Last week at Carlisle my Sanyo Easystreet NVM-4070 and my Passport 8500 X50 got stolen. I was thinking about upgrading to the Valentine 1 - is it worth the extra $100-200? I'd like to hear from anyone that has one.

I'm also replacing the GPS with the same model, getting a DashDAQ and installing my 10" Windows XP Tablet PC.

 

**** did you have ur window open or or what?

 

No - it happened at the hotel while I was sleeping. Not sure how they got in, but there's a little bit of paint missing frm the inside f the door handle

 

yea its reallllly nice my friend has one and it even points to where the cop is coming from

 

LIDAR is getting used a lot more out here in California but I still wouldn't give up my V1. It's a great quality detector and their service and support is top notch if you ever need it years down the road.

As far as detection goes, both the Valentine and latest Passsport models are very close to the point of being almost identical on all RADAR bands. The main selling point of the V1 is the indicator count and direction arrows which I've found invaluable. After driving with them for nearly a decade now I wouldn't want to give them up. If I lived in a state with fixed speed cameras the newer GPS features in the Escort 9500 might be appealing but I'd probably just update my stand-alone GPS to warn me of them.

What I'd probably recommend is trying out the V1 since you've already used the 8500 and are familiar with it. Both companies offer a 30-day money back guarantee, so try the V1 and if it doesn't seem worth it and you liked the operation of the 8500, send the V1 back and get a Passport.

 

or what about those like rockymountain laser scrambler ones?
Or Valtine vs Escort?
Im looking into this also....

 

The RADAR "jammers" don't really work and are technically illegal in most states. They get away with advertising that they are "passive" devices that don't transmit but I have never seen much proof they work as well as advertised. On the other hand you can easily jam LIDAR since it's just an infrared laser beam and the FCC doesn't protect that light frequency, but many states still have a clause in their vehicle code that it's illegal to interfere with the law enforcement's speed measurement devices.

When it comes to the best of the best as far as detectors go, yes, it's the Passport or V1. Both are to the point you probably won't notice much if any performance difference on RADAR, so I'd shop mostly on features, design, price, service, etc.

 

YES... The V1 is the Ferarri Enzo of the the Radar Detector market. It'll run circles around the X50. I got one a few weeks ago and it was a huge improvement over my old detector.

If you want to save some money, call Valentine Research directly and ask to be put on a waiting list for a refurb unit (They're a brand new detector that was returned, usually from people who buy it for a family trip then return it after they're done). It'll knock about 10% off of the price. Insist that you be put on the list even if they say they don't have any available... it rarely takes them long to ship it out.

The V1 has two radar horns, one for the front, and one for the rear... so it will help cover your ass better (And god knows CHP love to shoot cars in the rear). It also has two lidar sensors to cover both the front and rear. The Bogey counter and directional arrows are also a nice feature to determine if you have multiple threats and to help you figure out if there is an officer operating in an area that normally falses from doors and other things.

 

I just farted.


Oh, yeah, get the V1.

 

Anything branded Rocky Mountain Radar is to be considered a brick and nothing more. They're worse than Cobra.

As far as jammers, you're only legally allowed to have a Jammer for LIDAR since the FCC doesn't regulate laser (The FDA has jurisdiction over Laser, and it hasn't bothered to ban laser interference). The blinder series of Laser jammers are pretty well regarded.

The so-called "Legal" Radar jammers are passive, and have been proven time and time again to be bricks... again, these are usually RMR jammers too... so it even further confirms my point.

If you want to risk the severe penalties of using an actual Radar jammer (They're stiff too... and it will be the Feds on your ass for it.) you'll have to either make your own or find the infamous Scorpion unit. On newer radar guns, the police WILL know if you're jamming the unit since the guns are programmed to disply "RfI" or something similiar to tell the officer that there is radio interference.

And another note: If you have an expensive radar detector, keep it out of the window in areas where it is likely to be stolen... ESPECIALLY the V1 since it sells for higher than the MSRP on ebay for a used unit.

 

I remember reading a review recently that was a shootout between the latest 8500 vs the V1. The 8500 had a further range - on a flat road they were picking up the faint radar signal from almost 10 miles away. the V1 was half that. My personal 8500 will pick up a cop over a hill and almost a mile away - plenty of time to slow down. On flat roads it gets annoying because I start picking them up from miles away... and end up hitting the mute button..

The other problem the reviewer noticed (by accident) happened when they left the radar detectors on in the parked car. The V1 has no thermal shutdown safety. It overheated in the car they left it in, but didn't show any signs of it - the way they noticed was it stopped picking up Ka band altogether.. not good considering most modern radar is Ka. Valentine did fix it quickly, but the fact there was no warning it didn't work anymore, when you found out it didn't work...... The 8500 has a thermal shutdown feature so that wont happen.

If you live in a state where radar detectors are illegal, the 8500 is truly invisible to the detector detectors. The V1 is fairly invisible, but can be detected from a reasonable distance. I drive through the VA/DC area every so often so that was important to me.

Also, the new 8500 with the GPS integration will "learn" the false alarms in the areas you drive. The more you drive in an area, the less false alarms you will hear. It also has a memory system so you can mark known speed traps (and has a database of known traps) to alert you you are approaching a known speed trap (or speed camera) before you get there.

Of course no radar detector will protect against rf-hold (instant-on) - you are just boned when you hear that full signal radar hit you... lol.

Something else to consider, due to the Doppler effect, cops that try to nail you from behind do not get a good signal. If you get pulled and ticketed after being tagged from behind, a good lawyer will get that crap dropped (or SERIOUSLY reduced) in a heartbeat in court. Think of it like how a car sounds as it passes you - that Doppler shift in the sound happens at the radar level too, since radar is really high frequency sound, it throws off the reading the cop gets. Same thing for readings taken from the side. The more of an angle the cop is at, the more inaccurate the reading will be (in your favor). To get it to stick properly in court, he needs to be as close to parallel as possible to you, as well as in front of you.

Just my .02. I researched the top radar detectors quite a bit before choosing the 8500.

As others have said most radar jammers are high priced junk...