Rocky Mountain Black Widow - Watch The Cop Squash The Spider
Written: Jan 08 '04 (Updated Jan 08 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lights are fun!
Cons: Expensive, Doesn't work, Not as cool as having your very own Puffs box!
The Bottom Line: The Black Widow is worse than having nothing at all.
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| soupcraze's Full Review: Rocky Mountain Black Widow Radar Detector |
Before I start off the actual review, I'd like to say that reading this would be the biggest waste of time. This product does not work at all, and is only a waste of $350 MSRP if you pay the maximum amount. However, anything paid over $0.01 is a waste, oh wait, unless you salvage the scrap parts for a couple extra bucks, then it's worth that much. Well, you've been warned, and now onto the review.
In my closer circle of friends, we are all into cars, each into them at different levels. As for the ones who knows cars best, also know radar detectors to a decent extent. I would never let a friend buy a junk radar detector. However, then come the people who aren't in my close circle of friends, and here and there pop up some crappy units, mostly from Rocky Mountain Radar. Rocky Mountain's Black Widow is one of the nice looking ones if you don't know anything about the radar business. So this unit may seem appealing to some consumers with plenty of money and no knowledge on the subject. Such a situation arose when my ex-girlfriend's friend was giving us a ride in her new Mercedes Benz ML320. The car was nicely loaded, and before I entered, I expected to see a detector on the windshield. When I didn't see one, I figured that I'd see a nice remote unit, Bel, Escort, K40? Well, I was right about finding a remote unit, but it was more like a pile of crap than anything that can be called a "radar detector". Here's what I found with the Black Widow.
-Price-
*The Black Widow comes with a $349 MSRP. However, for all of the sites that sell the thing, you can probably find it for slightly less than $200. This is on the lower-end price scale of remote units, but still more expensive than the Whistler DE-3400 remote detector. First off, I don't get this device. It's not a radar detector, it's a 360 degree jammer that has two modules that are integrated in the car. One in the front, one in the back. But wait! Arent the much cheaper Phazer and Phantom units supposed to also completely jam radar? Oh well, the Black Widow looks cooler, so why not pay the extra money to get a neat display with a fun lights show? Well, I managed to find a comparable unit from another manufacturer to go up against the Black Widow. It's a Puffs tissue box. You can get a pack of three from your local Target store for $5! Now you don't see three Black Widow units being offered for a low price, do you? As for the performance and jamming that the Black Widow has, it's no more effective than a Puffs tissue box at jamming radar and laser. However, if you do own one, combine it with the Puffs box so you can wipe your tears away when you get pulled over. If you just go with tissues, you'll save a couple hundred dollars.
-Performance-
*The Black Widow is supposed to pick up X, K, and Ka band signals and mix them with a FM chirp so that the radar gun can't get an actual speed reading. How effective is it? The Black Widow does absolutely nothing to jam radar and laser laser. Even when you're paying so much money, it can't even just detect radar? Now that's sad. The girl who owns the car says that she never got a ticket before. But seeing how she drives, it doesn't look likely that she'd get pulled over. She doesn't do 10mph over the speed limit, slows down when she sees cops, and follows the flow of traffic. So passing cops and not seeing anything happen except for the non-stop light cycle got a little boring. I pretended not to know that the Black Widow didn't work, even though anyone with any detector knowledge knows that it doesn't do squat. Ok, I was very bored. But then alas! There came a radar post! I didn't know whether it was on X or K Band, but it didn't matter since the Black Widow isn't a radar detector anyhow. I had my contact lenses in, so I managed to check that thing out aquiring her speed. Well, it showed the speed with absolutely no problems. The whole point of the Black Widow is to jam radar, and it did absolutely nothing! Then it's obvious that the Black Widow wouldn't do anything towards jamming laser. Rocky Mountain has their own fun little philosophy on jamming lasers... Today's laser jammers use diodes such as Gallium Arsenide and other materials to send out IR waves of around 904nm towards the gun. When that happens, there's interference among the waves at the gun so it can't get a reading. So how do the Black Widow and other Rocky Mountain products work? It's said to create a shield of light in front of the car, and deflect(?) or do something with the incoming laser. It's a cool concept, honestly, it is. However, it would only work if the laws of physics were repealed! When light passes through other light, their is interference when they meet, but when they are no longer in contact, the waves retain their original shape. This would work only if the laws of physics were repealed. Even though the Black Widow might cost much more than a Puffs tissue box, it doesn't do anything more against police radar than the tissue box.
-Ease of Use & Features-
*There is nothing to use with the Black Widow. It's a box with flashing lights that does absolutely nothing. If you're detector illiterate, it's still not a good idea to get the Black Widow. Just look at an instruction manual, and learn how to use something else!
-The Verdict-
*I can just picture someone in a fast car blowing past a cop at over 100mph on the highway. Then the cop goes after them with a valid speed reading. In the war against traffic tickets, the Black Widow does absolutely nothing. The cops are able to easily stomp their foots on the Black Widow. I must admit the name is cool, but only Escort, Beltronics, or K40 can make a good unit with such a name, and my golly gosh, it would actually work! The Black Widow isn't anymore effective than having a Puffs tissue box on your dash board. In fact, I believe that common sense and your own eye(s) are way more effective than the Black Widow. This would only give you a VERY FALSE sense of security. What, are the internal components made out of poop? Probably.
If you want a cheap remote system that will actually work for less money, then try the Whistler DE-3400.
Whistler DE-3400
If you want real remote laser jammers that will actually jam lasers, then try the Bel Laser Pro 904 and Escort ZR-3.
Bel Laser Pro 904
Escort ZR-3
Recommended:
No
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soupcraze
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Member: Soup Enthusiast
Location: Chicago, Illinois
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I enjoy many of life's passions... Music, medicine, people, and life itself.
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