Speed Measurement Labs has been around for many years, supporting radar gun manufacturers, radar detector manufactures and eventually laser jammer manufacturers. Carl Fors is the President of SML and is very well know in this industry as the “Go To” man for professional product testing of radar, laser and photo products. He travels across the USA, Canada and internationally quite often conducting radar and laser symposiums.

Speed Measurement Labs, SML, conducts its annual test in El Paso, Texas each year, typically in June, although I have never figured out why one would test in El Paso in June, where your brain fries during the day. Never the less, Carl likes the heat, so to speak. So once you have your cowboy hat on, sunburn lotion dripping from your arms and face, then we all slide into our vehicles and start testing radar detectors, laser jammers and photo radar detectors. Carl, it was in jest!

What I like about SML, is that they are objective in their testing and will listen to the new things we as product sales, needs for testing. Traditionally, SML tested for distance only for radar. But over time, SML has added “Over the Hill” radar detection testing, which is important, as many people are trapped with a police car hiding on one side of a hill, waiting for drivers to crest the hill. Ticket Time! So testing the capability or lack thereof, of a radar detector to detect over the hill is important, and we now track that radar detector performance annually with SML and post it on our annual radar detector test chart. We also do many or our videos at the annual radar detector test, because people like to see how the tests are conducted and listen to the background discussions.

SML has also added false radar alert testing, laser jammer testing and photo radar detection testing over the years. The people who conduct the tests are trained policemen from El Paso, who are very well trained in radar gun, laser gun use. In our years of testing with SML since 1997, we have often brought dealers we work with from around the world, who find it amazing that we test countermeasure products using police. Up in Canada, the RCMP would likely fine anybody conducting such a test, as they also would in Australia, UK and most of Europe. We in the USA, do not realize, how authoritarian (socialistic) other countries are, yet we have the freedom to prove what products are good for our customers. Well anyway, the Aussies and Canucks find it amazing that we test with SML, but the data is absolutely objective, and once we have the results, we update our annual radar detector test chart.

Other companies or groups that test products are seldom objective. One test company that specializes in testing radar detectors, is hired by manufacturers to do tests and positive technical write ups on the products they tested. While the article produces great marketing exposure on the products tested, the test results never discusses poor performance, yet we test products every year at SML that prove to have less than desirable radar/laser performance, yet gets great write by some test companies. Other test groups tend to test, knowing which product they want to come out on top. In both cases it is a subjective test, and does not provide the customer what they need for real product evaluation. Thus SML appears to be the only objective test facility on our radar, laser and photo market that provides objective testing, using professional staff to collect the data and conduct the product tests.

When we first got into this industry in 1993, we relied on the manufacturers product literature to verify who was best, as I always wanted to sell the best products. It took one year to figure out the manufacturers usually indicate on every product box that that product is the best. Some manufactures use every possible adjective, action verb and phrase possible to describe useless product descriptions. The unwary customer tends to read the product information, and is convinced they have the next best thing to sliced bread. We quickly realized that relying on product literature was not the wise thing to do when picking the best product performance. So we started doing highway tests, but found it was inconsistent, unless you had your own equipment. Thus we came across SML in 1996, started testing products soon after, and over the years we have gained tremendous experience in what to look for in a radar detector, laser jammer and photo radar detectors. The product testing with SML has permitted 1stRadarDetectors to identify which radar detectors and laser jammers are best for our customers each year. Some products stay at the top or near the top, such as Valentine One, while some companies introduce leading edge technology and are always at the top, such as the Passport 9500ix radar detector. The Passport 8500 used to be the #1 radar detector, followed by the Bel Rx65, STi Driver and Valentine One. There is often several very best products, which is what we look for. We discuss these different products in other articles, but the important point it that we don’t sell everything, as with other dealers. We focus on “Best in Test”, which is why it is important to work with an objective test facility such as SML. I think you would find nearly all the other dealers use product literature and second hand knowledge from SML and annual test results to suggest which product is best. But dealers who do not test their products,  have no technical knowledge or test experience to rely on. A customer can tell who knows what they are talking about and who is blowing smoke.

Call 1stRadarDetectors at 303-678-9101 to discuss which radar detector, laser jammer or photo radar detector is best for you.