I've had my V1 for about a year, and never gotten a ticket.
The V1 one has those awesome arrows, and gives incredible advanced warnings of radar - usually in excess of 1 mi. Laser is a different story... in normal traffic, you'd get a laser warning from all the cars and objects it's able to bounch off of. On a clear night road... the laser alarm means you just got shot.
Still, the best investment you can make if you're a spirited driver.
Forgot to mention: V1's also have POP protection against those "instant on" radars.

 

Interesting to know. I've only experienced it from the pointing view...

 

What about the Passport 9500 coming out in April? Sounds nice.

 

i did a little research and found that it is supposed to be almost to the V1's specs, but cost a little more. thats all i have found though.

 

Triggering or turning the radar on and off is called "instant on" and has been around a long time. All detectors can pick it up. The issues is that if you are the only one around when it is turned on, you get tagged before you can react. If someone is in front of you when it is turned on, you need a good enough detector to catch that so you can react before you are shot.

POP is instant on in a different type of mode that when it first came out was not able to be picked up by detectors. It is also not a mode that is supposed to be used in an instant on manner according to the radar gun manufacture. See the Valentine One page for more details.

It's important not to confuse these 2 modes of using radar guns.

 

With radar detectors, you get what you pay for. Anything less than the best will end up costing your more as you either give it false trust and it misses a radar, or they false so much you ignore it.

There are some new models coming out which give you a little bit more choice:

Valentine 1 is still the best for sensitivity and information overload. The nerd's detector. $400
Bel Rx65 and Escort Passport 8500 x50 are excellent, $300
Bel STi made from the ground up to be undetectable. Get this if you are in canada or a commercial trucker. $450
Escort 9500 takes an 8500 and slaps on GPS tracking; you can then tell it to ignore door openers etc that you know are false. $450

 

In my part of California, the CHP almost always use Ka band. I see very little Laser use. The CHP frequently (more often than not) run with their radar on all the time. I live in the county where the CHP also provide traffic enforcement on the city streets. Thus, I see CHP radar useage on the highway and city. The police in our area use Ka band. The sherrif's usually do not use radar.
I use the Escort 8500 x50.

 

Here's how I see it, I actually end up driving about the same speed regardless of whether or not I have one 95% of the time, however 99.9% of the time it gives me the piece of mind of knowing when I'm getting clocked, I really don't car about having an overly advanced warning because I'll be within 10 or MPH of the lmit or 5MPH slower than surrounding traffic. Where it does comein handy is some of my local small towns where officers will leave the radar on all the time in the middle of the night and stop to check paperwork @ 5 over, I know these towns and am on better behavior in them anyway, but it is kind of a reminder so I'm not stressed checking the local hiding spots.

Also there are some smal hills and turns in these parts, I've had radar signals be strong enough to out reach the lights on squad cars at night, so I can slow and move over long before getting to the officer, increasing officer safety, and that motorists around as there is more oppurtunity for me to safely move over. Think of it as another tool to monitor the surrounding conditions, no different that a back up camera or the strobe atop the traffic light warning of an approaching emergency vehicle in my mind. Just a tool that increases driver awareness in my own personal use.

Of course travel a few towns over and there are many areas officers are simply too busy handling calls and dealing with gang drug problems to really worry about having to take the time to run any speed enforcement, which is just a small part of the job for many (not all) departments anyways.

From someone who has seen both sides of it. My take on it, if you're going to buy a detector and do 12,15, 20 or more over expect to get the ticket anyways, because eventually you'll get stopped if not right away ( either through not paying atention to it or one of the other ways of determining speed (LIDAR, VASCAR, Pacing, stopwatch, instant on, etc.); but if you enjoy the piece of mind, using the other features (like compass, GPS the 9500 seems to have, Emergency Vehicle/Road hazard Warnings, etc.) or like the bling factor of it then by all means go ahead and get one. And FYI, most officers reduce tolerance levels when the see a detector, or will stop you for other minor equipment violations they'd otherwise be more relaxed with if they see one.

It's been over a year since I had a detector, when I did have one, never had a radar based ticket (one for pacing and I was passed by three cars as he followed me in an unmarked unit, but I was doing ~10 over so it was fair I recieve a citation), also ticket free without one, but I've been stopped for 4 over as well (let off with a verbal warning). No stops in 11 and a half months and no detector either, proper driving pays off and is much cheaper.

 

Good write up there Motor. For myself I would add that the detector actually helps me keep my speed down. I have a tendency toward speed creep, in which I gradually go faster until I may be going a tad too fast. I leave the X-band active so I pick up security systems in most banks, and lots of other businesses. It doesn't go off enough to be annoying but it does go off enough to remind me to slow down a bit.

One other thing, I know lots on here rave about the directional arrows on their V1's. I suppose that might be useful, but when my escort goes off I'm going to slow down whether I can see the police unit or not so I guess for me its not an important option. By the way my Solo also has rear detection.

 

+1 for the V1.

I've been using the Valentines for years and I love them.

GREAT service as well.

Check out their website: http://www.valentine1.com/

 

forget about all this 9500, v1 crap

just get a stealth passport, front and rear sensors, active laser and be done with it. no one will know its there and no taking it up and down to hide it.

 

And it does such a great job of pointing out the stopwatch

 

You received a ticket for ten over, when you were going slower than other traffic and three other cars passed you at the time, and you consider that fair?

That is the problem. The limits are imposed for profit reasons, not safety reasons, and they can pick out whoever they feel like.

 

The law said one thing I was over I was in violation of the law, its a pretty simple case. Yeah sure would have been nice if it was somebody else that had to pay for it, but it doesn't change the fact for that period of time I was in th wrong.

And the limit was there for a safety reason, just because you can drive a car at a certain speed does not mean it is safe to do so; under the majority of conditions, esp. considering the majority of drivers out there barely know the rules of the road let alone how to handle a car if they were to have a blowout at 80 MPH. And if that person was next to me and we were both doing 80, I could be side swiped by a car twice my mass before I even had the oppurtunity to take evasive action.

Besides it got me to slow down the rest of the trip and pick up signicantly better gas mileage.

 

I've been using Passports for years (I currently have both the 7500 and the 8500 X50).

I have tried the Valentine ONE and did my own comparison tests, and found BOTH Passport and Valentine to be about equal, sometimes one out-doing the other and visa versa (had them BOTH on my Window - tested them through high-radar use areas where I knew cops to be).

I stuck with the Passport only because of its looks and features (programability, etc.)

BUT, with either of these fine products, you have to LEARN how to use them, learn to understand the false readings from the good, and learn how to EVADE radar, not just be warned by your detection device that "you've just been caught."

-B

 

Guys, they are all basically the same. Radar technology is pretty stupid stuff. I don’t have any experience with the V1. I have the prior version of the 9500 Passport. In three years of doing some dumb tricks and a lot of highway driving, I have not received a ticket. They all work if you use common sense. They are not intended to be the panacea for bad driving. Just a reminder when you’re “accidentally” over the limit and there are radar guns pointed your way. Get a decent unit that works for your budget. And, remember the suction cups tend to go bad so make sure you have an extra set if you take the unit in and out of the car a lot. Happy Mini Motoring! Don't drive like my happy face!


Cheers,
DJDport66

 

all information about th 9500 is on the website. it doesn't seem like that big of a change (besides GPS.) I still don't like that they dont have the arrows (only a Valentine thing, I know) and a dedicated rear sensor (i think)

 

the GPS is kinda cool, but the key thing missing is really the arrows.

V1 is still the one that's a best match for me.

 

Took my first road trip with the V1 this week - about 800 miles of interstate round trip. It truly rocked. The level of "situatonal awareness" it gives you of what signals are coming from where is really awesome - completely different than any other detector I've had in the past where you just say "oh, there's some radar around here somewhere..."

I'll never give up the arrows.

 

Is there anything that detects the presence of any cop car regardless of the use of radar/laser devises on thier part? I want something that tells me if there is a cop within a mile. I've been stoped before because cops seem to think oversteer is out of control. I didn't even exceed the posted limit and I recovered the oversteer, no other cars were near me.

 

Just drop a doughnut every half mile or so. That will at least take care of the surprises from behind.

 

The Mark Location feature. In S.F. (and apparently elsewhere in the S.F. Bay Area), they have these traffic cameras at selected intersections. Some times you remember the cameras are at the intersection; when you are otherwise occupied (such as talking to a passenger), you may forget about the intersection having the camera. With the Escort 9500's Mark Location feature, you never have to remember whether the intersection has the camera or not.

The vehicle code says that you have the right to clear the intersection if you are in the intersection before the light changes to red. If you get a photo ticket, the burden seems to have shifted to you having to prove that you were in the intersection before the light changed. With Mark Location, you avoid the problem altogether. What is the saying - an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure????

 

The V1 for the Z06. Passport for the MINI, but the V1 is miles ahead of the Escort Passport.

 

At first I was very intrigued by the 9500. I love gagets and technology. After thinking about it, I realize the V1 is still the way to go. The GPS of the 9500 can be used for 2 things: 1. To block signals that you "know" are false, by location, and, 2, to tag locations to alert you whenever you are at that location (on the theory that you can be alerted to known speed traps. As to Item 1, a mute button can accomplish the same thing and you can still decide if there really is a threat or not. As to item 2, since you will have to know if the area is a "known" speed trap first, in order to program it, it seems a little silly. If you know it's a known speed trap, then you should be prepared anyway. Also, it will alert whether the trap is there or not. If you take the route regularly, you will soon condition yourself to tune it out. If there is a trap, the radar will alert you anyway. Soooo, while the GPS feature may not be totally useless, it doesn't match up to the superiority of the V1.