You go the speed limit and speed???

 

Just a bit of sarcasm....

I was in a pissy mood when I wrote that post due to encounters with seemingly every idiot in Middle Georgia being on the road with me that week. Many had detectors hanging from their windshields, and all could not drive for crap. I also got a nice shiner on the front of 2 of my vehicles from those idiots cutting me off...... At least if you're going to speed or cut people off, stay in the lanes and don't weave off into the shoulder, kicking gravel into the car you just cut off.

Yes, this is a gross over-generalization of speed detection device users, but what I was trying to point out was that people need to learn how to drive before they try to go faster.

 

I have the Passport and use in it combination with the Blinder Laser Jammer System. Very satisfied with the dectector and the Blinder (Installed Correctly) is almost as much fun as my cell phone jammer in the movie theatre =)

 

I had several detectors before investing, yes, INVESTING in a V1 years ago and have upgraded it and wouldn't trade it for a thing, and if you think it's too expensive, how much is that speeding ticket on top of the price of a detector that didn't protect you from said ticket?

Enough said.

No opinions on jammers, I'm the sporting type and have paid a few tickets, that I earned...fair is fair...btw, instant on RADAR, with nobody in front of you for you to catch their spray is the worst, and what bagged me both times...

 

I have not heard much about the Passport 9500i.
I bought one and plan on hard wiring it in the next few days.
Anyone else have one? I think it has been great. I love that I can blocking out false alarms and it has saved me hundreds is possible fines (that is if I had been going a little fast which of course I wasn't if anyone is asking). It's fun playing Where's the Officer" because it does pick up waves long before I see them. It's got a heart stopper of an audible alarm when it sniffs Laser. It goes right to your nervous system and makes you hit the brake instantly -- major rush. Anyway that's my 2 cents.
Jim

 

No. But the 8500 is top notch, so I would expect the same from the newer, updated model. 5 years ticket-free and it's saved my bum on several occassions. It's more than paid for itself.

 

I have the 8500 and have been very happy with it. I did try the V1 but I preferred a few of the subtle differences the 8500 had. Both companies have a liberal buy it and try it policy. I suggest you buy both and return the one you like the least.

 

not true at all. you are in DCMM right? I'll put $20 on the table I can change your mind.

 

pretty sure laser jammers are legal in WA, not sure which other states allow it. I go with the flow, but I don't leave downtown without mine on, better to have an annoying beep to remind me to check my speed then a ticket that could hurt my career.
I've been using an escort x50 8500 and it's been pretty foolproof.

 

I wouldn't give up the directional arrows for anything either.

Just yesterday, I had one of those experiences you read about in the V1 testimonials. I was driving along a small two-lane freeway and got a radar hit at a place where I always expect to get one, since there's one of those permanent automated "Your Speed is XX" signs on the side of the road. but this time, the bogey counter was showing two radars instead of one.

Sure enough, right as I pass the automated sign, I get the "next to me" arrow and then the "behind me" arrow. But the "in front of me" arrow is still lit, and the bogey counter is reading "1". And right over the next hill is a cop with someone pulled over.

I wasn't speeding at the time, but it was still nice to know exactly what was going on. Mike Valentine is spot-on when he talks about the importance of "situational awareness".

 

Yep... arrows rule... today I was cruising on I-85... all of a sudden I started getting a weak-to-moderate KA band hit from the rear... I watched it for about a minute and it continued at about the same strength - from experience I could tell that it was definitely a LEO behind me, going in the same direction as me, and too far away (too weak) to be an immediate threat. There was light traffic - and on straight sections I could easily see all the vehicles in the 1/2 mile or so behind me... and none were LEOs... so I could choose to hit the brakes (which I would have done with any other detector) and let the LEO get closer (and keep me going slow for a long, long time unless he turned off or nabbed somebody else) or I could keep him hanging back there at the same distance, setting off my V1 and annoying me ... or I could choose to SPEED UP... I'll let you guess what I did.

No other detector gives you the information to have this situational awareness and make the most effective choice in this situation. V1 rocks.

 

I own a V1 and I agree with everyone as to its effectiveness and superior features. However, I'm totally impressed with their customer service. Recently, my 6 year old V1 stopped alerting me on K-band. I drive through several jurisdictions where K-band is still commonly used. So I packed it up and sent it in for repair, expecting to be charged for the service. Well, much to my surprise, it was repaired and shipped back 2nd day air at no additional cost. There was no invoice and my CC was never charged! If I had any other brand I would've been SOL for sure.

You get what you pay for!

edit: Actually there was a packing slip in the box with $0.00 so I know it wasn't an oversight on their part.

 

That sounds like something they do. Additionally, your detector was probably updated to the latest firmware, if they didn't replace the innards altogether.

 

My brother is a cop, he and I tested my V1 one night with a moving radar unit. I was always able to pick him up well before he got a reading on me.

I picked up on a CHP radar trap on I5 near Bakersfield and the V1 showed 4 radars ahead. I passed 3 CHP cars hiding near an overpass and then another about 1/2 mile further on who was writing a ticket for someone who didn't have a V1, yet.

I have disabled the X band, which no one around here uses anymore, but is always giving false alarms from who cares what.

I have also noticed that about 95% of my real contacts are in the Ka Band so I am considering disabling the K band too. It is nice to have the option.

I haven't run into a Laser trap yet.

I love my V1...

 

I run a V1, Digital Tunking Scanner and recently added a mobile CB to the mix after a good talk with a Trooper about it and being on a long cross country road trip (carried onehandheld in the boot as a safety measure for years, usually pretty easy for me to getout of cell range on a day drive and never know when something might happen).


As far as I'm concered I figure the more information you've got as a driver about the road around you the better. Never had a radar based ticket with a detector in the car, the V1 is basically invisible form the outside unless you know where to look and are close, the remote is in the dash . Scanner keeps me up to date on roadhazards (accidents in upcoming intersections is a big one in the winter when we get all our snow storms beats out any traffic reporter), CB when on the longhaul highway keeps some info on speed traps.

Between radar detectors I've used a Cobra in the past and seen even more in action, and with my personal experiance with it nothing out there can give the driver more specific acurrate advance information without being a permenantly installed unit. Any counter laser product is banned in my state so I don't dabble in any of that.

BTW I have gotten hit with lidar a few times, and recieved the scatter effect from vehicles ahead, only to watch traffic around nabbed when I adjusted myself to the alert, an experiance becoming more common with the V1.

V1 does its job hands down, it up to the driver what to do with the information from there.

 

I'd check out www.radarroy.com . He teaches police and other people all over the country how to use their equipment, and he's got some good info on different detectors, and which laser blinders are effective. He's got some good videos of proper installation as well. The laser jammers are illegal in va, and DC, but ok everywhere else (legislation hasn't caught up yet ).

 

he's not the most impartial source of info ya know

 

My wife bought me my V1 as a surprise present and i took the time to install it from the sunroof. For a week after i would be driving around and seeing cops and and the V1 didn't even blink??? I wondered if it was something in the install or the V1 was nothing but hype.....until. I was leaving work late one night(4 am) and the typical thing i do was, warm up the car a bit, Pull out on the feeder road get Wednesday up to 100 easy, brake, take the u turn at 70/80 feather up the gas until i hit the entrance ramp at 120, then slow it down and enjoy the drive home. But this night i start to turn in the U and the K band just blows up with a strength of 7 bars. The directional just tells me front, back, and side to side(????) I decide right there to slow it down and just enter the freeway normal speed. The V1 is still going crazy at this point. As i get on to the freeway i see ONE car WAY back there doing the speed limit just like me.(??????) So i cruse between 60 and 65, the whole time the car in question never over takes me and the V1 is still going berserk. I debated speeding up but i stayed put, until about 5 minutes and then the car behind makes his move. As he passes i notice that that indeed it was a cop and he was looking right at me. I think his radar told him some one in the vicinity was doing 100 and he knew it was me. He waited back there just waiting for me to slip up. The V1 really works.

 

I have owned my V1 for a number of years. I recently contacted them about upgrading. They were strtaight up and saide that there was an upgrade, but that it was NOT necessary, unless I wanted to spend the $$$. It has been a "savior" over the years. Detctors are illegal in Virginia and DC only. Jammers are illegal in most states.

It has been said earlier--you get what you pay for. Saying you a ticket is worth many $$ both i the cost of the ticket and your insurance costs.

Safe trip!

 

Opp my finger s were cold!

 

What the sales guy has a bias?

 

Nothing really substantial to add except what I ended up getting. An Escort 9500i and a Laser Interceptor.

The 9500i has been quiet but truly effective.

As for the LI, I've never ever been nailed by LIDAR but I couldn't resist the technology.

 

I currently own a Passport 8500 and have had no problems with it (except one I will explain now). I have been able to catch every cop, but like said before, it is like a cat and mouse thing trying to find the cops without the arrows. I'm thinking of currently selling my escort and buying a Valentine, and after reading this, I REALLY wanna do it now. I'm not sure how the Valentine really works, from what I've been reading it sounds like it's not mounted on the windsheild like other radar detectors. Where are good places to put it if you dont put it opn your windsheild??

Now the story. kinda funny if your the cop, but if your me, not so much ... lol

Last year I was driving down the Florida Turnpike on my way back home from school around 10am. I never go home so early but from some reason that day I decided that I wanted to get home early. On my way I uaually speed, going between 90-100 since i do have a long drive and it does make it seem a little shorter. I've had enough tickets to know more or less how cops think, so I already kinda/sorta know most of their spots and where to slow down. Between the exit before mine and my exit there is a hill, a long strip, another hill, then another strip then my exit. Usaully that first strip most people gun it. But for some reason I had a weird feeling that day so I slowed down to about 80 so that if there was a cop my rdar detector would pick it up and I would have time to slow down. I passed the strip, and was getting to the top of the hill and I still hadnt picked anything up, so I figured I'd speed up. Right then, all the cars in front of me started hitting their brakes. I slow down to 60, get over the hill and see about 10-15 FHPs ont he other side of the hill (towards the middle, near the median). So as I slow down I start moving to the right so that if they do have a laser or if they did happen to catch me, maybe I can get to my exit first lol . Right as I was shifting to the right, I was passing the FHPs, and one of them pulled out and comes up behind me impatient. (At this point my radar detector still hadn't picked up any frequency so I was kinda confused of what he was trying to do). I continued to drive speed limit and about 2 seconds later he turned his lights on. I pull over. The officer walks up to my car and the first thing he notices is my radar detector. "That's a nice radar detector you have there. Is it any good?" I looked at him and answered "Yea, its not bad, its been able to pick up a couple of things" (obviously trying not to hype it to much so that the cop doesnt decide to be an a**hole and give me a ticket.) He looked at me and asked me to step out of my car. Still confused , I did, but not sure why, I hadnt done anything wrong (not yet lol jk). When I got out he looked at me the said, "You might be able to catch some, but you cant catch them all" he points up at a plane "you see that? That plane clocked you at 82mph on the strip just before the hill. That long strip has 3 white lines on the floor that officers are able to see from the plane. From there they time how long it takes you to go from the one line to the next, and then calculate your speed." He looks at me and chuckles "Guess you couldnt catch us today huh?!" Then asks me for my liscense n registration and gives me a ticket. But in the end since I've had tickets from before I have an awesome lawyer and he got me out of it and I dont ever speed past that strip EVER anymore

sorry the story was so long lol

 

Of course you can mount the V1 on the windshield. In fact, its windshiled mount is better than most.

 

Nothing some white paint on a slow night wouldn't cure