| Faster Than A Speeding Ticket - Calibre K40
Nobody likes getting tickets. The sweat inducing, gut wrenching, nerve racking experience of being pulled over by law enforcement is one of the most reprehensible activities in the history of humankind. Not to mention the cost that the government slaps on you to pay off that fine. While we can't help you avoid getting tickets for riding by yourself in the carpool lane, running without any catalytic converters or rocking a 200dB hollowed out muffler can, we did hear of something that promised to help you avoid the dreaded speeding ticket. The K40 Electronics' Calibre Bluetooth-enabled radar and laser detection system and Defuser Plus laser jammer promised that it was, "faster than a speeding ticket." We had to find out for ourselves.
The first thing that struck us about K40's offerings was that you can't see them at all, unless you need to. Dial One Autosound in La Habra, Calif., handled the install of our Calibre system. The first wireless radar and laser protection system to incorporate Bluetooth technology, the Calibre system has four nodes that communicate with each other remotely. There is the remote control; the interior network module, which controls the speaker system and alert LEDs; the front radar/laser detection unit that can attach optional Defuser Plus laser jammers; and the rear detection unit. Since each module communicates wirelessly, there is no need to run cables through firewalls, no need for wires down the whole length of the car and no complex installation procedure.
Sameer Patel, head honcho of Dial One Autosound, proclaimed it "the easiest hard-wired radar detector I've ever seen," then had the gonads to add, "it's so easy, even you guys [2NR] could have put it in". Trust us, he's lucky he was kidding.
After installation, when the police peer into your window, there will barely be anything visible. The remote control is barely half the size of a credit card, and the Calibre system alerts you of radar or laser through the included auxiliary speaker and by either miniscule LEDs that flash for front or rear signals or tiny egg-shaped pods that contain LEDs. The pod version of the Calibre system is for leased vehicles or for owners who don't want to drill into any interior panels to install the standard LEDs, which are hidden into interior panels. The Defuser Plus laser jammer system comes cunningly contained in a fake license plate frame, and almost can't be noticed by the passing eye. So instead of a radar detector that can't jam a laser and sits out in plain view on the dashboard with a big coiled line running to a cigarette lighter socket, you get an accurate detection and prevention system that is totally stealth. But how does it work?
After hooking up the pod version radar detector and front Defuser Plus laser jammer on our own Project Two-Face, a Subaru WRX, we flipped the ignition and gave life to the Calibre system. After no time at all, we saw our pods flashing and heard a voice intone, "K40 on," quite loudly. With the system set to "high" we had no problems hearing the warnings and tones above the roar of our Injen exhaust system and the sounds of the stereo.
Grabbing the remote control, we switched the Calibre system to "city" mode and took a short cruise through cop-infested Southern California. Honestly, we weren't even sure if the system was hooked up correctly at first since we weren't receiving any constant bombardment of detection readings, something that we've come across in the past with cheaper radar detectors. Our solution was to call a police friend of ours, and let us tell you, a policeman will always be one of your most powerful allies. We organized a "hot zone" of approximately nine city blocks in a populated area we were sure was going to give some random signals. Circling through the area continuously, we had our policeman move to random positions in our zone and zap us with his radar gun. With enough accuracy to filter out weak signals that would trigger false alerts in cheaper radar detectors, the Calibre system would audibly and visually alert us to each radar signal it was receiving.
Using a set of two-way radios, we kept in contact with our helper and found that every time we heard the Calibre system go off, the signal had come from the business end of our policeman's radar gun. We were impressed, but how good does it work if we're gunning it instead of cruising?
Most consumers purchase radar and laser detection systems because they're simply planning to drive very fast everywhere. Although we don't condone it, when you're hauling ass down the road, you want enough of a heads up to be able to slow your car down to the regulated speed limit.
In order to keep conditions safe and secure, we picked as our location an empty former military airbase that currently has lain largely empty and untouched. After making the necessary precautions to ensure that we had more than enough space to get up to speed and slow down, we got down to business. K40 Electronics recommended that we test the system using the standard method that police use when they attempt to zap you: 800-1000 feet away and aim straight at the license plate. We set aside about a quarter-mile of straight space and set down a marker cone near the end of our path. Setting up approximately 900- feet to the side from the marker, we were ready to zap Project Two-Face as it passed the cone.
Getting down with our best bacon impression, we first ran the WRX past our marker at 30mph. Instantly, we heard the familiar telltale sign of the Calibre system's effectiveness as the speaker barked out which end of the car had been hit and which band the signal had come in on. Gunning it a little faster at 60mph, the system was still unfazed, registering the hit loud and clear. When we tried to go for a 90mph run past the radar, we were surprised to hear the Calibre speaker call out a rear Ka band signal instead of a front like usual. Assuming that the Calibre system had been unable to register the radar at that vehicle speed, we were pleased to find out that our radar gun operator had decided to randomly change which end of the car he was shooting. When it finally came time to repeat all the runs to test for the laser gun, we went into it with high expectations. The Calibre system impressed again, instantly notifying us of the laser signal touching on the front end of the car. Even better still, the Defuser Plus front laser jammer we had shrouding our license plate effectively confused the laser gun, giving our zapper only errors to look at. Let your local sheriff suck on that one!
Satisfied that the Calibre and Defuser Plus systems worked as expected, we headed home. Mere moments after entering the maze-like network of the California freeway system, we had a 5-0 on our tail. Although we weren't speeding, we could only assume Johnny Law wanted to pop us for a noise violation, smog violation, or was just waiting for us to do something stupid. As we watched him eventually pass us, we couldn't help but wonder, although we now have an advantage in avoiding speeding tickets, is there any way K40 can invent a system to help us get out of emissions tickets or noise violation tickets? Now that would be sweet.