[David Jones]

"Lidar range goes as the fourth root of target crossection. This is a very weak function, and so the range for your state probably falls between these extremes of measurment range to the best and worst liscense plates measured by Tom Bell:

* Georgia license plate, by itself = 2577 ft.
* Colorado license plate, by itself = 1339 ft.
* With no plate- detection range of a Mazda RX7 with headlights retracted is around 800 ft.
* No plate, and the lights covered - detection range < 500 ft.

The Uniden detector ad (Aug 95 Road&Track p31) claims that:

* Uniden detector is good to about 8000 feet.
* Lidar guns are effective to about 2000 feet.
* Average operating range of police lidar is about 800 feet.

Craig Peterson has written alot on police radar and lidar, and he makes the argument in AUTOtronics, March 95 that typical radar ambushes are 600-800 feet because the police must identify the car and make a visual estimate of speed as well. This argument may not apply to lidar with its narrower beam, since the beam itself identifies the car."