With over 600 horsepower under the hood, it's easy to find yourself going over the speed limit behind the wheel of a Mercedes Benz E63S AMG. A radar detector is a good option for combatting speeding tickets as it will alert you of nearby speed traps and allows you to take more caution with your speed. A top of the line detector like the Escort Max 360 offers excellent range, intelligent filtering technologies, and GPS to reduce false alarms. Lower end radar detectors often give false alerts from automatic door openers, adaptive cruise control systems, and blind spot assist systems, so it can be difficult to tell whether a warning is genuine or nothing worth noting.
We like the Escort detectors for their excellent build quality, proven performance, and manufacturer support such as servicing and updates. The latest Max 360C adds wifi connectivity to access the Escort database for user-reported alerts. It can also link up with the ZW5 laser shifters which do not require running a wire through the firewall thanks to the wireless technology. The Max 360 and 360C offer directional alert arrows to tell you just where the alert is coming from. It utilizes front and rear antennas to achieve this and adds greater detail to the alerts.
In addition to the radar detector, we installed the Escort ZR5 laser shifter system in this vehicle. Laser shifters offer defense against police laser guns including the latest Dragon Eye variable pulse radar guns. This system utilizes two small shifter units which we mounted in the front grille. Optional rear shifters are also available but for most drivers, the front should be enough. The shifters connect up to a control box which we hid under the battery/cabin filter cover. Additionally, there is a interface module with a speaker that alerts you when shifting occurs. We placed this inside the cabin near the passenger footwell.
The interface module then connects up to the radar detector which allows the driver to change modes from just alerting to actually shifting. With the Max 360C, the OLED display tells you the status of the shifters and what mode they're in. The ZR5 can also work as a standalone without the radar detector. In terms of legality, radar detectors are perfectly legal to use in many jurisdictions but jammers are not.
With the wiring of the ZR5 wrapped in our special tape, it is hard to see where it is installed when popping the hood. We also installed the Thinkware F800 Pro dash cam (front camera) on this car. This camera is hardwired so it records both while driving and while parked. This dash cam also has red light camera alerts and speed camera alerts, although speed cameras are not used in BC.
Here is a video of the dash cam from this E63S in action! You can even hear the radar detector alerting of the police car about 30 seconds down the road.