Prius Radar Detector - Truth or Urban Legend?

[mboileau]

When I had my car in for service yesterday, one of the service guys and I were having a little game of "quid pro quo". I'll tell you something you didn't know about the Prius if you tell me something... He told me one very interesting anomaly with the NAV system. According to this guy, if you're viewing the NAV screen and watching the little arrow icon (your car) moving along the marked route, and it suddenly jumps to one side of the road or the other and then continues moving in the right direction, but off of the road, it's entirely likely that a cop has a radar gun pointed at you. The claim is that the police radar gun distorts the GPS signals ever so slightly, but enough to cause a shift on your map. Car jumps to the side, radar on. Car jumps back on the road, radar off.

If it's true, it's an awesome little feature. The question is, how do you prove that it works? Anyone know a cop with a radar gun?

[efusco]

Sounds a bit bogus to me, and with the dead reconning system in the Prius even if the GPS signal is lost the speed and directional sensor will keep you on track for a while. I suppose that if a cop locked on a radar, at close range, for a long period of time then, maybe, it would be enough to slightly throw the signal off to a degree you could detect on the NAV screen.

If you want to substitute it for a radar detector, I think you'd better be ready to pay some speeding tickets.

I don't have proof, but I'd be pretty quick to throw that into the Urban Myth category.

[mboileau]

I completely agree with you, Evan, except that I have indeed seen the mysterious icon shift he described since I've had the car. If it weren't for that, I'd dismiss it as myth without a second thought. But part of me wonders...

That does remind me... I was running late getting to work this morning and was screaming down the freeway faster than normal. Not exactly an "unsafe velocity", but when the freeway is perfectly straight and level for long distances, the Prius can get moving at a pretty good clip. I merged onto another freeway still going as fast and saw a highway patrol car coming up fast behind me. I thought I was nailed, so I slowed down and started to work my way over to the right. He caught up to me, seemed to be staring at the car for a moment (I have the white vinyl lettering on the back that says GasElectricHybrid), and then just passed me and moved on.

After all, one of those hybrids can't go that fast, right? :wink:

[davidbw]

The LAPD was kind enough to place one of their stationary radar devices, on a street near where I live. I drove by it several times, and there was no "glitch" on my GPS/Nav unit.

A stationary radar device is a device that says "Your Speed is: ____" while you are driving towards it. It is a solar powered, stationary, fixed radar unit to encourage people not to speed in a certain area without assigning an officer to actually write tickets.

[mboileau]

I forgot about those! There are a couple around here I can drive by and test it out for myself.

[Patman36]

Not to get too far off topic, anyone know where the easiest wire to get access to is for hardwiring a radar detector in? I can crimp onto the wire, I just need a good ACC-On wire. Anything near the glove box?

Patrick

[HTMLSpinnr]

The power outlet is located not too far from that location.

[Batavier]

The LAPD was kind enough to place one of their stationary radar devices, on a street near where I live. I drove by it several times, and there was no "glitch" on my GPS/Nav unit.

A stationary radar device is a device that says "Your Speed is: ____" while you are driving towards it. It is a solar powered, stationary, fixed radar unit to encourage people not to speed in a certain area without assigning an officer to actually write tickets.

I like those, it's always good to try to pass those things as fast as possible... but of course I would not do something like that... *grins*

[AlphaTeam]

I want to get a good radar detector in my car when I get it. But I don't want some device on my dash. Are there any good ones that can be hidden or intigrated into the car somehow?

Alpha

[Patman36]

The power outlet is located not too far from that location.

So you think tapping into the plug's power source would work? I'll have to check it out.

In terms of hiding a radar detector, I have a Valentine 1 with a remote display. I will hide the detector behind and to the right of the rear view mirrow (to the right so the rear laser can poke out). You can then put the remote display on your dash somewhere with velcro. People ask what it is, you can make up anything you want. Never had a problem in the years I have owned it.

Patrick