972.2

so i really need a radar detector, i want something really good. where i live its pretty much all really long straights full of hills so i need something that can detect over hills pretty far.

ive been hearing good things about the valentine one and the bel sti, but im not really sure what to get. i want first hand opinions before i blow a lot of money.

G22_Powered_YA1

the newer platforms for the X50s are not too stable, but fine enough, the V1 is decent for the off-axis over hill reception youre looking for, Id look at geting a used X50 running the S7 platform, look for a unit with software revision 5 (ask the owner, they can find out by resetting the unit by turning it on with all buttons pressed


the new Escort 9500i is not a bad unit either, now comes in Blue if youre into that sort of thing (I was, Blue was the way to go when I had my X50)

STI is fine too but youre paying money for the stealth that you DO NOT need, unless you live in or often travel through stupid Virginia

972.2

whats so different between the x50 and v1? and what difference does the software make?

matt21484

BEL radar detectors are supposed to be really nice, heres an article from 2006 that sums up a few popular choices

http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleid=1064

BTW: I have an Escort 8500 that I love, It does a great job of picking up cops on the highway, I don't speed through city streets so I can't comment on that.

Alperovich

V1 FTMFW! best radar IMHO, there is nothing else better, i tell you why, directional arrows. most useful tool in aiding knowing where the cops are.

AznX TL

yes v1 ftw, nothing gets better than that.

klepto

I have a V1 and it's saved my ass plenty of times. I like the arrows, only the V1 has arrows, not sure if thats a big selling point for you or not.

matt21484

I never understood why knowing where the Cop was located is such a big deal. If it goes off, you slow down until you pass it or it stops beeping. If it's a consistent weak beep, then you know he's behind you.

I guess you don't miss what you don't have. I used to work at BBY so I got the Escort 8500 X50 for about 190 dollars so my choice was easy, and like I said, I love the damn thing. Works great on road trips from IL to CO and back. Saved myself and 4 of my friends about 3 different times.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

get the v1

Alperovich

okay, lets say your driving down a road, and there's a cop. lets say, its showing you 1 signal. ahead, u keep driving, slow down a bit.

you, keep going, radar is still going off, no cops in sight. all of a sudden, 2 cops ahead. you recheck your speed, maybe hit cruise control to maintain speed.

in a distance, u notice a cop has pulled some one over. you're still getting 2 cops ahead. U see a 2nd cop neer the first (ie rolling up to him).

u get close and see 1 signal from side by side, and 1 still in front. knowing there is still something ahead.

with out the directional arrows, you all u get is 2 signals. u don't know if its the 2 cops u see or if tehre is something else.

what about, when the radar just goes off, sure you slow down but with the V1, it'll let you know, its something to look for ahead of you. or there's somethign behind u be worried about.

I guess its just one of those things, once to go directional arrows you don't go back. Anything that helps me figure out what/where the signal is coming from, I'll take that. I dream of the day we'll see a radar signal displayed on our Nav screen's showing where the signal is coming from. hopefully b4 i die.


or what about the same scene as above, except it does point to only the cops neer the already pulled over car have the radar going off, telling you most likely ahead is clear, as aposed to only knowing that there's a signal in the area.

jsut my

Alperovich

v1 saves my ass all the times. in all my years of driving, i've gotten pulled over less, and speed more confidently alot more often with the V1 then before. I've had other radar in the past, including a passport, few different cobra's and other crap. nothing else i've liked as much as a v1, my only wish is I spent the $400 on it from the start.

03silvertypeS

I've had my Bel since 2000 and haven't had any problems with it and it's definitely saved my ass MANY times. I don't have any personal experience with Valentine One, but I've never heard anything bad about them.

matt21484

All the points you made were accurate, but at the same time, all you explained was that you slowed down until the beeping/arrows went silent. Anyway I don't intend on starting a debate on which is better, we are somewhat off topic of what the OP asked advice for....


I have heard that there are some new radar detectors out there w/ crude GPS systems in them that will record where a false detection occurred. Not sure if the user had to manually enter this in, or if the on board computer did this on its own.

Can't remember the brand though..

Alperovich

well, it wasn't that i slowed down, its that it lets you be more aware of where the cops might be.



i think its the new passport. it uses GPS tracking to weed out false alarms and a few other things, but i'm talking about showing you where the cops is on my screen. lol.

G22_Powered_YA1

in the cases I was explaining the X50 actually changes some things in the hardware as it evolves, the newer models have a different reciever that isnt as sensitive as the older ones

V1s dont point to where the cop is, it points to where it THINKS the cop is, so if a cop in front of you is shotting at you and it reflects off a big rig behind you the signal strength might make it point BACK, arrows are OK, but if you run a RD for a while you start to know how to read it and you cdan tel on your own where the cop IS

another thing about the Escorts that the V1 doesnt have is the Expert meter (the Bel one SUCKS).... as some of you know the V1 displays the number of total contacts recieving and the various bands theyre distributed in, so lets say theres 1Ka, 2K and 2X signals out there

:with the V1 youve got a number 5, the K, Ka and X lights are illuminated, and the strength meter is at I dunno full.. WTF, whats what

:where in the same situation the X50 in Expert mode will display out the 1 Ka and its signal strength, BOTH K band tracks and their INDIVIDUAL signal strengths and the same on X, both contacts and both strength meters

then theres user friendlieness, I couldve tuned my X50 in 10 minutes without a manual and changed all my setings.... with the V1 since the display is SERIOUSLY out-dated you need the manual to understand what code its telling you, what setting the thing is on and all that stuff

I mean the V1 is a good unit, its not bad at all, but IMO it needs a SERIOUS overhaul and modernization..... the X50 is a good and muich better all-rounder than the V1

972.2

yet the x50 has no rear antenna? am i correct?

underst8

all in all, detectors can be useful - until they all start using laser in which case you could have a radar missile lock detector from an F-22 and it wouldn't make a difference. I hate laser with a passion, no warning. Same thing goes for instant-on radar now. I run with a Cobra detector for the reason that is is $70 and has saved me as long as I slow down when it suspiciously/intermittently goes off. Only times I have been pulled over with it have been from laserings, at which point it beeps at the same time I notice the cop. I am sure V1 is worth it for some people, but I just haven't found a time that the Cobra hasn't worked other than laser incidents.

G22_Powered_YA1

correct, no direct rear reception, but itll still pick up rear contacts via reflections off things in front of you, but in all honesty rear reception isnt too important, and then besides that the rear antenna on the V1 has such a small and narrow horn that its not that useful anyways






Laser is a pain... BUT, jamming laser is legal... in most states, some states have them outlawed in their own laws, but the federal government will NEVER out;aw it as a whole since Laser is light and falls into the FDA's area, and well as long as the cops are using laser we can use jammers, and the second our jammers are outlawed by the federal government, so are the laser guns

I/O radar is a pain, but you just need to know what youre doing, and that means 1 thing, NEVER speed alone, make sure theres atleast 1 other speeding in front of you to take the 1st hit, stuff like that


like I said before, IMO the X50 is the better all round unit, do yourself a favor and save some cash on the X50......... I was a member of an RD community for 2 years and it was agreed on there that there is a top 3 class, thats it, there was no 1 best unit, simply because all of the top tier units have flaws to add to their srengths

cbusAcuracls

I too have just a Cobra..spent around $110 and gave the wife the old $70 dollar cobra and both have saved our ars alot. Yes Laser is a pain but if you keep a good lookout and have the radar/laser detector on...more times than not I see the cop before I even get in range of his laser gun.
As for the Cobra,V1,Escort...I just needed a radar detector to let me know when a popo is in the area..then I slow down. 70% of the time I will be on the highway and pick up a signal and just slow down as precautionary and usually about 60% of the time I will see the cop in the next mile or so ahead of me or passing me the other way. In my experience keep a good eye out and slow down when a signal is picked up and you will be fine.... (knocking on wood) and so far no tickets going at my usual 15-20 mph over the speed limit
p.s. I too have no need for arrows...when I pick up a signal I slow down immediatly but thats just me.

underst8

I play the game the same way with the same results.

leetuser

Either one should be fine, seriously the only reason I bought a passport 8500x50 is because I found it cheapest on ebay.

Alperovich

never happens. it can happen, however, i've only seen it on unreal world situtations. its NEVER happened to me in 3 years of owning my V1 except like i said in a unreal situtation.

sounds like unbeliever hater talk if u ask me

wrong again, the v1 does tell you which signal is coming from which directions, yes, its not as fancy but it does show things on seperate bands, and lets you know which band has how many hits and which each hit/band is coming from.

sounds like unbeliever hater talk if u ask me


Yes, i read thru my owners manual right after getting it and figured out quickly and easily how to operate the V1. its very simple actually.

Yes, they need to overhall and redesigned it a little, but looks aren't everything. It works, it works very well. Its been saving my ass for 3 years now, MUCH better then ANY other redar i've ever owned or used. my v1 is actually 5 year old now (i got it used), it works just as good as my brother inlaw's which is 2 years old now, He is get to be pulled over but doesn't drive crazy, i've been stopped a few times, but gotten saved, and speed more often then ever b4.

point is, directional arrows are effective, they actaully do work well, and once u get used to it, and you know it works, you'll never go back.

I hear alot of talk like in this thraed. its mostly hater talk. Just like i see with hater talk towards my Legend or Iphone at times.

I'm telling you know, first hand experiance with a V1 for the last 3 years. its worth every penny and i don't know anyone who has used it and not liked how it works.

Yes tehre are also other VERY good radar's out there. I'm not trying to bash any of them. I'm just trying to clear up the disbelieve in the V1.

Nautsiju

Im intrested in a radar detector too now. and a laser jammer. any one know if the jammers are legal in cali? and if so, what are some good brands

Alperovich

i think the new passport has a jammer.

G22_Powered_YA1

I used a V1 not too long ago, took the whole 30 days, and still thought in my area the X50 comes out on top, I thought the Valentine was trash, sure id use it again since the newer X50 revisions are so damned unstable, but it wouldnt do what I wanted it to when I had my older S7 platform X50


yes the thing will tell you which it is displaying by flashing the band LED, of the dominant signal, strength of the dominant signal flashing arrows in the direction of the dominant signal (and solid for any other contacts recieved), im well aware of how it works, but im telling you it doesnt break down INDIVIDUAL signals along different bands, the unit I had displayed total contacts and band dispersion, it didnt do any sort of extra effort, id didnt ID how many contacts in X, K, or Ka, just total and where theyre at, again you cant tell whats what, unless it happens to be only 1 band ID LED on with any number on the counter

the dual antenna layout can lead to some odd readings as well, ghosting was a problem for me when I had it as well, basically for those who dont know Ghosting is when 1 antenna recieves and the other recieves the same signal off another object on the other side of you that has slightly changed frequency as it reflects off object 2...... its a rare occurance, but it happens

oh and another thing about the V1 is another thing that ties into that antiquated display, there is no way to tell that your recivers are faling out of tune, the Escorts will flash SELFCAL to tell you that its calibrating itself, and should it fail itll give a full service required message, with the Valentine, you cant tell until you one cay miss a hot contact, sure theres the "E" but that ties more into internal error rather than reciver calibration

im sure this is falling on deaf ears though, so I wont bother going any further except to say that in my time on the RD board i mentioned earlier, Ive seen it all, ive seen plenty of people having problems with their Valentines, and everything else for that matter, but ive seen all the problems listed here and then some






________


Active Laser jamming is ILLEGAL, thats NOT legal in the state of California, if youre caught doing it its a stiff ine

Passive jamming is OK, and can be oddly effective on our cars, I was runing passive measures and I got consistent 300 foot Punchthroughs (PTs) at legal freeway speeds, thatll go down should I speed up

the new esort does NOT have built in jamming, theres the remote mount integrated SR7 thats been around for a while, if you buy the PLUS ersion of it you get the Shifters (ZR3 Jammer heads), otherwise the regular version only has the recievers, which is still better than any dash/windshield RD will ever deliver since laser dispersion patern is SOOOOOO small since its coherent light as opposed to microwaves


anyways ill try to find the video of my CL running against a laser gun