I work at Vernon Hills Circuit City roadshop....DON'T but it!!! One guy boguht it and returned it the same day. You get what you pay for. The only decent one is the Vector 995...and I would'nt even buy that!

 

Research owns all of us. If you search and actually look up the specs you will see that there are some great alternatives to the $400-$500 radar detectors. I got a Bell 965 and had it side by side with the Passport 8500 and the results were exactly the same. I have been wanting to try this for some time to see if my money was well spent or not on the Belltronics for $170.00 and after purchasing the EVO from my friend he threw in the Passport 8500. I say do your research and make a good judgment based on other radar detector owners and your own intuition.

-Nate

 

I honestly bought a $75 dollar RD from Radio Shack. The thing will sometimes go off AFTER I see the cop. So, yes it works, but not well. I was actually caught on the highway after I saw the cop on the side of the highway. He claimed that there was a cop on the overpass.

 

Hey Nate I guarantee that 8500 will outrange the heck out of that Bel. The only Bel boxes that will compete would be the Vector 995 or the RX65. You can't get an accurate comparason side by side as the LO's will interfere with each other and screw them both up.

I have a V1 (A very late version 3.824) now, and it outranges anything that I have owned before. Especially K band. Off axis alerts are awesome as well. So are the pointers. The thing falses like a ***** though.

Check out WWW.RADARDETECTOR.NET

Tons of awesome information.

 

Ebay has some nice prices on advanced detectors

 

I have an $80 Whistler w/ voice alerst that I got for my bday. It works good enough for me cuz I rarely speed...but I always see cops next to me and my radar doesn't go off. Obviously it won't work unless the radar is actually pointed at me. But is this one of the better ones?

 

I have had a V1 for a while now and they really are worth the money. The directional arrows, range (gotten around a mile) both in front and peripherally, and signifcant decrease in number of false signals compared to others i think makes it worth it. Also, make sure urs has dual POP detection as i just had to get mine updated frmo V1 because at least in some states cops are starting to use this system making others out of date now.

 

Well, it is a proven fact that the 8500 X50 and the Bel RX65 false significanty less than a V1. They are very close to being as good as the V1.

If you can stand the falses, V1 is the best. Don't place faith in MV's L & l modes. They decrease sensitivity greatly.

Stop drinking the kool-aide. V1 is awesome, but so are the Passport 8500 X50 and the RX65. They are all nearly on par with the exception of V1's superior laser detection.

 

Save your money and get a V1.

It's an investment, but the resale is awesome.

 

Agree that others have caught up, but I would still vouch for something that has been proven for years and years compared to those that are just reccently starting to close the gap.

 

Andy, This one isn't the first time I have done a side-by-side comparison of the radar detectors i.e. Bell versus the V1 or 8500. I have done this with my Dentist friend for fun to see whose picks the radar up first. I would usually pick them up at the exact same time. It was so close in fact that we quit arguing about it. I hate to see people dis-credit a radar detector based solely on the initial purchasing price. I will agree that most cheap radar detectors are crap like the Cobra series but Bell is a quality brand not to be discarded. You stated that I couldn't get an accurate reading from both side by side "as the LO's will interfere with each other and screw them both up." I have to respectfully disagree as two passive radar detectors do not emit anything to interfere with one another. As a matter of fact I was only able to do the comparison for a short period of time because the more expensive radar detector was over heating and flashing that maintenance was required on the Screen. IMHO it is too smart for its own good. I have the Bell Vector 945 it is everything that the bell 995 has minus the pretty case. I accidentally posted that I had the 965 earlier and wanted to clear that up.
BTW for the V1 to have superior Laser detection again, I don't think that anything can give you enough warning for a Laser so IMHO Laser doesn't really matter. By the time you are warned about laser it is too late. The only solution to that would be an active jammer that renders you invisible to the police officer lighting you up. Even then they would most likely know that you were speeding a still try and write you a ticket.

Your friend,

-Nate

 

The Local Oscillators actually to leak. How do you think that the Spectre can pick them up at over 1000 feet, with the exception of the V1. You should check out the new Speed Measurment Laboratories shootout that was completed only a few weeks ago. It is a pretty comprehensive report.

V1 is hands down the best laser detector. Sure, it probably will not save your butt unless you are using it in conjunction with Veil and a Blinder M20 jammer, however, there is alway a possibility that you will pick up somebody else getting lazed with a V1, not the other RD's. RadarDetector.Net is the best site on the web with respect to Radar Detector research.