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I finally removed the last evidence that I was ever a speeder - my radar detector. Its gone! I'm going to sell it on EBAY to somebody who needs it. It feels really good to reclaim space back on my dash! No more stupid power cord flopping around either. Yea . It makes me feel really good to get rid of it.

Just wanted to share.

Coastertoasterxb

http://www.cleanmpg.com/garage/images/294.png

Mine has been on my windshield since '95. I finally removed it this year ;). I'm surprised the heat has never killed it.

I personally congratulate this development on your part. You no longer need it, and have developed new, more appropriate habits.

One thing that still gets me is my desire to take whatever speed I can get, down an incline. When I get to the speed limit, it's hard to put on the brake because I know I'm just generating heat, and not getting full advantage of trying to reclaim what I lost climbing the other side of that hill. But, I'm getting better about letting that go and being a "good" driver.

One thing that still gets me is my desire to take whatever speed I can get, down an incline. When I get to the speed limit, it's hard to put on the brake because I know I'm just generating heat, and not getting full advantage of trying to reclaim what I lost climbing the other side of that hill. But, I'm getting better about letting that go and being a "good" driver.
Can you get it into fuel cut? In gear, ICE-ON, foot off the gas. Then you are using zero fuel (as long as the rpms are above idle) for that segment, so you gain mpg instead of speed that you don't want or brake wear that you don't want either. And the engine braking will help hold the speed down.

To keep the rpms above idle you may have to downshift if the car is losing speed.

Hey coastertoaster,
Congrats on getting rid of your radar dector.
I used to do field service work and drove 30 - 40K miles a year on a company car.
I remember that 1 day, I filled up at the same gas station 3 times. Glad I didn't have to pay for it. I have had numerous DRIVING AWARDS. That's what I refer to them as.
The police don't hand them out to just anybody!
I got stopped by the same exact officer twice in the same year, when he said to me"is this your current address" I replied no look on the right side where you wrote it down last time.
When he gave me my award, he didn't waste the time with the slow down speel.

That was when I was young and foolish.:Banane43:

Hey coastertoaster,
Congrats on getting rid of your radar dector.
I used to do field service work and drove 30 - 40K miles a year on a company car.
I remember that 1 day, I filled up at the same gas station 3 times. Glad I didn't have to pay for it. I have had numerous DRIVING AWARDS. That's what I refer to them as.
The police don't hand them out to just anybody!
I got stopped by the same exact officer twice in the same year, when he said to me"is this your current address" I replied no look on the right side where you wrote it down last time.
When he gave me my award, he didn't waste the time with the slow down speel.

That was when I was young and foolish.:Banane43:

lol... I've had my share of "awards". Got rid of my radar detector after my 4th award, because I figured it wasn't helping anyway. Go figure, several years later Hypermiling saves me more than that radar detector ever did. I've lost my desire to be the fastest. Sigh, lol.

I too have gotten many an award in the past. But unlike you guys, I actually got rid of my radar detector a few years ago, as I found myself getting MORE tickets with it. It gave me a false sense of security, and without it I was more conscious of my surroundings and on "Cop Watch."

Now that I have started hypermiling, I just laugh at the big SUV's that fly by me with the radar detectors, knowing how much they have to spend to get gas.

I also recently took out my radar detector. It's liberating. :)

Congratulations! That's a big psychological milestone.

Congratulations! I have also got rid of mine, and said goodbye to the constant stress of life in the fast lane.
Instead of freaking out and hitting the brakes at a speed trap, now I smile (and speed up a little) as I pass by the officers!

I used one for a long time, and quit using it shortly after learning to play the FE game. I plugged it back in one day just for fun and had to laugh at how silly (and annoying) it really was. With instant-on and LIDAR taking over, I usually saw them about the same time the box went off, anyway.

I got rid of my radar detector when it lost suction and sat on the dash as I was turning left. It slid off the dash and right out the window. LOL. No more radar detector for me.

I might have to get in the market for one of those things. Even while hypermiling you could still easily hit a speed trap, say for example if you're P+G in a Prius on a country road from 40-30, 40-30, the Psl is 50 and then suddenly it drops to 25 for a town with half a dozen houses and a cop car hiding behind a tree.

(No, I do not hold much respect for small town guys.)

I just started HM’ing in May, and I still have my Passport 8500 X50 on my windshield. I don’t think I’ll be taking it down. Not that I every really drove too fast before, but I like the situational awareness it provides. Things like the safety warning system is nice to have. Also it’s nice to watch out for people that are going to drive erratic when they blow by me and see the cop sitting just over the hill, that I knew about from about a 1/4 mile away. :)

SWS is an outdated gimmick designed to lend legitimacy to radar detectors. So few jurisdictions bought into it that you could drive hundreds of thousands of miles in most locales without picking up a signal.

That, and cops aren't a concern if you are driving for FE. Nobody on this site should ever take things to such an extreme that they are significantly above the limit in the name of FE. That isn't what we are about! Safety and legality take priority.

I still use my Valentine One. It can be entertaining at times. I love finding speed traps and watching some inattentive individual get nailed. I've been mean a few times and actually sped up into a speed trap then slammed on the brakes in the right lane only to watch the driver in the left lane sling shot past only to get caught speeding by the nice police officer around the corner. Usually I have the unit in stealth mode so the drivers around me can't see the display hidden from view.
Up until the last six months I still used it in 55-60 mph zones while cruising along at 65 mph. Since realizing how much my gas mileage increases at 55 and 60 mph over 65 mph it has sat in my glove box.

I still have my trusty updated V1 on my windshield. It’s saved me countless times in the past over 12 years! However, Now that I cruise at or below the posted speed limits, I don’t seem to have a need for it. It’s still my comfort crutch. I do get some double takes when getting passed; they see the V1 and slow down thinking that I know something they don’t! They are right; I know FSP’s contribute to terrorist funding. They still don’t seem to get this in Houston.

Life’s irony:
A 2008 Cadillac 403Hp Escalade with only the driver running @ 80Mph with the following stickers:

Texas Republican
I support the Troops

I agree with ALS and JBrian, it is quite fun to watch people get nailed when they rip around me for going slow (like maybe 5-10 under). The PSL is not a minimum people!

Like JBrian said it’s like a comfort crutch. I like to be aware of all things going on around me while driving, and the RD aids me in that. I find awareness while driving a great tool for HM’ing.

Hmmm, I'm still not convinced that buying a bunch of new souped up Dodge Chargers to go ticket people going 40 in a 35 is really all about saving gas and lives and all that blather. Seems to me that alllllll those cars going from stoplight to stoplight to stoplight sitting there burning fumes everyday because the lights are poorly timed or not working right or forgetting the left turn arrow or whatever the excuse-of-the-day is more at fault and all the tickets in the world will never change that. I've noticed my gas mileage jump 15mpg or better when I can coast the lights rather than get stopped by every one of them. Saves a good 5 minutes on a 5 mile journey too.

Why don't they simply transmit the timing so you can know if the light is changing soon or not?

P.S. The Valentine One I have makes all other detectors I've ever known seem like useless toys. I bought it after the very day I realized my old one had stopped working, threw it out, and got stopped in a trap while coming home tired from work, alone on the road, coasting into a 45, and not very situationally aware. The number of encounters/potential tickets it has saved has easily proven it the most valuable insurance I have every purchased.

Both of mine are hardwired into my cars' accessory circuits. There is only 3 inches of exposed wire in the EXP, a little more in the Fiero. You can't even see the wires. They turn on, and goes off with the key. :)

Although I don't speed, (no speeding tickets since 88) I do like to know when there are police in my area. It serves as an early warning system if they have it on while traveling at high speed during an emergency response. I have had alerts in the past long before I saw the emergency lights. If the police would use it that way more often it would improve safety for those of us with detectors.

Imagine if new cars came with an electronic early warning system similar to this. It could be a simple low-power transmitter and receiver system, and it would make high-speed chases a lot safer for the rest of us. How many times have you seen a chase end on TV where some clueless schmuck gets creamed in an intersection not knowing that a chase was occurring in his/her area? We have friends that were involved in a situation similar to this. The light bar could automatically transmit an emergency signal when activated that civilian cars could receive, then sound an alert. It would be more simple than OnStar or GPS. Why not?

I'm keeping mine. To me it is a safety device.

HA! Selling the radar detector is definitely a hypermiling milestone. I sold my Valentine 1 over a year ago because I hadn't used it for a year.

I sold my Passport at a garage sale and NEVER got a ticket again. I was always relying on it and always one pt from loosing my lisc....the last time I was pulled over the officer explained that he uses VASCAR which is not detectible...basically a computerized stop watch....and that it is used in a lot of cop cars here in IN...now I still speed but at 3-8 over instead of 10-20 over.....no tickets in over 8 years! (Knock on wood)

16 years of driving and not one AWARD! :bananajump: