mounting systems. This allowed us to get within two to three degrees of level and dramatically increasing the performance of the laser jamming system.
This weekend we spent several hours testing the final production model of the ZR4 against my hoard of laser guns and the results were nothing short of fantastic!
The following is distance in feet that the laser gun first obtained a reading on the test vehicle (punch through distance)
| Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | |
| Stalker COM | 185′ | 212′ | 223′ |
| Stalker DSHL | 126′ | 165′ | 167′ |
| Laser Atlanta COM | JTG | JTG | JTG |
| Laser Atlanta DSHL | JTG | JTG | 187′ |
| Laser Atlanta Stealth Mode COM | JTG | JTG | JTG |
| Laser Atlanta Stealth Mode DSHL | 117′ | JTG | JTG |
| LTI 100 LR COM | 254′ | 115′ | 98′ |
| LTI 100 LR DSHL | 512′ | 413′ | 328′ |
| LTI-LR COM | JTG | JTG | JTG |
| LTI-LR DSHL | JTG | JTG | JTG |
| Kustom ProLyte COM | 434′ | 256′ | 178′ |
| Kustom ProLyte DSHL | 178′ | 167′ | 189′ |
* COM: Center of Mass
* DSHL: Drivers Side Headlight
* JTG: Jam to Gun
Both Escort and Beltronics will be marketing the Shifter ZR4 under the Cincinnati Microwave brand name and the jammer is compatible with the Escort and Bel Pro series line of radar detectors.
Thumbs up to the engineering staff at Escort/Beltronics to their commitment to develop what I feel is one of the most advanced laser defense system available in the USA today!
Radar Roy’s Badge Rating
Five Stars
17 Responses to “Review Shifter ZR4 – Speed of Light Protection”
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[…] Escort Passport Shifter ZR4 Review – Speed of Light Protection Roy was selected as one of the only “beta testers” for Cincinnati Microwave’s new laser jammer system, the Shifter ZR4 with new “Double-Pulse” protection (capable of jamming Laser Atlanta’s stealth mode police lidar gun). Recent Roy spent several hours testing the final production model of the Shifter ZR4 against his arsenal of police laser guns. His results suggest that the Shifter ZR4 is a most impressive laser jamming system: Radar Roy’s Escort Passport Shifter ZR4 Video Shifter ZR4 – Speed of Light Protection […]
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[…] easy fix. . . thats unless theres some firmware update on them that I missed in my 6 month absence http://www.radarroy.com/archives/243 __________________ Veilled Black ’97 Acura CL (Stealth Car w/ 300ft PT, VEIL ONLY) RIP 08 Atomic […]
WOW Good stuff! I am sure this will be the BEST LED jammer to buy. It looks as if Escort has fixed all of their weaknesses that they had with the ZR3 and now have a Superman product in the ZR4
Hi Roy,
Nice review! More importantly, it really does look like the new ZR4 is an incredibly solid and well tuned LED based laser jamming system. The ZR4 obviously is going to live up to all the hype preceding its introduction to the marketplace. Lots of people are anxiously awaiting receiving their 9500ci units, but after reading your review they will see that the delay was definitely worth the wait.
Regarding using splitters, may Escort should design an optional splitter interface module which will properly power all four front jammer heads? Escort could separately sell the interface module along with the two additional jammer heads as a package. The neat thing about this idea is that these packages could be daisy chained to fully protect even your huge motor home! I can see it now — Roy’s motor home with eight jammer heads mounted on the front of that huge rolling box car!
As far as the splitter I don’t know.
When I 1st mentioned this to the engineer he looked at me with a weird look asking “why would someone want to do this?”
Then I told them about RacerX…
Thanks for the review Roy – the ZR4 looks fantastic. The only question is… when the heck can I actually get one?
Roy, any word yet on when this is going to be available to the rest of us? That’s interesting how you found and point out the importance of just being within 2-3 degrees of level. That seems like a rather insignificant amount of difference, I doubt many people would be able to even tell if they were only a couple degrees out of level. Thanks, seems like its been a long wait for this review, I’m looking forward to trying this out.
RadarBusters should be taking orders next week. Contact me by email if you’re interested in one of these and I can…..
This is a very good product, my question is how do i find out in what states is it illegal to use it?
Laser Jammers are illegal in the states of Nebraska, Minnesota, Utah, California, Oklahoma, Virginia, Colorado, Illinois and Washington DC.
Thank you for letting me know. However, its too bad for me because I’m in Illinois. I would have love to have this product. Thank You Again
Your May 4, 2008 12:22am input indicates that you would start taking orders for the ZR4 in the following week. Yesterday, June 4, 2008 I went trough your online catalog, no ZR4. I then called the 1-800 # and was told the unit was not available. Will you be offering the ZR4 for sale and at what price ?
I called Radarbusters yesterday and they should have them on the site tomorrow (friday)
Not sure of the price, but use the contact forum above and I can see what I can do
Hey i have a new f150 silver no plate or chrome veiled w m25’s ive jammed lti’s several times here in texas 90mph on 60 allday long would the zr4 work on my truck with the blinders? i want maximum jtg
I’m new to this but Ohio State Highway Patrol uses the LTI 20-20, I’m not sure which of the LTI guns that is exactly. They also use MPH Industries SpeedLaser series. I’m curious as to how the ZR4 would stack up against this equipment? Any response would be helpful.
Thanks