Guys of LIDAR
2008 Laser Jammer Shootout
July 25-27, 2008



Click here for photos of the event!





Another year, another Guys of LIDAR laser jammer test. And once again, this one was our biggest and best yet, and probably the most thorough laser jammer test in history. We tested 8 different laser jammers against 10 different laser guns, for a total of 450+ test runs (500+ test runs if you count the "extra" testing we did at the end). It made for a long weekend, but it was well worth it getting to see the results unfold before our eyes.

We always try to invite a few radardetector.net forum members to help out and observe. This time, we were privileged to have djrams80, noTe, and jerry540i attend the test. It was really great to meet the new guys, and everyone was more than happy to do their part to help make this event our best ever!

A big thanks goes out to BestRadarDetectors.net for providing three of the jammers for the test! And a big thanks goes out to Radar Roy at RadarRoy.com, Bob at LaserVEIL.com, Don at speedcheetahusa.com, and everyone else who donated or provided equipment for the test, you know who you are!






The Test Course


The Test Course

By now, anyone who follows our tests should be familiar with this course. It's a 2000-foot + straight stretch at the end of a dead-end road. There's almost no traffic, except for the occasional police officer or curious onlooker.

Why 2000 feet? Tickets have sometimes been issued at distances as long as our test course. And if we had used a 1000-foot course, it would have also hidden the shortcomings of jammers which punchthrough at distances greater than 1000 feet.





The Test Vehicle


The Test Vehicle
A Chevy HHR wasn't our original choice for a test vehicle, but it was the best available at the time. We were initially skeptical: the HHR is different than the Jeep Commander that we have used in the past couple of tests. But it ended up working out very well: the flat front, silver color, and chrome grille made things very difficult for the jammers, and it was better on gas too.

We obviously can't test using every type of vehicle that is out there. We stick to using a "worst case" vehicle, which is a signature method for the Guys of LIDAR. The premise is this: if the jammers are able to perform well on our worst case vehicle, then they should also perform well (or even better) on smaller, darker vehicles which are more difficult laser targets.






The Laser Guns


Laser Guns

LTI Ultralyte LTI Marksman Kustom ProLaser III Kustom Prolaser II Kustom ProLite
Stalker LZ-1 Laser Atlanta Speedlaser Robot Traffipatrol Traffipatrol XR


The following laser guns were used in this test:

  • LTI Ultralyte 100 LR, 100pps
  • LTI Ultralyte 100 LR, 125pps
  • LTI Marksman, 125pps
  • Kustom ProLaser III, 200pps
  • Kustom ProLaser II, 238pps
  • Kustom ProLite, 200pps
  • Stalker LZ-1 (New Version), 130pps
  • Laser Atlanta SpeedLaser (III), 238pps (normal), 68pps (Stealth)
  • Robot Traffipatrol, 100pps
  • Robot Traffipatrol XR, KHz range (varies)
This list includes every type of handheld laser gun on the USA IACP Approved List except for one: the new LTI TruSpeed. We attempted to obtain this gun for testing. But unfortunately, since this gun is so new, we nor our associates were able to get one in time for the test. Since this is a highly anticipated gun, it is likely to be tested by others in the coming months. Although the IACP list includes a few variations to some of the guns (with different packaging, features, or attached cameras), as far as the jammers are concerned these guns are identical to guns which we used in the test.

This list also includes two non-US guns: the Traffipatrol, and the Tarffipatrol XR. These guns are not threats in the USA, are not on the USA IACP approved list, and word has it that they cannot even be sold in the USA due to patent conflicts with US laser gun manufacturers. Unfortunately, many of our European readers are not so lucky.

All laser guns were checked for proper operation prior to the test.

This marks the first time we have used non-US laser guns in a test, which should be of particular interest to our overseas readers. But in order to get them, we had to make a compromise: allowing manufacturer reps at the test, since we didn't originally intend to allow any manufacturer reps to be present. The owner of the guns was Laser Interceptor, and we had to allow the reps at the test watch over their expensive equipment. But they didn't give us any problems, and we asked them to leave the test course while their jammer was being tested (they obliged). Was it worth it? We definitely think so! In fact, we would be hard-pressed to turn anyone away who comes bearing non-US laser guns... someone please bring a Riegl FG21-P and a Laveg next time ;-)

The Traffipatrol is supposedly very easy to jam, but is very sensitive to triggering E14 jam codes. So the challenge for the jammers isn't simply being able to jam this gun: the challenge is being able to jam it without triggering any E14 jam codes. This gun is commonly used in countries where jammers are illegal. In some European countries where this gun is used, triggering a jam code means a 2000 Euro fine, and jail time.


The Traffipatrol XR has two operation modes: "Manual" mode and "Tracking" mode. We used both modes in the test. In Manual mode, every time the user pulls the trigger the gun either displays a speed or an error code. In Tracking mode, the gun keeps trying to acquire a speed as long as the user holds in the trigger, and will not display an error code until the trigger is released. Tracking mode seemed to be a bit more difficult for the jammers.

Guys of LIDAR's stealthJamal shot all of the laser guns for the test, he is known in the group as an expert marksman with the laser guns and has a very steady hand. If you don't want a punchthrough on your vehicle, then don't let stealthJamal shoot it. It's a good thing he's in Guys of LIDAR, instead of out there writing tickets!


While we were getting set up, we did some "base runs" with no jammer as a control. This allowed stealthJamal to get more familiar with the guns, and to get some practice in before the official test runs. The guns generally had no trouble clocking the speed of the test vehicle at the full length of our 2000-foot course.







The Laser Jammers

The following jammers were tested:
Blinder M25 Blinder M25 J15
Retail version, provided by www.BestRadarDetectors.net
Escort Shifter ZR-4 Escort Shifter ZR-4
Retail version, provided by www.BestRadarDetectors.net
Laser Interceptor Laser Interceptor
Retail version, blind purchased from an authorized dealer by a 3rd party (non-GOL member) See Note 1
Laser Mask Laser Mask
Retail version, blind purchased from an authorized dealer by a 3rd party (non-GOL member)
Laser Pro Park Laser Pro Park
Retail version, provided by www.BestRadarDetectors.net
Laser Star Laser Star
Retail version, blind purchased from an authorized dealer by a 3rd party (non-GOL member)
Overseas Prototype Overseas Prototype*
Prototype* from overseas, provided by developer. Tested to provide feedback to the developer.
P.A.S.S. P.A.S.S.
Provided by P.A.S.S. distributor See Note 2


NOTE 1: The Laser Interceptor we received included one revision 8.0 head and one revision 8.5 head.

NOTE 2: The P.A.S.S. we received was defective, and would not power up. So unfortunately the P.A.S.S. was not tested in the "main" test, however we did test the P.A.S.S. heads with compatible control boxes from other jammers (in the Extras section).

* Prototype (n.): A unit that is still being developed, and is not in final retail form. Typically, prototypes are used solely for evaluation of design, performance, or market potential.



One contender that was missing from this year's test was the Antilaser. We attempted to obtain an Antilaser G8 for the test, but were told that these are not currently being produced.... we have a feeling that Antilaser might have something new right around the corner ;-)


The jammers were mounted to provide the best performance, as determined by the Guys of LIDAR. We didn't want to cut into the grille of the test vehicle and were not permanently installing the jammers, so we attached brackets to the grille and mounted the transponders on the brackets.





Bubble levels were used to ensure that the transponders were mounted level.






All jammers were tested with two transponders.
Each jammer's transponders were mounted in the same locations on the test vehicle.








Test Methodology

All else being equal, how do the jammers stack up against each other in terms of performance? This is what we set out to determine. We tested the jammers by exposing each one to a specific set of controlled conditions.

Testing proceeded as follows:
  • All guns were set to "single shot" mode unless otherwise noted.
  • A cone was placed at 2000-feet.
  • The test vehicle accelerated to 35-40 MPH, and counted down over the radio as it approached the 2000-foot cone: 3...2...1...Shoot. This ensured that the test vehicle was first targeted at 2000 feet, and at a consistent speed.
  • The laser shooter targeted the vehicle continually until a speed reading was obtained, or the vehicle traversed the entire course with no speed reading (JTG).
  • The License Plate ("center of mass") was targeted, two shots per gun per jammer
  • The passenger side headlight was targeted, two shots per gun per jammer
  • The laser guns were rested on a tripod for steady, consistent targeting.
  • The jammers were tested in the following order:
    Day 1: Escort Shifter ZR-4, Laser Star, Laser Pro Park.
    Day 2: Blinder, Overseas Prototype, Laser Mask, Laser Interceptor


The shooter targeted the test vehicle from the far side of the road, opposite the side used by the test vehicle .

















Results

Sorted from left to right, most JTGs to least.
All results are in feet.





Jam Codes



















"Extras"




After the "main" laser jammer test was complete, we had some time left to try some other things. Although the tests below did not necessarily have the structure or all of the strict controls of our main test, we still think they are worthy enough to share with the rest of the world. Enjoy!






VEIL




We decided to test and see how much VEIL could improve the performance of one of the jammers. For this test, we used TheStaton's vehicle (a Chevy Impala) with the Escort Shifter ZR-4. Only the headlights were VEIL'ed, we did not use VEIL on the fog lights or any other part of the vehicle. The test vehicle started at approximately 1100 feet out, and was targeted with one headlight shot and one plate shot with each laser gun, without VEIL and with VEIL. Laser guns were shot by happya$$.

NOTE: If the run without VEIL was JTG, we did not repeat the run with VEIL, since you can't improve a JTG. These spaces are marked with a "-".






P.A.S.S. Heads


Since we were unable to test the P.A.S.S. in the main test because of a bad control box, we decided to see what would happen using the P.A.S.S. jammer heads with compatible control boxes from other jammers. The test vehicle started at approximately 1100 feet out, and was targeted with one headlight shot and one plate shot for each configuration.









Laser Interceptor - Rear Heads




Our blind-purchased Laser Interceptor was only a dual, and it didn't include the rear jammer heads which are specially designed for wide-angled laser shots. But we thought it would be interesting to see how these might perform on the rear of a vehicle. So, the Laser Interceptor reps installed some rear heads that they brought with them so that we could see what would happen. The test vehicle accelerated to 30+ MPH before passing the shooting location, and the vehicle was targeted in the rear until there was punchthrough or until the vehicle got to approximately 1100 feet out. The vehicle got two shots with each laser gun.








Radar Detectors


Some of us wanted to see how our personal detectors would stack up against each other. So, we set up the radar guns in a forward-facing configuration, aiming them away from the direction of travel, and also pointed them up to reduce the signal strength. A Stalker ATR and a Kustom HR-4 were used in this test. Results represent the number of feet from the radar source.





NOTE: A few people have emailed us asking about the results we got with jerry540i's BEL STi. And YES, the results are what we experienced. But In case it isn't obvious: based on what occured, we came to the conclusion that jerry540i's BEL STi had a problem. He has subsequently delivered it to Beltronics for repair.







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