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Originally Posted by TSi+WRX  ^ I don't necessarily think it is the "style" of the jammer that's at-fault.
There have been very successful "self-builds" of modified license plate frames/brackets to house various current top-flight laser diode-based jammers (there's one on RD.net, of a housing that's modified in this manner to offer visually low-profile protection of the rear of a small Mercedes coupe), and I think that the issue here, with regard to performance, is one that's based on the jammer itself, and not its mounting "style."
Similarly, threr have been many videos documenting the relative effectiveness of a single-head diode-based unit to offer JFG performance on the rear of smaller (or favorably profiled) vehicles, and the majority of such setups have been center-mass (rear plate area) bisaed (mounted).
You'll note that I mainly speak of the REAR of the vehicle here - since this is the harder of the two aspects to protect, what I hope to illustrate here is that a centralized/center-mass favored mount, provided that the vehicle presents no undue hardpoints, is very do-able. :)
And as for the ZR4, although I don't hold much hope for it, I think it is really just too early to "lump" it into the category of "it's just another LED-based jammer," or to say that it necessarily won't be more effective than the ZR3 in terms of rear LIDAR protection. The data is just not there. |
Allen,
Point taken. I did not intend to bash the concept. I just haven't seen any production models that I thought were worth anything more than the value of the license plate frame itself (sans jammer).
IF there was a laser diode plate available, I'd highly consider it. However, only for the rear as I do agree the rear on most vehicles is very difficult to protect unless you're interested in bumper surgery and have the time to do that.
Of course, even a plate type jammer is better than none. It just irks me to see some of the adverts of various manufacturers with plate mounted jammers. On the other hand though, what do you expect and it's up to people to do their homework before making a purchase.
You're also right that we should wait and see with regard to the ZR4. However, I'll be really shocked if it isn't LED based. I just think most companies have no financial incentive to switch to diode based units. They are happy to target the market segment they're already in, which in many cases involves selling their wares to dealers at amazing discounts so that the dealers are making high profit margins and want to push the products.
The problem is that if the products are being sold cheaply to dealers then they must be very cheap to manufacture in the first place. If a given manufacturer were to switch from LED to diodes, it would be such a huge price increase for their materials that I just think most if not all of the current crop in this bucket are loathe to do so. They like dominating the $350 - $400 (retail) market where you have more customers able to afford it.