THIS UNIT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AND IS BEING REPLACED BY THE Target LRC 100 - @ ?324.99

LE 850 Field Test with South Yorkshire Police, Manchester Police and Motorcycle news:
NB: The Motorcycle option is no longer available - (Courtesy of UKSpeedtraps.co.uk)

The Evo Magazine Test . (May 2001)

The Big Detector Test Featuring the LE850, carried out in late 1999 by Evo magazine.

THIS UNIT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AND IS BEING REPLACED BY THE Target LRC 100 - @ ?324.99

The Target Laser Echo 850. (LE 850).
Built in a high quality aluminium case, sealed from the elements, very strong and easy to mount with all the fittings you may need. It is supplied with one transponder, one control box that can control up to three transponders it has a power on LED, warning LED's for each transponder, and a buzzer which is installed inside the vehicle. This provides the audible alarm each time one of the detector transponders are hit by the laser beam of a police laser gun. There are also anti-theft security screws that are provided with this kit.

The LE 850 however, was not designed as a police Diffuser, it was designed to be part of a remote control unit to open gates, garage doors or turn on lights, they sell it without the part for the garage door, you can buy this receiver as an extra if you want to and have the benefit of a diffuser and an automatic door opener as well, it gives you a great excuse for the unit on the front of your car when an officer gives you a hard time.

It offers complete protection against laser guns and video laser traps. The gallium arsenide laser-diode is the same found in police laser guns and is the only Diffuser to use it, other diffusers often just use a lower cost diode that can still do the job but take more energy to do so. By using a gallium arsenide laser-diode the LE 850 can detect and scramble laser beam from 3,000 feet down unlike other diffusers

The LE 850 detects a laser beams presence at the speed of light, finds the laser gun, and fires back a stronger signal than the vehicle reflects. The laser gun's computer can't compute the returned signal and the police officer gets a continual "error message." for five seconds.

Installation is easy, composed of two pieces (the transponder and an control unit). The transponder contains a receiver/transmitter and should be mounted level and vertically near the licence plate or in the grill opening. The transponder is powered by the signal wire, which plugs into the back of the control unit. Connect the control unit to a switched 12 Volt DC input. When additional transponders are used, they also plug into the back of the control unit, this could be for front and back protection. In the kit are plenty of screws, some Velcro to hold the control unit and a small bubble level to set up the transponder, we fitted it in about half an hour.

The unit fires an initial jamming transmission for 5 seconds and then requires 60 seconds to recycle before it is ready to fire again. This "time out" allows the gallium arsenide laser diode time to cool off.

At 80 mph if the laser is fired from 750 feet, the diffuser would protect the car for about 600 feet. This means the car is only 150 feet from the laser gun when the jamming stops and you are not far off shaking hands with the police officer. This is to give the driver enough time to slow down to a reasonable speed before you pass the officer, so that the officer simply moves on to the next target.

THIS UNIT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AND IS BEING REPLACED BY THE Target LRC 100 - @ ?324.99

The big detector test carried out in late 1999 by Evo magazine.

Diffusers
The next test was of Diffusers. These work by detecting the pulse of laser light and responding to it with another pulse back at the gun that is designed to trigger an error message on the laser gun and thus cause it not to record the speed. These devices are legal in the USA but may not be in the UK or elsewhere due to DTI laws. As none of our laser tests were on the public road it did not cause us an issue. We had two types of Diffuser fitted to two identical cars. We drove them at the laser guns - starting about 1 mile away. Initially we forgot to tell the police that we had diffusers fitted and they were confused as to why they could not get a reading - initially thinking that their laser guns were all faulty.

This seemed to indicate that however the diffusers disabled the guns, it did not result in a warning to them that they were being jammed. Once they were aware of the diffusers we carried on with the tests. As the laser guns can be used up to 999m we started at long range. Both of the diffusers essentially do the same thing - they send out a pulse that disables the gun and warns you at the same time. The Defensor K40 diffuser was able to easily jam the LTI20.20 but was not as successful against the Prolaser gun. The LTI gun sends out a very short pulse (about 4/100th second) where as the Prolaser gun emits a much longer pulse.

The Target LE850 diffuser was successful against both types of gun and effectively disabled them for around 5 seconds. When the LE850 detects the laser gun it emits a series of beeps and then jams. In tests, if you were travelling at 90mph when targeted with a laser gun you could start braking and be doing under 20mph before the laser gun is able to register your speed.

The LE850 jammed successfully every time we tried it, but in other tests we’ve seen, it had about a 90% success rate - so it is not total protection. In tests the device was not hidden on the car but even then the police could not see it until it was pointed out to them. It is small and black and could easily be fitted to cars or motor cycles.

We understand that at least one UK police force has a device for detecting Diffusers. The police tell us that it would be a case of "perverting the course of justice" if caught with one operating on the road. As far as we know no one has yet been to court for having one - to have this proved. In the USA they are legal and it was only recently that radar detectors became legal in the UK after a test case. Both diffusers were fitted to the front of the test cars as 90% of laser gun usage is at the front of vehicles. With the LE850 you could fit a second unit on the rear for all round protection.

Diffuser - Summary
The LE850 is the best diffuser tested as it works against the two main types of police laser gun. It will give you around 5 seconds to correct your speed; legal in the USA, but may not be legal in the UK.

Radar diffusers exist but we did not get around to trying them as handheld radar is in decline and a good detector should be enough warning against Gatsos or handheld units.

THIS UNIT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AND IS BEING REPLACED BY THE Target LRC 100 - @ ?324.99
CALL FOR MORE INFO OR TO ORDER.

LE 850 Field Test with South Yorkshire Police, Manchester Police and Motorcycle news:
NB: The Motorcycle option is no longer available - (Courtesy of UKSpeedtraps.co.uk)

We tested it with a ProLaser II and a LTI 20-20 with Video camera mounted on it, testing was done on a Kawasaki Ninja and a Mitsubishi Shogun. The ProLaser was used on the bike by Sheffield Police and Manchester Police tested the car.

Both forces were sceptical and said it would not work, however they were wrong. They could not get a reading from the Kawasaki Ninja and neither could they get a reading from the Mitsubishi Shogun before the drivers had slowed down. One police officer was so impressed, he said would get one for his bike....!

We did several runs and they tried very hard but to no avail.

On the bike it was linked into the Bel 966R and gave a clear warning. In the car the control box went mad with a whopping 87 dB audible warning. 7 seconds may not sound much, but believe me you have plenty of time to slow, and once its shuts down automatically the officer starts to get readings again of your vehicle at the correct speed, this helped to remove some suspicion as you approach.

THIS UNIT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AND IS BEING REPLACED BY THE Target LRC 100 - @ ?324.99

 

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