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Where Should You Mount Your Radar Detector?

Customers are frequently asking us for advice on the best mounting location for a radar detector. Unfortunately, there is not an easy answer. Choices usually come down to either mounting the detector high on the windshield or visor or low on the windshield or dashboard, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

High Mounting
Positioning a radar detector high on a windshield, such as by the rear-view mirror or clipped to a visor gives you better protection against police radar. A detector that is mounted high will catch some radar signals sooner than with a lower mounting. This is particularly true in more hilly terrain, or when your vehicle is travelling up a hill and a police officer is targeting traffic from the other side. A high mounted detector will encounter the radar signal sooner, providing you with more time to adjust your speed.

With a high mounting, however, you risk missing a laser alert. At 1000 feet, the light from a police laser gun is only around 2 feet wide, and this light has to hit your radar detector before you will get an alert. Since the officer is aiming the laser at a front license plate or a headlight, there is a good chance that a high mounted detector this narrow beam.

Low Mounting
A radar detector mounted low on the windshield or attached directly to the dash (with Velcro or a dash pad) will provide the best all-around solution. You will lose a little in radar range, but will gain a lot in the ability to detect laser. Of course, a radar detector alone is not enough to guarantee protection against police laser, so if laser is used in your area be sure that you have a passive solution like Laser Veil or a laser jammer.

Our Recommendation
We recommend you mount high if laser is not used in your area, or if you have an active laser jammer installed.

We recommend you mount low if laser is used in your area and you are using only a passive laser defense product (or no specific laser defense product).

6 thoughts on “Where Should You Mount Your Radar Detector?”

  • Veil Guy

    Danny,
    We conducted the most intensive test to date on laser detector performance:
    Laser Detectors Review
    We found that the V1's laser sensitivity was the least affected by placement high versus low and therefore tend to agree with Mr. Valentine's assessment that the V1's ability to see the rare advanced laser hit (through your windshield to the car ahead, through its windshield) is maximized by placing mid-to-high.
    Our thorough review of the V1 is:
    Valentine One Review
    We also concluded that slightly pitching the other detectors forward in their mount appears to improve laser reception performance by maximizing the chance of the laser detector to see any scatter/reflection from the hood area.
    As you know, there may be other considerations to radar detector mounting worth considering—as detailed by Craig Peterson's new book—Driver's Guide to Police Radar.

    Reply
  • jonathan

    so if i get the v-1 i should mount the radar detector high instead of low

    Reply
  • Great info about Where Should You Mount Your Radar Detector..thanks to share it.....

    Reply
  • The mounting are of the radar detector is depend upon your area and the laser detectors used in your areas.

    Reply
  • This really answered my problem, thank you!

    Reply
  • […] the range and view of the detection device in order for the device to detect them. In short, a radar detector must be properly placed or installed in the vehicle to accurately detect radar and laser […]

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