...I too have experienced a laser shot, but not in the same situation... I git a laser spot about 2min from my house around the very same spot.. After using the Passport 8500 for a month the warning I get from that location is just an X band alert.. It's right next to a bank at a corner of a stop light.. However, where the hell is the V1 picking up this laser at that spot.. It reads the bank as a K band and then a Laser warning goes off briefly as I slow down to the stop sign.. It's a busy Chicago street so no cops are trying to zap motorist for a ticket.. Street way to congested for plp to be able to move fast anyway..
...My beef with the V1 still remains at why does it read most Walgreens automatic door openers and some banks as K bands.. The problem with that is that these places should only emit either an X or K band, not both.. I called V1 tech support on this yesterday and they agreed it should only shoot of one or the other.. I told them that my Passport 8500 reads those exact spots as an X band all the time and the V1 is consistent at reading it as a K band... The V1 pisses me off cuz K band may mean radar gun.. I am more relaxed at X band alerts cuz I haven't seen it yet by cops.. Especially when i get 2-6 bogies all with K band with a string of stores and banks on one block.. I can't tell tell if it's the banks or cops.... My P-8500 will go from X to K and it's usually on point with letting me know when to worry... So you guys must look into that....(Only K and Ka are used outside the Chicago metro area.. For anyone from Chicago here you'll know that they don't even use radar detectors in the city cuz traffic is too congested picking out the speeders.)
...I must say tho that the V1 does read some banks as an X band and some as K in (Advanced Logic mode) along the same daily path I take to work every day. Which makes it more difficult cuz the P-8500 always reads them all as X band which shows it's filtering may be a little better...
...The arrow alert have been somewhat helpful.. I found out that 2 bogie readings from the V1 is not much different from the P-8500 just keeping the alert signal on until ALL sources have dissipated. In other words, if on cop is 1/4mile behind the other the P-8500 will not stop the alert on the one cop it will continue sounding cuz it will most likely have picked up the other one too.. The V1's only special feature is letting you know if the source has passed you by, in the case of Instant on Radar where signals are intermittent.
....Someone else please experiment with another detector if you have one.. Don't look at the alert distance and stuff for now, but the band reading you get from the same source with different detectors. I still have my P-8500 and will take the $300 bite until I'm satisfied that this V1 will not make me grow grey hairs cuz it's K band alert happy.

 

You should take this post - exactly as it is written here and send it to the guys at Valentine.com and see what they respond with.

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CL-S #22,299 Black/Parchment/Nav, spoiler, door & fender guards, wood trim, PIAA 19169 & 9005, V1 w/remote, trunk & winter mats, no headers, no sway bars, no springs, no money!

 

I have a V1 and 8500 and use the 8500 in the CLS daily. My older V1 is in the wifes car.

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01 Silver 3.2CLS

 

Are you saying that you prefer the P-8500 over the V-1?.. What is your personal experience with the 2. Kinda unclear about what your point is for this subject. Any significant differences in how they work for you?

 

I switched to the 8500 for a few reasons. First saw it in a friends car, liked the function, style and what seems to be more accurate readings.

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01 Silver 3.2CLS

 

what about the bell 980 radar detector?? i got mine a few week ago. every time i try to used it , there's no cop out there to detect. so i still don't trust it just yet until i see it first hand.

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01 Silver S-type with navigation and spoiler..comtech springs/clear bra (3M)/viper 550 hf with remote start/35%tint/moda r6 w/ 225/45/17 bridgestone re730/more to come..

 

Speed....


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01 Silver 3.2CLS

 

The V1 was built for the freeways.
As I have said in the past, it “falses” a lot in the city.
The new units are MUCH better then the older ones were.

On my 9-mile trip through town to work, I get three or four “falses” each day.
I just keep it set to “Advanced Logic” and live with hitting the “mute” from time to time.
In PA, local cops don’t uses RADAR so an alarm while I’m driving at 40MPH in town means nothing to me.

I bought the unit for Interstate driving and it performs flawlessly there.

Shawn S


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Speed limits are for CARS and DRIVERS whose limits are easily exceeded !!!!!

2001 CL Type S - NAV - San Marino RED / Parchment - Spoiler - 35% Tint - Roof Visor - PIAA Lamps
GOLD Emblems & Grill - V1 w/remote - KICKER ZR-360 w/(2) 10" Alumapro Subs - Shine by ZAINO
For Pictures see: PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 V1 & SUBS

 

I think I can chime in on this one since I currently own the latest V1, briefly had the P8500, and used the old V1 for a couple of months.

Let me start by saying that the old V1 vs. the new V1 is a world of difference. Let's not even talk about the old V1 because there are problems there that are too long to get into.

I had the P8500 and I sent it back because I got a lot of false alarms with it. More than I was happy with. My unit may have been defective (got Ka false alerts) but overall, I don't think P8500 was a much improvement over the old Passport stuff. Much happier with the new V1 and there are now less false alarms, for me.

To address your question: It has been my experience that if a radar detector cannot determine exactly which band is present, it will default to ringing K-band. That being said, it is likely that a store that appears to be K is simply because the radar detector can detect it but cannot say for sure what band. This could be caused by a lot of things including other sources present, interference, weather conditions, etc. These are not really sophisticated devices and they do get confused (heh, just look at the V1 arrows). The V1 apparently does false excessively on K because the stock unit comes default with K sensitivity dumbed down. I turned my back up to HIGH since I feel that K usually means Cop. That being said, I get a few more K-alerts but nothing big. It is rather bad when I pickup a polluting detector, in which case sometimes I get a full K-alert sometimes.

I wouldn't try to argue the validity of the arrows or the bogies because I tried the same argument last summer and was dismissed. I know those gimmicks have their usefulness (now that I live with them day in and day out) but I still feel a savvy detector-user can work with it or without as the case may be.

Anyway, I've been to Chicago several times and my [old] detector is all but useless downtown, too much falsing. On the open road, on the freeways, in Kansas: most detectors work great. Not a big help to you but I guess you'll have to wait for some advanced technology to get your past all this falsing.

What's on the horizon? A method similar to fingerprinting. All signals have a unique digital signature. Wouldn't it be nice if your detector could capture the unique fingerprint of a particular situation and you could store [and suppress] that particular fingerprint. Every time you pass by the Post Office on 6th street and it reads that fingerprint, no alert; period. Connect your radar detector to your computer, categorize and manage your situations (by time of day, audio/visual alert only, 3 or more bogeys, front or rear, whatever). Traveling to a new city? Program to filter out alerts that are similar/very close/exact. Would you pay $599 for this unit?

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* 2001 Acura CL Type S * Blk/Blk * Navigator * Spoiler * Moonroof Visor * V1 *
* Since 3/31/2000 *
* Road Warrior *

* 500 posts on h/a.net *** 400 posts "insane poster" on the "old" acura-cl.com *

 

j_o_e_y,

You are running the newest version of the V1 aren’t you?
If the falses are that bad it almost seems like you have an older unit.

As Ken mentions, the V1 is adjustable to lessen the K-Band alerts.
See the Website for info on how to do this.
I didn’t do it because I would rather have a few false alarms instead of one missed real one.

Shawn S


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Speed limits are for CARS and DRIVERS whose limits are easily exceeded !!!!!

2001 CL Type S - NAV - San Marino RED / Parchment - Spoiler - 35% Tint - Roof Visor - PIAA Lamps
GOLD Emblems & Grill - V1 w/remote - KICKER ZR-360 w/(2) 10" Alumapro Subs - Shine by ZAINO
For Pictures see: PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 V1 & SUBS

 

I would definately pay for that... I actually suggested that to the Valentine Reps, but Valentine is not gonna bother making those changes cuz of cost probably.. There are only 2 of them that answer the phone a lady or a man and the lady seems more knowledgeable then the guy and they claim they are testing a p8500 right now... I've had my V1 for 5days now and the reps said I have the latest upgrade. Is there a way to remove the k-band default on the V-1.. I would imagine that the P8500 has a better filtering process since all X-band reading have come from banks, stores, etc...What troubles me still is that the V-1 reads 3 out of 4 Walgreens stores as a K-band and one as X which means it can discern what the true band one of them is... About the bogey count..5 Bogeys around a Walgreens close to a bank means trouble for these reasons. V1 sais that an automatic door opener will probably increase the bogey count with every pulse which means you never know if one of those added numbers could be the real deal.. Now, if it did that with X band at least I'd know they are all coming from the stores and banks.. but when you have a K read with arrows flashing up, sideways, and down all at the same time with a 6 bogey count next to a Walgreens and a Bank and shopping plaza how da hell can you tell if One Time is lurking somewhere around there.. The P8500 would only give you a solid X band read at that place and flash to a K if One Time rolls by... The one other nice feature that has be bothering with the V1 is the rear detector.. My p8500 stops as soon as the cop rolls by me, but the V1 continues until they're at least 300yds behind me. So if any of you guys can figure out how to program the V1 to knock off the K band default, if that's what it really is, please let me know.. That is the dumbest Idea since the point of improving radar detectors was to reduce the amount of false alerts.. Which is what the V1 reps sais they are working on doing now... So all in all, there is truly a false alert issue with the V1 and P8500 did what it intended to due a reduced false alert unit with ranger close enough to the V1 to compete.

 

Here is the link to the V1 site that shows you the way to program the unit.

How to reprogram V1...

SHawn S


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Speed limits are for CARS and DRIVERS whose limits are easily exceeded !!!!!

2001 CL Type S - NAV - San Marino RED / Parchment - Spoiler - 35% Tint - Roof Visor - PIAA Lamps
GOLD Emblems & Grill - V1 w/remote - KICKER ZR-360 w/(2) 10" Alumapro Subs - Shine by ZAINO
For Pictures see: PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 V1 & SUBS

 

ShawnS & Ken --
When you are talking about the version of V1, you are referring to the "software" version, right?

 

Both Software and Hardware.
They update the units every so often to offer increased range, better filtering etc….
After a major hardware upgrade, there may be several versions of software for it.

Shawn S


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Speed limits are for CARS and DRIVERS whose limits are easily exceeded !!!!!

2001 CL Type S - NAV - San Marino RED / Parchment - Spoiler - 35% Tint - Roof Visor - PIAA Lamps
GOLD Emblems & Grill - V1 w/remote - KICKER ZR-360 w/(2) 10" Alumapro Subs - Shine by ZAINO
For Pictures see: PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 V1 & SUBS

 

Shawn, I believe the K-band sensitivity on the V1 has two setting: lets say low sensitivity and high sensitivity. Like you said, I prefer high sensitivity which means you may get a few more alerts but at least you'll maximum K-band range. Checking the chart and my default setting, out of the box my V1 unit was set to K-band low sensitivity. Why it is like this, I'm not sure.

joey, if the V1 continues to beep after you pass the patrol car and the P8500 stops beeping, to me that indicates that the V1 is more sensitive (at that point) than the P8500, no?

With increased range, you'll get increase sensitivity and more falsing. For many years I complained about this with a lot of detectors I used. Nothing is more annoying than false alerts (my 20 mile commute to work had over a dozen falses). The new V1 is the first unit that I've used that cut this back to two or three. P8500 as I tested continued to false quite a bit.

I hadn't thought about that concept; each pulse may add to the bogey count. It is frustrating to drive thru and area and the bogey count reads 5 one day and 3 the next day and 1 on most days and still no cop in sight. What good is that? I believe you can manipulate the bogey counter somewhat to your liking, otherwise you just get used to it and rely more on audio. If V1 comes out with another upgrade, I'll get it.

I will never buy another Passport again. P8500 was the last straw, after about 9 models in the past.

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* 2001 Acura CL Type S * Blk/Blk * Navigator * Spoiler * Moonroof Visor * V1 *
* Since 3/31/2000 *
* Road Warrior *

* 500 posts on h/a.net *** 400 posts "insane poster" on the "old" acura-cl.com *

 

get yourself some army netting!
j/k
http://www.indybbs.net/civic/NonCGI/...ML/000454.html

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2001 Acura CL Type S, black/ebony, spoiler, 35% tint, V1, comptech springs, weather mats, piaa19170-doors, piaa19169-road lamps, pia19168-map lights
aim:silvn1
goldn1

 

The word that I got from Valentine is that the P8500 is wrong in reading the door openers as an X band.. I spent an hr with this lady trying to argue the fact that in testing the V1 and p8500 that the V1 reads the same source as a K where the P8500 reads it as an X.. The one argument I presented to her was that If the p8500 is “wrong” it is consistently “wrong”.. For example: the p8500 will read 4 out of 4 walgreens doors with an X band.. The V1 will read those exact same 4 walgreens doors with 3 K bands and 1 X band.. So there is something wrong here.. I figured if the p8500 has a problem reading a K band door then why would it miss all of it.. I tested this out to see if it actually read any K band door as a K band.. and it DID!!! Moreoever, it is very consistent in reading the doors as X or K band, but never both as the V1 does.. The V1 tech told me that maybe the source maybe coming from somewhere else that’s why I’m getting the wrong band reading from the p8500. She told me that I am way too concerned about what band type that I’m reading from the door openers.. I let her know that I’m in a Metro Chicago area and that having to stretch my neck out consistently cuz this thing keeps beeping K bands is very stressful.. the p8500 makes my drive very comfortable cuz it goes X band crazy and when the real macoy comes along it never gets it wrong cuz it shows the strong K or Ka band. I also asked her about a multiple arrow count and dual band readings, how do I know what is real… Like me sitting at a stop sign and I have K and X band on, 6 bogey count and 3 arrows flashing, but it always different count in the exact same spot.. But never encounter a fuzz around that corner.. It’s like when do you know when the real thing happens.. That exact same spot only gives me a weak X reading with the p8500 and I think only one time the fuzz has rolled by and the K band alerted.. I don’t understand why V1 peope don’t think that releaving stress is one thing that they’d focus on.. Having the V1 has literally stressed me out big time cuz I do have a lotta cops around using K band but 9 out of 10 reading I’m getting from my V1 is coming from the damn doors opening.. And by the way she told me not to mess with the sensitivity level. I’ll ownly screw myself from all the k readings.. Sensitivity level has nothing to do with discerning what is a door and what is a cop gun. That is to be left with fingerprinting technology as alluded by Kensteele but we’re a bit ways from that.

 

j_o_e_y,

It sounds like you’re just not happy with the V1.
If you’re still within the trial period, send it back and keep the 8500, which you seem to like better.

I’ll say it again; the V1 was built for the interstates, not for accurately counting automatic door openers at Walgreen’s.

Shawn S


------------------
Speed limits are for CARS and DRIVERS whose limits are easily exceeded !!!!!

2001 CL Type S - NAV - San Marino RED / Parchment - Spoiler - 35% Tint - Roof Visor - PIAA Lamps
GOLD Emblems & Grill - V1 w/remote - KICKER ZR-360 w/(2) 10" Alumapro Subs - Shine by ZAINO
For Pictures see: PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 V1 & SUBS

 

Amen my V1 Brother...



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Silver CL-S w/ Navi, Spoiler, Wheel Locks, Trunk Tray, 19169, 9005
Toyo 235/45ZR17-97W* T1-S Proxes on Stock 17" CL-S wheels

 

That's funny... That lady said the same thing about me being too busy about the damn walgreen door signals *LOL*.. I'll probably just turn it off in the city and back on when i'm on the rural roads... I'll probably end up keeping the V1 anyway.. Never know when I'll take trip outa town again..
....I have to add that the V1 acted extra weird today. I had a really week K band alert follow me on this expressway for about 8 miles.. The alert was coming in pulses every 30secs or longer. This is the same expressway that i take every day by the way never gotten this.. The arrow was pointing behind me for the record.. Conditions were thick fog. I thought a trooper was following me but i couldn't see cuz it was too dark and foggy.. Scariest detector experience i had considering i was going about 80mph on a 55mph road for a good 8 miles and the damn radar followed me the entire time. Took a chance and gunned it to outrun anyone that might have been zapping me from behind. If it was a trooper i think they couldn't catch up with me and the signal only got as strong as 2 LEDs. Nearest car behind me was at least 1mile, left them in the dust. It did stop after traffic slowed down a bit and then i burned rubber before what ever it was could get close to start zapping.

 

Joey, I'm trying to help you understand this whole deal but I'm finding it very difficult to understand what's bugging you. In fact, I'm having a hard time following you.

I, too, initially doubted the veracity of the V1 but later I learned it wasn't a V1 thing but technology and the idiocyricies of radar and the frustrations of instant on radar.

P8500 has a digital frequency readout. Are all the Walgreen's frequencies showing on the same frequency (e.g. 1015.9 or whatever)? I really think it is unfair to compare radar detectors based on their reactions to false alarms. If radar and speeding is stressing you out, don't speed. I find your description of your last incident rather bizarre. The detector is suppose you help you avoid being ticketed, not flee from the police.

In any case, you shouldn't mess with changing all those settings (as suggested by the rep) unless you know exactly what you are doing. Which means, don't.

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* 2001 Acura CL Type S * Blk/Blk * Navigator * Spoiler * Moonroof Visor * V1 *
* Since 3/31/2000 *
* Road Warrior *

* 500 posts on h/a.net *** 400 posts "insane poster" on the "old" acura-cl.com *

 

That is all true, but really check is that these units are intended for those that want to have the ability to adjust their speed if the road environment is clear and safe enough without infringing the saftey of other drivers or pedestrians.
.....I use to have to drive speed limit for 4 months because I was on a court supervision for a traffic violation. This traffic ticket was given to me because i was going 20mph over the speed limit on a 55mph road in the evening with no one withing 3 miles in front or back of me.. The trooper clocked me going the opposite direction and made a quick turn to follow and stop me.. It took about 5 months to get my driver's license back and I was mad that he was concerned about my speed when no one else was on the roads.
...In other words, V1 and every other manufacture has their units out for those situations when u're on the open road.. They may state that they don't advocate speeding, but they don't certainly think it shouldn't be done regardless of calculated judgement and rational. Like rushing to get home cause you think you left the stove on or late for a plane flight... Nevertheless I enjoy having a radar detector now.. I just want comfort and peace of mind when driving. The strange thing is that I did less head turning with the p8500 which didn't even have arrows then I am with this V1. Performance wise (range) they fair closely to each other. I can not discern from the K and Ka beeps in the V1 at all. The V1 lab testing data shows it is really close to high end because it has the ability to pick up almost every beam bouncing out there. But then again not cool if you're in a luxury car and want comfort in your daily drive. This thing is probably good for an armor tank *LOL* where u want to know where every signal is.
...You must imagine driving and hearing the K band go off every block is very nerve recking. But when you only see about 1 patrol car every 5 blocks but get about 10 alerts before reaching them makes your trip is very jittery. Especially knowing that cops may not use radar in a congested metro area, but there's the chance they could.
...So to put this discussion to end, the major problem lies in the K band.. The V1 tech agreed that K bands have become a prevalant today because when they designed this unit almost all door openers operated on a X band. Now they tell me all new door openers are on a K band.. The majority of patrol cops in the outlying suburbs of Chicago operate on a K band and few on a Ka band. There are several of them in the suburbs and they always have their guns on.. The city cops rarely ever use their guns because it's too congested and they got bigger things to worry about. With that being said, where K bands from doors are greatly out-numbering the Radar guns 1-5 things makes the V1 very active. Now the problem is that somehow the escort people realized that this is a problem.. Their unit is reporting the majority of K bands alerted by the V1 as X band. But 100% of the time it is correct at alerting the K and Ka band of cops. So the K and Ka band of the P8500 is sensitive and has shown me great range on detecting those bands. Also, the p8500 does detect K bands from other sources, but they are only from a few banks here and there. It is consistent at notifying the same band for stationary sources like banks and door openers. I get about 3 K band readings in a busy city road even and they've all come from banks and not Walgreen door openers or garage door openers. This is my point. The same path taken with the P8500 and the V1 has significant differences. I can throw caution to the wind with the p8500 because the few K and Ka bands that I do get are about 13% banks and 87% Cops. With the V1 it is about 92% doors and banks and 15% cops.. Now these averaged percentages only reflect the alerts on my daily drive and not the ability for those units to pick up radar. Although these numbers do vary daily, the stationary sources are about 100% consistent with the p8500 and about 70% consistent with the V1.
...Now looking at those results if Valentine Reps tell me that the p8500 is picking up false signals consistently, but they can't answer why their unit is picking them up correctly with only about 70% consistency then something is wrong here. So is too much sensitivity and performance that good.. We all know that actual Radar guns emit a very strong signal when it is threating so are we sacrificing anything by having a unit that is less sensitive? I personally don't think so because a strongly emitted signal aimed at your path will give you about the same reaction time to adjust speed. I do plan on keeping the V1, but will continue to hassle the Valentine techs and tell them why they haven't addressed the problem of door openers being a problem for their unit. Escort apparantly has a better fix for it, but Valentine sais Escort is wrong.. So far I haven't seen it. False alarms (as identified by the human eye) is far less frequent with the p8500 then the V1.