Ralphie

Some quotes:

"After 25 years of evaluating detectors, we've refined our technique to a few simple, repeatable tests. To avoid any stray microwave radiation that would produce false alarms, we conducted our tests on the roads of the DaimlerChrysler proving ground in Chelsea, Michigan. Radar testing took place on an unobstructed 2.5-mile straightaway. A gun of each band--X, K, and Ka--was rigidly mounted, one at a time, in a police cruiser that was positioned on a downgrade at one end of the straightaway. By carefully setting each "trap," we adjusted the radar strength so that even the best detector could not find the signal at the far end of the 2.5-mile straight. This type of trap replicates a real-world scenario in which a trooper would be clocking traffic from a low spot in the median or from a dip in the road. It also allowed us to avoid any radar "hot spots" caused by hills and rises that can set off both strong and weak detectors in the same spot."

"We tested the detectors' sensitivity, or range, with each radar gun in steady-state and instant-on modes. The farther away a detector sounds its alarm, the more effective it will be at providing a timely warning to the driver. Each detector's sensitivity was evaluated in unfiltered "highway" mode and in the most filtered, or selective, "city" mode. We drove toward the radar guns in both modes and measured the distance at which each detector sounded its first audible warning. "

"In the first test, we clamped a lidar gun to the top of a stack of cinder blocks five feet high and aimed it precisely at the center of a 32-foot-wide platform 1000 feet away. We then placed each detector behind a piece of windshield glass and moved it laterally toward the center of the platform to determine its sensitivity to the edge of the lidar beam. We do this test with the detectors facing forward and to the rear; this measures each detector's front and rear lidar sensitivity."

"Our second test determined the angular field of view of each detector. We mounted a detector in the center of the windshield and then drove forward and backward, at various angles, through a beam aimed across the road. (Police try to keep within an angle of 15 degrees to either side of the target vehicle's line of travel to reduce the amount of error in their speed measurements.) All the detectors in this test respond to a lidar beam within this narrow field, but we think a wide field of view would more reliably enable a detector to see this beam. It should also be better able to pick up any scattered reflections coming off the targeted car."

"We conducted two more tests at the proving grounds: one to determine whether the detector is invisible to a VG-2 "detector detector"--a device used by authorities in Canada and states where radar detectors are illegal--and the other to check each detector's propensity to falsely set off other detectors. Finally, we drove a 14-mile urban loop around Ann Arbor to check each unit's resistance to false alarms. Highway mode and most highly filtered city mode were tested."



I live in Ottawa, so I find the results of your real-life tests very interesting...

Ringwraith

Advertises heavily?? One ad per month, just like most other makers have.

C and D has cut down on the details of their test methodology... they used to really overkill the description. Gave good graphic representations of test set-ups. (I think they had visualizations of every detector's performance plotted on a single grid/polar chart for side x side comparison.) Now they give more text space to reporting the results.