passport 8500 4 life. I looked at a undetecible system but I was pissed that it used only one sound for all radar which is stupid. The passport is best.

 

V1 hardwired to my evo, unbelievable performance for me especially because where I live the highways are all on huge rolling hills, have totally lost count of how many times it has saved my ***, never tried the passport, just liked the way the guy who invented the v1 thought, funny, only the passport owners are being aggressive about this matter, don't think the guy asked "who can talk more trash, v1 or passport owners?" pretty sure he was asking for honest opinions and a raise of hands

 

V1.....no hype, just black and white functional performance(directional/bogey counter) you can't get from any of the other competitors.

 

passport 8500 is what i use.. haven't had a ticket since i got it 2 yrs ago.

 

probably just comes down to buget, both will do, I was just in the financial situation at the time to allow me to pick up the v1

 

I don't own a Valentine detector. I have never used one. I did try to do the best research I could before I made my decision, but it was all based on third party accounts.

It definitely came down to V1 and the 8500. I chose the 8500. The clincher for me was the fact that Valentine only had 1 old (Feb 2002) shootout to point to on their website where they were proclaimed the best of the best. In other shootouts (more recent shootouts I might add) the 8500 was consistently testing as good or better. On a number of the more recent shootouts, the 8500 was proclaimed WAY better at handling falses. Some of the V1 owners who had switched to the 8500 said that the advantages of directional indicators and bogey count were negated by the fact that it was just going off all of the time. They compared that to the 8500 and said that when they first started using it that they had to check to make sure it was working because it was so quiet in every day driving. Again, these were just third party reports, but they were all I had to go on.

My experience backs that up. I jump when it goes off unless it's a known false (like pulling into a supermarket parking lot). I have found it to be extremely accurate and I have grown to trust it. I have also found that determining where the radar is located is easy with the 8500. I can tell whether it's in front, behind or to the side by the way the signal is behaving, it's fairly intuitive.

Just my two cents.

 

My decision was helped with this review:
http://www.radarreview.com/article.asp?articleid=1064

Would have went with the Bel, but I liked the look of the 8500.

 

Hey that's a good one, instead you bought the Passport hype.

 

At it's most basic, a radar detector is just that...detect the radar before it detects you. I do not want ANY stupid computer chip GUESSING the variances of X and K, or if it's below some sort of signal strength it won't tell you about it.

I have a V1. There is a secondary volume control for the "common" radar. You can mute it if you like on X and K....but speed traps still play on X here in San Diego.

The "bogie" counter on the V1 is an excellent tool SHOWING you the "false" alarm of a bugler alarm, door opener, etc. You will get one X or K blip, then a second blip....meaning....Open, Close =) Then you use that wonderful bean of your and say...hmmm I'm in the city, there must be door openers...hah! =)

You scope out the areas you drive in all the time and you get a radar picture of where things are....having directional radar is great...when used with your head. You get a quick blip in front of you.....then as you pass buy that blip goes to the side, then goes to the rear. You KNOW you passed by something stationary and most likely not a cop....don't know of any other radar that's going to tell WHERE they are at. You don't have to guess based on your signal "intuition".

I've tracked Hwy Patrolers way out on I5 that were trying to hide on over passes (I detected him on the side before he even could get to the speed trap) and will drive on the side of you to try and catch you. It's great watching a cop with his radar on standby drive around you or you know where he's going.

All other radar detectors have been playing catch up for years...the V1 guy helped invent the first detectors IIRC. With speeding tickets at $200 plus.....two saves and I'm good.

Every person that I talk to that can afford any sort of radar detector in the world goes with V1. I'll go with the herd on this one.

 

Hey guys what do you think about the Solo S2?

 

another V1 owner

 

go to the v1 website. "V1 Trounces Passport... Again!

 

I gotta say the V1 directional and count features look great, I think i'd rather be the judge of "is it a trap or is it a door" than just have the signal blocked out

thanks for the reply guys,,

 

V1 is the greatest detector that I have ever used.

 

My Passport 8500 has saved me numerous times since I got it 2 1/2 years ago. I like the programming options. The V1 is probably great too, but I already bought a radar detector that is useful.
It doesn't matter which radar detector you have, you still have to know how to drive smartly.