Originally posted by PA 3L SVT:
I respectfully disagree Sandman.
Once (just once) I got an early alert. V1 goes nuts, I slow (from 10 over to the limit). Must have been careless use of the gun, because 10 seconds later he was in sight and clocking me. He was around a curve or over a hill or something. I forget the particulars (it was years ago) but he was definitely out of my line of sight (and I his) on the first alert.
Sorry, but your chances of that being an actual warning of Lidar are about as great as your chances of winning the lottery.
This is especially true if you claim you detected him from around a corner or hill. Lidar is direct line of sight only.
For example, I can actually take a hand held radar unit and bounce it off my outside rearview mirror and clock somone behind me. I can't do that with Lidar, (or at least, not effectively) because the beam does not disperse like a radar signal does. Laser beams to diffuse over distance, but compared to a radar signal, the diffusion may as well be non-existant.
Now, the only possible way you could have detected him early around a corner is if there were some type of light reflective surface on that corner such that the Lidar beam was reflected at the sensor on your V1. Like I said, your chances of winning the lottery and that happening are about equal.
Further, officers are trained to aim at your license plate. Considering the minimal beam dispersion and the short distances at which Lidar is effective, you would ideally need a detector device mounted on your front and rear license plate. I have yet to see a Lidar detector that incorporates that.
