2024 Seattle Laser Jammer Testing: ALP, Uniden, Escort, Stinger, TMG, TPX, & Kiyo

Time for the latest round of testing and comparing all the latest laser jammers! I recently finished a big update on my Audi Q5, upgrading to all the latest custom installed radar detectors and laser jammers. Starting off with laser, I wanted to see how all the top systems compare when installed on the same vehicle to create a test that’s as close to apples-to-apples as I can reasonably do.

Laser Jammers

Most laser jammers are installed permanently, two installed temporarily for testing.

Here’s the lineup of laser jammers tested:

• AntiLaser Priority (HW6): 2 Reg + 1 TX Black Front (with and without acrylic covers), 2 Reg + 1 TX Black Rear (with acrylic covers), FW 6.1.2
• AntiLaser Priority (HW4): 2 Reg + 1 TX Black Front (with and without acrylic covers), 2 Reg + 1 TX Black Rear (with acrylic covers), FW 5.7.1
• AntiLaser Priority (HW4 on @ferius‘ Audi Q5): 2 Reg + 1 TX Black Front, 2 Reg Rear, FW 5.6.9 & 5.7.1
• AntiLaser Priority (HW2 on @meismyname‘s BMW 335i): 2 Reg Front, FW: 5.6.3
• Uniden R9: 2 Reg + 1 TX Front, FW 1.28
• Escort Redline Ci 360c: 2 Reg + 1 TX, FW: 1.2
• Stinger Fibers: 3 RX & 3 TX Front, FW 7.0.26, Laser FW 5.1.02
• TMG Alpha-17: 2 Reg + 1 VPR: FW 8.27, CTRL 1.04
• Adaptiv TPX: 2 Reg + 1 VPR Front, FW 2023/05
• Kiyo ProPark 3: Triple Front

Laser Guns

Here’s the lineup of laser guns:

• 2017 DragonEye SpeedLidar (@DC Fluid)
• Stalker RLR (@HighCountry)
• LTI TruSpeed S (@Vortex)
• Kustom PL4 (@Vortex)
• Kustom PL3 (@meismyname)
• LTI LR B (@Vortex)
• LTI UltraLyte (@meismyname)
• LTI TruSpeed (@meismyname)

Test Course

The test course is the same we used a few years back. It’s a little over 1000′ long, basically straight, minimal traffic, weather sunny and clear, and temps around 78-83F.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to help including @ferius, @Eaguar, @Smason, @meismyname, @2018GTI, as well as the Uniden rep. (Every manufacturer was invited, but only Uniden came, but all the lidar guns were only operated by RDF members.) Thanks to @DC Fluid, @HighCountry, and @meismyname for helping provide lidar guns!

Overall I think the test went well and we learned a TON, but not everything went as expected. Here’s a look at the results and how the different systems fared.

You can also check out this full write-up and followup discussion over on RDF.

AntiLaser Priority

The AntiLaser Priority got the most amount of testing. I tested front and rear on my car, the front with and without my smoked acrylic covers to see if they impacted performance, my new HW6 CPU (prototype CPU, but @BestRadarDetectors confirmed the hardware is identical to final public versions) and @Smason‘s HW4 CPU, as well as @ferius similar HW4 install with both older and newer firmware.

First up, here’s my default setup with the smoked acrylic covers on.

Looks like the ALP does great against most guns, but struggled against the DE. For testing we tried removing the outer covers up front. (The center TX head cover is fixed and not removable).

Results were basically the same so I don’t think the covers have anything to do with it.

@Smason had his HW4 CPU so we plugged it into my car and tested with that.

Again the ALP was solid against the TSS, but struggled with that DE.

@ferius had his 2019 Audi Q5 with a very similar install to mine. 2 Reg + 1 TX Black up front, but just 2 regular heads behind.

His fronts also struggled against the DE so it’s not just my install. His rears were IPT though given the lack of a TX head back there. This was all with older firmware though so we updated to the latest fw and saw similar results.

Something else to note is that there’s a bug with the HW6 CPU and how it alerts to the DE. Unlike with the HW4 CPU or even HW6 against other guns, when HW6 starts jamming the DE, it will initially buzz and the LED lights up with the incorrect direction. Then you get the usual “Whoop whoop! DragonEye ahead!” before the pro mode buzzing resumes. It doesn’t seem to affect jamming, just the initial alert. Evidently it’s a known issue so I expect it to be fixed in a future firmware update.

Finally we also did some test passes with @meismyname‘s HW2 ALP with two new regular heads.

Going IPT on the DE is to be expected with the ALP without a third head, but given that we mostly face the TSS and PL3 around here, his setup should be okay for our local threats.

According to ALP, it sounds like the reason they’re no longer going JTG against the DE like they used to is because they’re working on their laser jamming algorithms to avoid PTs due to reflections as well as to minimize jam codes. I’m curious to see how the ALP fares in future testing after some upcoming firmware updates.

You can order an ALP here.

Uniden R9

Next up is the Uniden R9. This was the best performer of the day. It was the only jammer that managed to handle everything we threw at it, including the DE.

The more I test the R9, the more impressed I am by it. These results with the Uniden meeting or exceeding the performance of the ALP is in line with what I’ve seen in other tests recently as well.

Uniden needs to finally release a standalone version, as well as release the jammers to integrate with the R4 and R8 already too!

You can order a Uniden R9 here.

Escort Redline Ci 360c

I recently upgraded from the Max Ci 360 to the Redline Ci 360c, changing from the ShifterMax to the newer smaller VX shifters. During testing we discovered an issue with the heads so I went back to the shop, redid the head arrangement, and retested with a proper configuration. Once everything was fixed up, the Escort system did great.

It mostly went JTG. Just one PT with the DE in the 200-300 ft range and the another 100 ft PT against the TSS, but otherwise a very strong showing. It also did better than the ALP, only slightly trailing behind the Uniden. I wasn’t expecting that.

Again this is just one test and I have seen the Escort struggle more in other tests, but it did excellent in this test.

You can also check out some other Redline Ci 360c laser testing here.

You can order an Escort Redline Ci 360c here.

Stinger Fibers

Okay so this one is… a lot. With the Stingers I went the most out of my way to install the CPU, to install the heads in my grill, etc. The center heads are drilled into my grill, directly under the other center heads. The outer heads are installed in this empty panel in my bumper directly under my headlights, not in the grill like all the other jammers.

Either way, we ran into several issues with the Stinger, did a bunch of followup testing, and I dedicated most of a full day to reviewing the videos from every Stinger test pass, reanalyzing what we saw, sending Stinger the logs the system was creating from day 2, etc. Hopefully they can provide some more insight after their analysis, but here’s how things are looking, along with my best guesses as to what’s going on.

Against the DE, it did very well, in fact even better than the ALP, so clearly the system is very capable.

Against the TSS, we kept running into issues where sometimes it’d go IPT. Sometimes about halfway through the course, other times at the very far end of the course.

Initially we thought it was something related to off-axis issues and extreme tunnel vision given that the PT’s usually happened when people were on the sidewalk along the side of the road, but that was only 0.5-1.5 degrees off-axis, well within the range of what the Stinger should be able to cover. However, when we reran things with the shooter directly in front of the car, whether it’s because I’m driving around a car on the road and thus slightly angling directly towards the shooters, or because they literally walked into the street in front of my car, in those situations the PT’s would go away and it’d go JTG. However, Stinger says that their off-axis capability should be very good with the system, not to mention the issues seem to be more when targeting the headlights, not on CM, so I wonder if it’s something going on with the outer heads. The outer heads are installed very close to the headlights, again closer than any other system given the advantages of using such tiny heads. They’re <7″ from the top of the headlights and within just 12″ of the far edges of the outer corner of my headlights, so again very close to the target areas. I don’t know exactly what the issue is with the TSS, but we saw it go IPT at times on both day 1 and day 2 of testing, with the shooters standing on both the right and left sides of the road. Hopefully Stinger can figure out what’s going on with the TSS. Maybe it’s an algorithm issue?

Additionally we saw issues with the LRB. While the system normally did great against the gun, it would sometimes take 5 sec before it would begin alerting. Then the jammer countdown would start on screen. This would apply to both 5 and 10 sec autoJTK’s, as well as when set to the 60s JTK option (aka unlimited’ish) for testing. Sometimes it would take up to 18-20 sec to alert, again jamming the whole time. There were also instances where it would fail to alert at all, even though it was jamming the whole time. One of the test passes it went IPT with no alert. It looks like all the issues were on the PHL side. I was wondering if maybe the PHL TX head was unplugged or something, but given that the Stinger was capable of going JTG on the PHL against most all of the other guns, I don’t think it was an issue of the PHL TX head not functioning. We took the time to make sure the heads were all operating fine and individually detecting laser (unlike the Escort system). We also tried testing with the gun handheld vs on a tripod, horizontal vs vertical, and anything else we can think of. Hard to say what it is for sure given that correlation doesn’t imply causation. Again I think’s some bug with Stinger. We got some of those failed alerts logged on the USB stick and I’ve sent the raw data and videos to Stinger for further analysis.

I wish I had a better idea of what’s been causing these issues. Is it an install issue? Algorithm issue? Bugs in the software? I don’t know. We did a bunch of extra Stinger test passes and I’ve spent a lot of extra time reanalyzing the results and sending additional info over to Stinger. Hopefully they’re able to get a better idea of what’s going on, especially after reviewing the logs that the system created during testing.

You can order a set of Stinger fibers here.

TMG Alpha-17

TMG’s are one of the more affordable laser jammer options and I finally swapped out the A-15’s that died on me to a newer set of A-17’s.

The TMG’s did pretty well overall, going JTG against most guns including the TSS And RLR.

Against this DE, unfortunately it simply went IPT right from the start. I would have loved to have had more copies of the DE to test against, but unfortunately against this one, the TMG didn’t help. At least it would alert though.

After sharing the results with @Ming who built the TMG, he asked if I could retest without the VPR head, so after I got my Escort system fixed up, I also tried testing a VPR-less set of TMG Duals.

Surprisingly, without the VPR head it did better against the DE. It didn’t go JTG which is understandable given it was just a set of duals, but at least it was no longer IPT like it was with the VPR. I’m guessing maybe TMG has a non-VPR algorithm for this specific DE, but not an algorithm if you are using a VPR head? Hopefully they can fix this given that running it w/ a VPR head is the standard setup now and is the recommended setup if facing the DE.

I asked Ming about it and he suspects my VPR head might be broken. I hope not, especially after having multiple A-15’s die on me too.

If you’re considering a TMG and are curious about VPR vs. no VPR setups, VPR’s are still recommended for facing the DE and I would encourage you to check out other tests where people have compared them. Remember, this is just one of many tests.

You can order a set of TMG’s here.

Adaptiv TPX Auto

Finally we move onto the last two systems that I don’t have installed in my car permanently and were installed temporarily. They were mounted in the brackets and secured with doublestick tape. I went through to ensure everything was straight and level as best as I could.

The TPX managed to jam the DE for a little while, so better than the TMG, but eventually it got PT’s once I got closer.

With the TSS it seemed to struggle most, including some PT’s at the far end of the start course. With the rest of the guns though, it seemed to fair better. We didn’t test with the RLR though since that arrived in time only for the second day of testing, and by then I had already uninstalled the temporary jammers.

You can order a set of TPX’s here.

Kiyo ProPark 3

Finally we tested the Kiyo ProPark 3 and I gotta say, this was one of the most fun systems to test given that the alert tone sounds like a 1990’s ringtone or something, lol, so I had fun listening to it while doing my test passes. 

The heads are really big, but for an older LED jammer that you can find around $60, we were curious to see what it’d be like.

Against easy guns like the PL3 and simple LTI guns, it’s fine. Against the TSS and DE, it wouldn’t even alert to the guns, much less jam them. We tried disabling ECCM on the DESL and it would alert, but it still struggled to jam regardless.

The results are basically in line with what we were expecting. It’s an older tech jammer that only works against older tech guns.

You can order a ProPark 3 here.

Overall Thoughts

It was great to finally get some time testing out all the latest systems like this. As always, this is just one test on one car (well two for the ALP), on one course, with one set of the different guns. On other cars with other placements on other courses and other firmware versions, you may see different results.

With the ALP, I was honestly hoping for a little better results given that it’s considered the gold standard and I just went through the trouble of replacing my perfectly functional regular heads with newer (more sensitive) regular heads. I understand that HW6 doesn’t bring a big improvement to performance at this time, and that YMMV with different DragonEyes, but given that this is the main system I rely on, I was hoping for it to be basically bulletproof. We also tested with multiple other systems which got similar results. Sure it jammed initially and would give me enough time to slow down and JTK in practice, but still, I was expecting more from the ALP. Fortunately since I mostly only see PL3/PL4 and TSS around here, it should work great for my needs in practice, but I still can’t help but feel a little disappointed by the results.

With the Uniden R9, I continue to be impressed with it in testing. It was the best performer of the day. The only jammer that was basically drama-free and did the job without any fuss. It currently needs the R9 radar detector to function and I only have it installed on the front so it’s not a jammer I can always rely on given my current install setup, but it makes me far more comfortable installing the R9 onto my wife’s car in the next couple months. This jammer is easily on the short list of best laser jammers.

The Escort Redline Ci 360c was also really good. It did better in my test this time than I’d seen in previous tests, but I think more testing is needed either way given that it’s a newer system. Nevertheless, this one is showing lots of promise as well, definitely better than what I saw with the Max Ci 360’s older gen jammers.

The Stinger feels kinda disappointing, especially given that that’s the system I went most out of the way on to ensure a proper install. Again it seems to be promising, but I’ve run into a number of issues with it. Currently I haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what the issue is, but hopefully we can get more info after Stinger has a chance to review the test data.

The TMG seemed to do pretty well, except for the fact that it went IPT against the DE. It managed to offer some jamming without the VPR head though, so clearly something strange is going on here. I don’t know how it fares against other copies, but we can always review other tests to see.

The TPX did better against the DE, offering some jamming capability, but really struggled against the TSS which should be an easier gun to jam. I was wondering how much of it could be attributed to me doing a temporary install, but given that it still managed to jam the DE until closer distances, and it did well against easier guns, I suspect the outer heads should still be sufficiently well installed.

The ProPark was a treat to test, mostly for its amusing alert tone. It’s obviously limited to just older guns and isn’t being produced anymore, but it’s good tossing it into the mix and seeing how far jammers have come over the years.

Some other systems like the K40 Defuser Optix were intentionally skipped over. They’re the worst performing current laser jammers I’ve tested and haven’t received a single update since I last tested them in 2019. No point in wasting time retesting it.

I’m sure I’m missing some important details given that I was inside my car and not behind the guns and aware of every little nuance of how well they were jammed, when and how the PT’s occurred, etc., but the others at the event can help to provide any additional detail or correct any mistakes I reported off the charts if needed.

Time to start working on videos now going over the test results as well as my updated install as well.

Thank you again to everyone who helped make this happen!

For further discussion, head over to the testing thread on RDF.