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Old 09-27-2010, 01:16 PM   #5
LGT+WRX
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 91119
Join Date: Jul 2005
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Cleveland/Shaker Hts., Ohio
Vehicle:
05/9 LGT-me/FXT-wife
ABP-me/SSM-wifey

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Looks great!

That's an awesome DIY!

But in terms of your encounter......

You're partially right. Mike Valentine likes to say that even the most "transmissive" windshield is still akin to putting a pair of sunglasses on, when it comes to LASER detection - and that's only worsened by the addition of tint (and, to a certain degree, some of us also suspect that the density of the "sun dots" matrix could potentially serve as a visual impairment, if the situation's just right). So, yes, your high-to-headliner mounting position, given the visual "darkening" of the tint and stipples, certainly could have led to the failure-to-detect scenario you just mentioned.

But there's more to consider than that, too.

Let's first continue to tackle your past (and current) mounting position as the possible culprit in your failure scenario.

In visualizing the outgoing LASER beam diverging as a "cone" (the actual shape is dependent on the specific device used), and in assuming the typical divergence of 3 milliradians, we're left with the reasoning behind what's typically known as "the 18-inch rule" rule-of-thumb governing receiver placement for active LASER jammers. But we need not take it that far, since all we're concerned about is absolute detection - so we can assume that even if the slightest incoming is detected, the detector should have reported: so let's just double that figure, and go with the 36-inches, at 1000 ft.

Take a tape-measure, and see where the bottom-most cut-off is - both 18 and 36-inches, and given your detector placement both then and now: my bet is that this enforcer is an experienced enforcer, and chose to specifically engage your vehicle's lower front hardpoints, which led to the beam simply being out of receptive range by your high-mounted detector, and that given the worst of the two scenarios, at 18-inches, that your detector, even as it is mounted now, may present with a "miss."

[ Aside: this is exactly what happened in my wife's '09 (SH) Forester XT - the high-mounted detector simply missed the incoming shot from an Ohio State Highway Patrol trap, an LTI Ultralyte (as identified by my Laser Interceptor, which, of course, caught the incoming), also stationed about a quarter-mile away, at time-of-engagement. When I got home, I broke out the yard-stick to confirm my initial thinking: and sure enough, from the detector to the front plate on this vehicle was a large enough spread that a "miss" certainly could have been the result. ]


And given that the beam only gets smaller as you get closer, a miss is going to still be a miss, no matter what....

But there's more to the equation, too.

One big problem is your chosen detector - and before we go any farther, here, let's get it out of the way, right from the get-go: I've been an Escort detector user, exclusively, for nearly the past decade-and-a-half: the detector on my windshield now is a 9500i, and I have a S7-antenna Rev5 x50 that's resident in my wife's car, which I also use as my backup detector...I'm not here to bash Escorts, and instead, am simply relaying facts - none of the Escort in-cabin standalone models are really all that hot, when it comes to LASER detection.

VEIL Guy's 2009 test illustrates this really well:

http://www.laserveil.com/laser/detec...ws-tests-2009/

^ Of that, note, especially, that each detector will have strengths and weaknesses, in terms of detection, versus different types of police LIDAR hardware.

I don't know how old your x50 is, kenliu84, but if yours is of the same vintage as mine (c.2003/4), yours will also not detect, at all, the Laser Atlanta Speedlaser, when operated in Stealth Mode. And while this particular threat/mode is very unlikely to be used, it just goes to show: hardware is an important factor to consider.

If you face a lot of LIDAR, in all honesty, I would pursue front-line active protection. If you don't want to go that far (for whatever reason), I'd max-out passive protection (sadly, this will likely entail at least some level of cosmetic compromise) and/or choose a detector that's better suited for the task at-hand.
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