I just tested these two units on a 600 mile round trip (Georgetown, Tx to Shreveport, La.). The data on www.Radartest.com is a lie! I put both units on my windshield 24" apart. The V1 picked up K and Ka band four to seven seconds before the Escort. That may not sound like much but at 80 mph how many feet do you travel in six or seven seconds? This was EVERY time on the Ka band and most of the time on the K band. The other times on the K band the units went off at the same time. I never got to test the X band as there were no Cops using it on this trip. I went through five Ka radars and three K band traps. When I was comming into Shreveport on I 20 near the rest stop the laser alert on the Escort went off. The V1 never picked up whatever it was (I never saw anything). The Escort had only one false alarm (on the Ka band), and the V1 had several on Ka and K bands. So all in all the Escort is a very good unit with a much better filter to keep down the false alarms, and it is $100.00 less money. But I'll take the V1 with the slightly better performance and the arrows to let me know where the the Cops are, front or rear and give my son the Escort.....still a very good unit @ $299.00.


Jerry

 

Wish you would have compared the Bel 980 also.Thats what I went with.RADARTEST said it was equal tp the Escort

 

Thanks Jerry. Makes me feel bad as I have an 8500 but as you say it still works good. I wish I had the directional indicator too.
noelvm

 

Anyone have a Bel 980, opinions on that unit?

 

I got my 8500 for $257 delivered. I'm very happy with the performance. A hundred dollar difference had me wondering about which one to get, but $143 made up my mind.

 

I used to be a Escort guy a long time ago....When Valentine hit the market, I swapped to a Valentine V1 a couple of years ago. Works great, High Price.. BIMHO, Worth every cent paid..

 

nt

 

Ive had excellent luck with MY Valentine. Besides being incredibly accurate, the direction finder is what sets it apart.

 

Hey, sounds like a good end-user comparison, but just note that radar detectors do not like to operate near each other. Even 24"... Valentine-1 has a whole writeup about this on their site.

It may have contributed to the V-1's false signals...

I own an Escort 8500, love it... V1's are nice too...can't go wrong with either.

Daniel

 

Jerry Jordan- i wish i had known you were in shreveport today..
i just got home from there. i dropped my truck off to get a new & improved intercooler..

i'm in monroe/west monroe.. are you gonna be in s'port long?

brooks

p.s. watch out for a 68-69 charger w/ viper rims on it.. it also has a viper gts? engine in it.
mid-low 11's.
he'll be on the cover of several mopar type mags, and at SEMA.

 

Noel, your 8500 is a very good unit and I agree if it had the arrows it would be equal.

Clonetek, I was only in Shreveport for 24 hours. Just long enough to drop a few hundred at the Blackjack tables and eat in one of the best restarants I know of (Jack B's in the Horseshoe). I left Sunday morn about 8:00AM.

Jerry