The Valentine 1 is the way to go. Don't know how many times I thought "Vinny" was lying to me ... and he turned out to be right every time. The upgrade program is nice too. Did you get the remote box? This is a nice option: you can mount the remote box in front of your speedometer so at night no one knows you are running a detector.

 

Boy you all must think cops are stupid ...ours are not...But at any rate most areas in Canada now have laws outlawing the use of detectors...The cops know if you have them turned on and can take them off your rig when they find them...If they find them in your rig even turned off they can take them...So be....careful out there...

 

You're right ConcreteGuy ... they are illegal here in Virginia too. That's why I carry a broken garage door remote with me (I have no garage). When I have been pulled over I quickly un-plug the radar unit from the visor and replace it with the garage door remote. When the cop gets to the truck all he sees is the remote on the visor. The radar unit is hidden in a secret space. This has worked well ... so far. Only been pulled over once because the guy behind me blew past me right as the cop came around the bend and the cop thought it was me speeding. I knew the cop was around the bend, but couldn't tell him how I knew he was there because the detector is illegal. Got off with a warning ... so "Vinny" is battling 1000.

 

...Boy you all must think cops are stupid ....... well, smart cops work for FBI.

 

...back to the subject, there's no protection against any laser radar guns, is it??? So, 1500 dollars for a radar detector seems to be little crazy. Plus, I see so many undercover cops on the road in the civilian,unmarked vehicles. They can issue a ticket easily, no proof of speed needed.
Anyway,it is all just about money. 150 dollars for a lawyer means nothing goes on your record.


Joe

 

Very cool...

Did I tell you I like the show Without a Trace...the FBI crew shown there are cool...Still its a Tough job coping with every badness people can think to do sadly...

 

Back when I was a soldier stationed at Ft. Huachuca, my boys and I called ourselves "The Tucson Rangers". That's because in order to do anything, typically, you had to head to Tucson. Hwy 90 out of Sierra Vista is farily hilly, but you can press it pretty good once you get past Huachuca City on up to I-10.

But, From Exit 302 all the way to the Alvernon Way exit in Tucson, I-10 might as well be called Autobahn 10. We'd be 10 and 11 cars deep rolling to Tucson at 110 - 120 MPH. I'd be in my Chevy Cavalier, steering wheel shaking at 110, rolling with my buddies who drove everything from Mustang LX 5.0's, to GT 5.0's, Camara RS 5.0, Sentra, Maxima, Beretta, Grand Am's & one Supra. Of course he GT & LX's could have left us, be we felt safety in numbers.

Anyhoo, they rolled one Sunday, and I didn't go. Neither did my friend Smitty who had a detector, and my partner Rooney had ETS'd with his detector, so 8-9 cars deep, they had no detector, just lead feet. Long story short, they began their dash towards Tuscon, and a cop in the 5.0 Mustang pulled over every-last-car. They all got tickets for 93 in the 65 (Cop gave them a break since we'd all just returned from Desert Storm). I was glad I didn't go that day. But, when they told me about it, my next purchase was my first radar detector, my 1991 Cobra Trapshooter.

Since that time, I feel naked if I'm driving a car/truck without a detector, so you can imagine, I'm looking forward to Tuesday, and the arrival of my V1.

 

I have/use an Escort 8500. Works great. Considered the Valentine One, but didn't want to pay the extra money and some reviews have said that it's actually too sensitive. I.E. going off all the time with no good way to shut it up like the auto-mute feature the Escort 8500 has.

For a laugh, if you want a real piece of junk, get one of those detectors/"jammers" from Rocky Mountain Radar. You couldn't jam toast with one of those!!

 

I have had the Escort 8500 and the Valentine One. I had the 8500 for about 2-3 years and I have had the Valentine One for about 9 months.

I really like the 8500. It gave false alarms, but for the most part it could sniff out the cops. It was stolen from me when my car got stolen. I had looked at getting the V1 first, but didn't want to pay the extra money and some websites rated the 8500 better. Well before my 8500 got stolen I thought about getting another for my other vehicle and I it was going to be the V1.

well since the 8500 was stolen and I went ahead and paid the extra money and got the V1. I am VERY PLEASED with the V1. I know for sure that the rear protection is a lot better with the V1. The front protection is just as good or better as the 8500. The great part about the V1 is the arrows. There is no more guessing about where is the radar coming from. Another great part is the bogey counter. I have passed one cop and started to speed up again and the bogey counter displayed 2 bogies and the most threating one was ahead of me. Wouldn't you know it another cop about 1 1/2 mile ahead. My detector let me know ahead of time to slow down. If I would have had the 8500 I am sure it would have alerted me, but like most people I would have thought it was still from the cop behind me.

I have gotten use to the audibles and can tell when there is a false alarm. It is mostly X band. I can turn the X band off, but I am a little nervous about it. Actually just typing this, I have decided to go ahead and turn the X band off. There is a mute on the V1 that actually works really good to me.

I have my detector hard wired in my truck so there is now wires showing and it comes on and off with the truck. Also if one day I happen to get pulled over I can unhook the wire in the ceiling and pull the unit down and put it in my center console with nothing showing.

If you are in the market for the best radar detector that can be taken out of the car and put into another one the Valentine one is really the best. They have a 30 day money back deal.

 

cia-agent,
I hear ya, lovely ride. I spent 10 days in march in new Fairfield hotel admiring a snow capped mountain.
My wife wants to divorce me,'cause since I came back I bitch about a weather in Chicago / every morning/ vs. Sierra Vista mostly sunny 85 daily forecast.
Anyway, I travel 320 miles one way every weekend to UP Michigan and every ticket I've got came from a laser gun....I am pretty safe in Illinois/80 miles 's ok/,but cheeshead cops in Wisconsin don't like Illinois speeders.

Joe

 

I have the V1, it is great, of course I would never run in my home state of VA "wink wink nod nod". When in the smart mode the number of false alarms is tolerable and it gives plenty of warning time to slow down. I have had it for 30K with no probs or tickets.

I don't buy into the detector detector scheme. 90% of the times a cop finds one its b/c he can see it. In a small town they are always looking especially when you are parked and not in the car then they wait until they see you on the road and find an excuse to pull you over. Or after you are pulled they see the unit in the car.

If you buy one, get the remote display and hide the unit, when it starts screaming, unplug it.

In my new f150 i have noticed that the rail bins are perfect for the V1. You would loose the laser ability but...
Then you could hide the remote display in the ash tray for a very clean prof. install.

The only downsides to the V1 is the $$$ and no remote sensors

 

Originally posted by 1depd
A couple of things with radar/laser detectors. Laser detectors don't work. The laser doesn't penetrate glass and they travel at teh speed of light. So unless you are going to mount it outside your car and you have reflexes as fast as the speed of light don't waste your money...

A radar/laser detector will warn you from direct signals but its main benefits are warnings from reflected signals off other cars which allow you to slow down and not slam on the brakes at the last minute when the detector suddenly flashes on. You're not supposed to floor it blindly like a bat out of hell alone with no other cars for miles in front or back. That basically would be like asking for a cop to write you a ticket. By the time you react to direct instant-on pulse radar or laser signal you might as well just pull over right then. A detector is a nice tool but you still need to use your head..

 

Well said...

 

Very well said is right on !!!...If you use your head you will not get a ticket...

 

For my money, the V1 is still the best thing out there. I swear by mine. You might want to check out what Car & Driver Magazine says about detectors out in the real world. They've selected the V1 time after time. By the way, the V1 is virtually invisible to VG1 (radar detector detector) used to sniff out if you happen to have one. Kind of a nice feature in certain areas!