There is no substitute for a CB radio.....I know, you have to put up with a bunch of jibber-jabber but it's a small price to pay for knowing where the "Bears" are 20 miles before you get to them. I also know if there are any rolling in front or behind me. Has saved my a$$ on MANY occasions. I drive a lot between Ohio and North Carolina so to me this is the best option. A radar detector , in my opinion is for surface streets where a CB then becomes in-effective.
Get him both and Ya got it covered for ALL situations.
I don't especially like the CB antenna on my truck so I use a Mag Mount and pull it off when not traveling.

 

Go to www.valentineone.com this detector sets the stardard. Don't believe magazine bias and hype. What other detector gives you info like how many and where they are. Magnesium case no cheap plastic. They are also programable I turned my X band off so the falses would stop. No one uses X down here. LASER detection is essentially useless because it reads your speed 70 times in 1/3 of a second. Mike Valentine made the Escort name back in the 70-80's before he left on his own. I buy them from Mike for 400 not 499??? All of my friends that have ridden with me have bought them too even my old man runs one on his sport bike and truck. I drive a 98 C-5 Vette 94K miles on it including high speed runs to Daytona 3 times in 12-14 hours 1350 miles each way average was 100+mph through 5 states, To Road Atlanta twice 8 hours 100+ average. The only tickets I recieved were instant on "which you can't beat" and LASER before I got my LIDAR jammer. I average less than one ticket per trip and it has been for low speeds like 85, 81 etc. Of course the Vette is a hard target to begin with. I bought another setup for my new L with no tickets, knock on plastic. I previously owned every detector made Escort, Passport, Bel 745STi, 830, 580 & 936W, Cobra TrapshooterII, K40, etc. I use the heck out of mine as you can see. I also have a perfect driving record. I usually get a ticket a year or so for small crap and mail it to the ticket attny with $45. ANy questions ask, I closely follow Speed Measurement Laboratories studies on detectors and active jammers for both LIDAR and radar. If you haven't heard Rocky Mountain Phantom and other products are all passive and do not work.

 

Ok, OK, I could not remember... it was $399.00. It IS worth $499.00.

Jerry

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Jerry Jordan
99.5 Red Hot Bolt
13.303 @ 101.64(stock F1 tires)
PSP filter and chip
chrome SVT wheels
Impulse Lo-Pro bed cover
94 Firehawk #295 black
71 Cutlass conv.
Piper PA28-235
74 Suzuki TS185 (128 original miles)

 

60 minutes and other news groups have tested the RMR crap. They always decline interviews and for tests everyone has to buy it as a cutomer to test it since they never offer a model. Speed LAbs has a video series I bought they call it jammer wars, and radar tests. The Phantom RCD by Stealth tech. worked on X and K band. They ran Phazer and other RMR products and had no effect just a waste of batery power. Its your money but their research is highly credible. I forget their exact addy I think it is www.speedlabs.com ?? Speed measrement laboratories in Ft Worth TX.

 

How many use a radar and think they keep you from getting tickets and how many think think they cause more tickets? Are they worth listening to all the time? Are they a good gift to a person that drives an L or other high performance vehicle? Im thinking about an escort 8500...is it worth 299.00? It is a gift to a 20 year old male who drives a silver L. Does this gift keep him out of trouble or put him in more trouble? Whats Best?

 

Get a Valentine, they are the best. I drove across Country in a Very fast 67 Camaro on Hot Rod's Power Tour and the Valentine probably paid for itself 3 times. The rest of the time it is in my Lightning.

 

I'm a 62 yr. old male who drives an 01L. i also have an escort 8500-hard-wired to 12v. behind the rt. kick panel. buy it-get one, even if it just keeps him honest. btw, i think/know that a cb radio can be even better at keeping him out of trouble with his L. yeah! you guessed it--i've got both in my silver lady.

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2001 Lightning, silver, escort 8500, ranger 2950dx dual band radio, wilson 2000 ant., bot/picked up on 05/08/01, 1997 f150 xlt 4.6L 4x2 with: a/f one fipk, superchip, optima battery, bbk 75mm throttle body, edelbrock ias shocks--2001 lightning to come(she came--see above)

 

Leonard Embody-
Do you have a bigger pic of your truck? I've never seen an L with a topper.

 

I have tried it both ways. Having a detector tends to make one overconfident. I no longer use one, I stick to the average traffic flow and receive less tickets as a result.
Steve M.

 

The V-1 is $499.00 and worth every penny! These things have to be used as a TOOL just like your eyes and ears. In traffic you should NEVER get a ticket with one. If there is no one between you and the Cop....just pull over and be nice.... yes Sir, no Sir!!!

Jerry Jordan

 

100% agree with Jerry!!!
Valentine1 is worth its weight in gold...
However, I always run with traffic flow and try to get a 'rabbit' in front of me and leading the pack (hopefully a guinea-pig that will be caught ahead of the rest of us).
I also tend to stick to the far right lanes and not the left lanes.
I never exceed 10 miles over the limit when driving alone or I am asking for it!
Good luck

 

l8 apex: who does your pit stops("100 mph+ for 1350 miles, etc"), jeff gordon? just running on I-85 getting to road atlanta, would blow your average.

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2001 Lightning, silver, escort 8500, ranger 2950dx dual band radio, wilson 2000 ant., bot/picked up on 05/08/01, 1997 f150 xlt 4.6L 4x2 with: a/f one fipk, superchip, optima battery, bbk 75mm throttle body, edelbrock ias shocks--2001 lightning to come(she came--see above)

 

Knock Knock, permission to enter from the H-D room...
My advice? save your money...But if you have deep pockets: Jerry, Gato, and smanseau summed it up. It's a tool. Use it wisely, read the terrain, think like a cop...where would YOU hide to shoot the beam. Run in the middle of the pack, avoid fast lane changes, use turn signals, don't draw attention to yourself. If you are blasting down the pike at 90 and the beam hits you, ain't no way to avoid that. The detector should give you some warning from what's ahead, but beware of outside signals. Detectors are illegal in Virginia, but I'll get set up, and only beam every 3 minutes or so..that way if there is a detector out there, he will get pass me when I fire again. I don't miss many...
VASCAR? Doesn't emit, so no warning. The timer is no larger than a stopwatch.
CB? heck, I'll get on an interchange and run around it for a few minutes and then hide, and listen. CB sounds like there is a task force out there, and it was only me.
Best advice....keep it only 10 over, don't know anyone who will bust you for that. We'll get the knucklehead behind you with the Honda, loud pipes, stereo, weird lights, and all those decals (still trying to figure out why you want a spoiler for back pressure when you have front wheel drive...doesn't that make you lose traction?)
Motor safe!

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'01 HD SCrew
all options but power rear window
plate "2HAWGZ"
'97 H-D FLHR, wrecked (recently customized by Bambi
'92 H-D XL-1200 Sportster
'72 H-D Xl-1000 Ironhead
'82 Honda CB650 (something to leak oil on the floor)


"There is no hunting like the hunting of a man and
those that have hunted armed men long enough and
liked it, never care for anything else thereafter."
E. Hemingway

 

I tried both Passport 8500 and Valentine V-1 for about a month. Both have their plus and minuses.

8500 had better false signal filtering and a better case. V-1 had better detection range on some of the radar bands and a better remote diplay unit.

In the end, I returned both units. In the city, I think they are pretty useless. You end up getting too many false signals. On the highway, I think a CB works better than any radar detector.

------------------
Rzk
01 Lightning B.U.F.F. - Bedrug, JDM flip, oil catch can, POS loose brake pedal - courtesy of Ford.

 

I spent two hours on that I-85 loop one time. Ruined my run, I thought it would be faster to take the loop than go through down town to head north, NOT! That experience made me appreciate Dallas traffic. Georgia is beautiful to drive through. I topped out the C5 a few times on the way home around 176 or so. Talk about wind noise, it sucked a window out of the track one time that was scary. Most old detectors out range the new models. To satisfy the customer complaints about "falsing" the builders turned down the sensitivity to alarm less and make owners happy not to perform the best. It is hard for an individual to confirm a false in the city. I have looked for weak falses and found a poilce station three streets over with units on or openers, alarms. It takes some patience to run a detector in the city. Now LIDAR is the big thing in Dallas over 100 guns in the metroplex. I bought a M10 Blinder to handle them.