After much research I just purchased a Beltronics RX65. I'll be hard wiring this to the auto-dimming mirror wiring. I'm thinking about placing the device right under the rear view mirror.

Where do you have your detector located? Any pics would be great!

Thanks,
Mellow

 

I got tired of dealing with the suction cups and just velcroed my
Passport to the dash, just above the speedo. I still need to
hardwire it, though.

 

Ihave my 8500 hardwired and rock stable attached with double sided tape just to the left of the tach. Just to the right of the top hole vent, just enough that I can see the display, and it just clears the wipers.

 

I've alway heard the higher you mount it the better. Mine is just above the mirror, with the front resting on the mirror, suction cups on rear to windshield.

 

Check this site.. http://www.valentine1.com/laserhowto/ it says to mount High.

 

I too have a Valentine1 in my car and I have it just above the mirror but on the passenger side. It is similar mounted as th3118 described with suction cups against the window and the display side kind of resting on the mirror. But it does not need that support.
Cheers,
Herbert

 

I have an 8500. I don't have it hardwired yet, but at the moment it sits just below the mirror. Its not ver intrusive there and its high, but not so high that I have to make an extra effort to look up at it :smile:

 

Higher is better - but only by a slight margin with radar, especially in the mini - you're talking about a ~20" difference. I had it mounted high near the mirror but can't stand the look - the windshield is just too small and verital for a good looking install that doesn't block too much of my vision - the mirror is large enough. Dash mounted has a completely unubstructed view, and it responds exactly as it does in my other car, mounted high.

 

I sorta like the dash mount approach but the RX65 has a laser detection device that needs a clear shot through the back window. I'd have to check to see if this is too low. I'd also have to check where the detector is, when dash mounted, in relation to the wipers.

 

I have my V1 mounted between the headliner and the mirror in a custom mount I built..........



Here's a side view....



and from the front of the car......



I have the V1 remote installed in a gauge housing in my gauge pod.....



The V1 remote mute function is activated by the door lock toggle switch via Ian's Auto-Up accessory with the garage door feature.

This mounts my V1 just about as high as you can get it, it's pretty stealthy, and with the V1 remote there's no lights or arrows visible when I drive.

Larry

 

Placement of the receiver (unit) is certainly more important with laser...however, I don't even care about laser...it's just a 'you just got busted' alarm, no matter where you put it.

 

Larry,

I like the looks of this mount. Do you have a write up of how you built and attached it?

Bernie

 

My 8500 bounced around too much on the window mounts, so I ended up fabricating a curved mount for the dash just above the speedo. It has a clear view to the front and rear and is solid as a rock.
Photo of unit mounted below.

 

Any writeups on how you made the mount and how you fastened it to the dash? I'm a little leary of mounting on dash...afraid of destroying it.

Bernie

 

I'm using the V-1 w/ suction cup option. While high placement is good, mine is set 3-4" up from the dash. I went this route because up by the mirror brought it too close for my taste. And it made it difficult to read (overly forced me to take my eyes off the road).

Suggest you play with location using the cigarette power line before spending time and effort prewiring.

I prewired running the cable between the dash and glass going to the right (passanger side) and found juice down in the foot well when I removed the plastic on the side. Whats nice about this is when not in the car, all I have is a phone jack sticking out from the glass and dash. Hardly visible.

 

OK, here's what I can remember to describe.......

My car's on 02, no sunroof, just a simple plain ol mirror up there. The bracket was fabricated from a 2" x4" piece of 1/4" thick square tube stock - it's a pretty hefty hunk of metal. It had to be narrowed both height & width to fit the V1 dimensions.... as in cut apart & MIG welded back together. The mirror mount in the roof uses a special little plate, so I had to drill and tap the mount to attach the plate to it. After that I used a metric flat-headed screw to hold the whole deal to the headliner. Mounting the mirror to the mount involved cutting off the mirror mounting 'pod' and tapping what was left, and then attaching the mirror to the mount with another flat-headed screw. The mount has 4 set screws threaded into the bottom to clamp the V1 in securely. If you look REALLY close at the side view you can see 2 of them.

Needless to say, it took a lot of designing, measuring, mock-up, double checking, etc etc etc. It's a lot of work & you need to be comfortable with cutting stuff apart & figuring out how it will all go back together.

Since you don't have the V1 with a remote I won't go into that, lets just say it's as involved as mounting the V1..............

I don't know if this would even work with the auto-dimming mirror, since you have some wiring from the headliner to the mirror to consider.....
Not a lot of help, but maybe it will trigger some ideas for you to do something similiar.

 

VERY Clever Here is proof that you can stick a square peg in a round whole. Way cOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooL

 

Nothing personal, but that's exactly why I took mine down - I think that looks really bad. Again, nothing personal - I think anything like that up there just doesn't flow at all.

 

Here's mine:


Completely unobstructed, non-obvious install. Doesn't move a mm on the dash, simple double-sided tape - will come up very easily whenever I want it to. Perfect driver's view, within reach, doesn't look goofy on the dash, hidden wires, doesn't obscure a bit of windshield view or look out of place.

 

i have mine mounted just below the mirror. its about 3/4 down the windscreen or so but i like it there bc when u look the mirror, then the V1 is just just below the mirror and basically inline with it. from the passenger seats its a bit bad looking. i like it there and its worked well
i might move it about the mirror and see how well that works. that way it would be easier to reach that it is now, more hidden, higher for better range and its all hardwired from up there anyway so the cord would be hidden. LarryB's mount is very nice!

 

Mellow,

Something I didn't consider during my first post is that deciding where to mount a V1 is a little different than deciding where to mount another brand. The V1 has front and rear radar horns (antennae). For the best results a V1 needs to see both forward & backward. I'm not sure how important that is with the other detectors, but you do mention that your detector has a laser function that wants to see where you've been. For a detector with only a front radar horn you have mounting options that a V1 owner might not wish to consider. I don't want to start a "whats the best detector" thread, that one already exists. But V1/non V1 is a factor when picking a mounting spot. You've got some good suggestions from us, I'd suggest you just spend some time moving your detector around and see what works best for you.

Larry

 

I should add that as well - without a doubt, if you choose to use a V1, you are very constrained as to where you can put it, for it to function properly. I'm not saying the mirror mount is a BAD space for a V1 - I'm just saying I didn't choose to put my 8500 up there. If I used a V1, I wouldn't have a choice either.

 

I put my V1 just above the left side of the mirror. I used the visor clip and clipped it onto the headliner. It sits almost flush with the headliner, has a good level view both forward and backward.

I did have to mash the clip a bit to flatten it out so it would sit properly.

 

lexbomb - Thats exactly where I had mine mounted while I was putting my mirror mount together. If I remember correctly one thing I didn't like about it was problems with using the sun visor...

 

Ha.... sun visor... what sun visor??? OH! That's what you call that little thing hanging off the top... JK.

It does get in the way a bit when it's down and all the way forward, but I've just learned to live with it.