Seem to be more vehicle lights out there setting off the V1. Yesterday a Chevy TrailBlazer's brake lights set off the Laser alarm. Maybe its the positioning as his main brake lights were about driver's eye level and his third brake light was well above my V1. Good thing I was in the Burger King drive-through or I mighta warped my rotors.

 

It's been that particular vehicle and about two others too. It's annoying when you are in stop and go traffic behind one.

 

I've never seen a false V1 Laser warning and I'm on my 3rd car with this unit. Perhaps your's needs repair?

 

Lots of false V1 laser alerts:

1.Newer SUVs (1 or 2 models in particular) brake and tail lights
2.Neon signs in shop windows
3.Road (constructions) signs

 

Infrared sets off the V1 so those vehicles are emitting in the Infrared band. Point your TV channel changer at the V1 and you can generate an alert. The red tail lights make sense but I think the headlights/foglights? on a BMW also set it off once.

 

Yeah, the TrailBlazer's are killing me too. The laser alert always makes me jump higher than radar. At least GM didn't put LED lights on all the SUV's; the Trailblazer's GMC twin (Envoy) has conventional taillights.

 

Hmmmm...

I could of swore I was behind a Envoy and the V1 started to bark...

Anyway, it's annoying WHEN it happens, but fortunately I've only had it happen to me a couple of times in the past few months.

 

The Envoy and Trailblazer are both GM products, they may have the same tails. My V1 has yet to give me a false Laser alarm. Maybe i'm just lucky.

 

You are lucky, buddy. :P I've gotten a couple of Laser alerts from Trailblazer lights.

 

Maybe i blow by them so quickly that i don't pick anything up

 

Are you sure the things plugged in ???

Shawn S

 

It's a good thing that y'all paid so much for the best detector in the world! At least y'all know when a Trail Blazer is around! j/j

 

Maybe that's the problem.

 

Maybe cops all over the country will start driving Trailblazers Well we can dream can't we !!

 

I have an Escort 8500 in my CLS and a V1 in my g/f's celica. I've noticed this problem in her celica, but not in my CLS. Looks like the 8500 does a better job of discriminating falses!

 

I also have the 8500, and never had that problem.

 

I had both, and the 8500 did false less than the V1.
But I also noticed the V1 was much better at picking up instant-on, and much farther warning for around curves and over hills.

 

Or possibly ignoring REAL threats by having too strong a filter.

According to Mike Valentine, the only way to eliminate the false Laser alarms is to reduce the sensitivity down to a level that he feels is not beneficial.

Shawn S

 

I went through 3 laser traps this weekend. Had only 1 warning, which I'm sure was too late. But no tickets. :pfawk: The problem is, laser is now used along my normal commute. The various agencies must have just acquired laser guns cause I've never seen them used before. Now what can I do? I have to deal with laser everyday.

Has anyone used a diffuser or jammer? Will it interfer with the V1? I would like to see some independent test before I shell out money. The way I see it, 1 ticket can cost more than a jammer.


http://www.k40.com/K40Radar/sml_field_test.htm

http://www.1-radar-laser-jammers-det...er-jammer.html

edit ...

one more:
http://www.beltronics.com/lp904.html

Questionable review .....
http://www.speedzones.com/lasercounter/lasercounter.htm

 

Not so fast. I had a Passport 4500 that was set off by the Envoys. I got an 8500 last Christmas and twice when I've pulled up behind an ambulance, I've had the LASER warning go off. Pretty loud and the first time I didn't even know what it was since it sounded so different.

Those times it has occurred, it's only been when I pulled up behind one of those vehicles at a light, so I was pretty close to them.

 

This is not another 8500 vs V1 thread is it?

I wish the 8500 people would be more honest when characterizing their product....how can you say a product does not false as much?

"I drove thru the back roads of Kansas for 300 miles and had no false alarms with my V1 at all?" Well duh, there's nothing to false alarm in BFE Kansas!

Are the 8500 owners telling us that the when you pull up behind a late model Envoy with brake lights on and your Escort or Passport or wtf they call it these days is right up in the Envoy's ass, you get no alert at all? Because if you don't, I would be worried.

 

Did you read my post? If so, then you need to read it again 'cause I said that my 8500 DOES go off.

As for the 8500 not falsing as much, I'd have to agree only if you leave it in "AUTO" mode. I think other reviews (regardless which was labeled the best detector), have mentioned that the 8500 falsed less than the V1, but that's another post.

 

The 8500 does false less. I have had both a recent build V1 and the 8500 on opposite sides of my windshield on a 300 mile Florida interstate round trip. The V1 went off on most cell towers while the 8500 didn't. With real police radar they are about the same with the nod going to the 8500 for a few seconds more warning at interstate speeds. My .02 cents!

 

You can't test detectors side-by-side (or across the windshield). They will interfere with each other.

 

100% not true. When they are less than 12 inches apart they probably interfear with each other. On opposite sides of the windshield they do not interfear with each other. Both ESCORT and Valnetine have gone to great lengths to atenuate their super hetrodyne circuitry's transmission. 10 years ago you could make that statement, but not today. And by the way it is the Valentine that has the problem when placed less than 12 inches from the ESCORT. The V1 stays in constant alarm mode. The ESCORT does not seem to be bothered by the Valntine when placed that close. At least it doesn't alarm like the Valentine does. However, I'm sure the units reception would be effected when placed that close.

 

It says specifically on the Valentine Website that you CAN’T do this.
I am pretty sure the Car & Driver test has this noted as well.

Shawn S

 

EM waves do not attenuate quickly in air. 12 inches or 12 feet, there is still interference.

The ESCORT is not bothered by the Valentine because the Valentine puts out less interference.
here....
"The Valentine was invisible to the VG-2 detector detector, and it also didn't set off other detectors. "
http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caran..._valentine.xml

 

Of course it says that on the Valentine web site. Mike doesn't want a side by side comparison when his unit comes off a bit worse. If his unit came off better he'd be encouraging it! I've actually done the opposite sides of the windshield experiment and the 8500 is a tick better under these conditions. That is why my g/f has the V1 in her car and I have the 8500 in my CLS.

 

OK...You keep telling yourself that.

Explain to me then why he tells you to buy both and return the one you don’t like within the 30-day trial period.
That’s a pretty confident statement if you ask me.

Shawn S

 

Granted, it is a confident statement. However, consumer reports studies have shown that consumers rarely return after a 30 day trial. Once a purchase is made the consumers stick with it. If a vendor like Valentine Research knows that fact going in it's easy to make a statement like that. Lays potato chips says, "No one can eat just one". Are you going to call them on that one? Another one is "satisfaction guaranteed?" How many times have you taken advantage of that? Consumer reports also reports only 30% of consumers take advantage of mail in rebates. It's hard to purchase anything at Best Buy anymore without a mail in rebate. Yet only 30% of consumers take advantage of that.

 

If I have two detectors worth 700-dollars sitting on my credit card, you’re DAMN right I’m going to decide within the 30-days which one I want.

That’s quite a bit different then that 5-dollar rebate from Best Buy that you speak of.

Shawn S

 

That means nothing. Passport has the same trial period.

This is becoming a Passport vs. V1 arguement that will go nowhere.

 

OK, either get this topic back on track or I will close it and someone can start up a topic about V1 vs. Passport for the one thousandth time.....

BTW, my V1 does false on Envoys/Trailblazers as well. Since Laser really isn't used too much around me, I don't worry. Plus... I can usually see the culprit up ahead, so I know it wasn't a cop.

 

True.
Bottom line:

On a scale from 1-10.
The Valentine is a 10.....Passport is a 9.5.....Everything else is a 5 or lower.

Shawn S

 

Fair enough. Only I would reverse those numbers. 8500 = 10 V1 = 9.5. BTW I didn't mean to turn this into a Valentine vs ESCORT argument. I was only relaying the information from my own presonal windshield test.

 

Yep, I read it. That's what prompted me to post.

How is it that YOUR 8500 goes off false alarm on the Envoy but the other member's 8500 does not?

All of the V1 members attest to YES it goes off. We don't have a problem with admitting it but some of the 8500 owners are still sticking to their story. And maybe it doesn't go off for them because of the angle or the quality control of 8500s or those aren't really Envoys or whatever.

So my point was "if it has never happened to you (8500 owners) how can you attest that you are immune to this (false laser alerts) and that your counterpart V1 are succeptible?" That's all, wasn't try to start another V1 vs 8500 war.

 

The V1 went off on most cell towers, huh? You're kidding, right. C'mon man you're loosing credibility here. There are thousands of those things all over. C'mon dude. Ok, Sprint is K-band, Verizon is X-band, ATT is Ka band, and Nextel was Laser, right?

Just for the record my friend, my V1 has never alerted on a cellphone tower and I've had my V1 since October 2000. Get a non-broken V1 and make a fair comparison already.

 

Can't explain why others say it doesn't. Maybe they haven't found themselves behind a late model Envoy, I don't know. All I can say is that mine does go off, and since I didn't know what my LASAR warning sounded like, the first time freaked me out. The 8500 give a full volume alert for LASER as opposed to the graduated warning for RADAR, because of the seriousness of the threat.

 

For laser, so does the V1 (there's no graduation). But it can be muted.

 

Yes my V1 goes off on cell towers. It also goes off on the stronger airport radar. There may be thousands of cell towers, but they do not all transmit at the same strength. The stronger transmitting cell towers will set off my V1. I've seen it time and time again. There is one spot on the way to work where I can be travelling along at 80 mph and tell you exactly when the V1 will alert. The only thing transmitting within 10 miles of this spot is one lone cell tower. FYI it doesn't matter what band anything RF is transmitting in, if you pump it out strong enough it'll saturate all bands within a given distance. Any receiver, including the V1, will be effected by it. Now, roll your eyes at those facts!