Radar detectors are those small devices that assist in identifying the existence of radars like the ones which are used by the police to locate the cars driving over the determined speed limit. There are many types of radars that help in identification of the existence of laser speed guns which are also deemed useful to avoid the speed traps that the traditional radar detectors tend to miss. To understand the working of a radar detector, it is quite helpful to understand the way how the basic radars work.

Radars are usually used for the identification of distance and speed, low how far an object is or how fast it is moving. A radar device tends to emit a radio wave that moves at the speed of light, and then it bounces off to the radar device when it meets an object in its path. The radar device can ascertain the distance between the device and the tree on the basis of how long it takes for the radio wave to hit the object and how long it takes for the wave to bounce back.

When the best radar detector detects the speed, the radio wave frequency is changed as the car is moving. If the car is driving towards the radar device, then the return signal is closer and the radio wave frequency tends to increase. The radar device can alter the frequency to ascertain the speed of the car. In the case of laser speed guns, rather than using radio waves, light waves are used.

The simple and best radar detectors ascertain the radar devices on the basis of the radio waves emitted by it. Radar detectors act like radio receivers, picking up particular frequencies used by the radar devices, particularly the radar guns used by the police to determine and catch the speeding cars. As the radar devices used by the police help in casting a wide net of radio waves, but it tracks only one particular target, the radar detectors in the moving cars usually pick up on the radio waves before the car comes closer to the police car in order to be tracked.

There are many types of radars that a radar detector is sensitive to. An x-band radar is of low frequency and a high output. But other devices than the police radars emit x-band signals, encompassing the garage door openers and microwave towers. K band is the most common one used by the police and has a little wavelength. A K-band police radar can read from .5 to 2 miles away.