I wouldn't rely on radar detector too much. My co-worker was doing 90mph in 880 in Santa Clara and notice a motorcyle behind him. He think nothing of it and decide to speed up to 110mph since his radar detector did not go off. The motorcycle was a cop and he immediately flash the lights.

 

Yes well in that situation the reflection off the cars in front of me would have been picked up, and at the speed I was going ( ) I could have dropped down another 7-8mph before he shot me directly w/ the radar. As it was, I got nailed doing 80/65. I was initially doing about 95. And yes, instant on is a real *****. Furthermore, LASER is a real *****, I dunno about the Escort but when the V1 sees laser it goes completely ape ****. I think it's just sort of a "message" that you are focked and you better just pull over now. Unfortunately it does get set off by certain LED tail lights and red neon signs and such.

Again, it's the price you pay for timely notification and awareness.

I have never had an emergency vehicle set off my V1.

There _IS_ a reason why everyone who owns a V1 says it's the best, I swear! When I drive w/ my friends who have Bel/Escort detectors, I always get to tell them "Hey, watch your radar detector". 1-2 seconds later they get the notification.

 

Yeah it's called pacing, and unless you are oblivious to the world or live in an area with tons of undercovers, you should be able to tell the difference between a cop and a non-cop tailgating you!

Radar detectors were made to help us, the "innocent" civilians, combat the po-po who like to setup speed traps, hide in the bushes, and park behind walls and such. The best ones are the lazy SOBs who leave the radar on constantly, I've had up to 2 miles of notice on I-90 around here in that exact situation.

 

I have the 8500 and my dad has the V1. After driving with both I love my 8500 that much more. More compact, not as much chatter, overall nicer radar detector. My dad doesn't like the V1 either. He's getting ready to get the Passport Lasar detector that has 2 sensors in the front, 1 in the rear and the radar diffuser all linked to a display screen inside.....Hotness

 

first off, all radar detectors false, so yes it does, i notice satellite dishs set it off a little only when yur close, gas stations with those dumb doors always make it go crazy but for citys u can change the mode so that it only does it when its a suspected police car like a strong K signal, but when u live in the middle of no where like me its best to have it on the A setting because it is a great detector and i have detected cops to up to more than a mile away!

 

Oh, the Passport goes ape **** with the laser too... Usually by the time it goes off it just means that you have an early notification of a ticket I've been clocked with laser before. They picked me out of the middle of a group of cars.... Although I was speeding, so were 90% or more of the drivers around me.... Actually, I was just flowing with the traffic. The officer did not pursue me of give me a ticket, but they sure will clock you!




If your V1 is not reporting emergency vehicles, it's either not very good with KA bands or there are no KA band equipped emergency vehicles were you live. Those things put out huge signals of continuous KA band.....
I've tested the Valentine (borrowed from friends) and also owned the V1 before. I sent it back, it's crazy with falsing, waaay too sensitive to X band which is totally useless because the police do not use X band anywhere around here or even in neighboring states. The Passport 8500 is actually more sensitive to K and KA bands than the V1. I was driving from the Panhandle through Alabama and I picked up a KA radar trooper (he had it on continuously) a full 5 minutes before I saw him... That was driving on the interstate with the traffic doing around 80 mph. You do the math..... To each his own, but from my experience and the (unbiased) tests that I've read, the V1 is overrated, specially compared with the Passport or that Bell unit that costs $200 less...

 

What do you mean "Valentine" and V1? They are the same unit afaik. The latest V1 is a bit slimmer but that's it.

I have to admit, it took me a couple of months believe me to get used to the falsing, but I don't mind it. I guess it is to each his own. I think the arrow/strength/band/count indicators make up for it.

 

Sorry for the thread high-jack. I've owned both the V1 & the Passport SR1(stealth version of 8500) I really enjoyed having one up on the police with the SR1, the V1 is a giant, bulky, VERY noticable unit that sceams out I'm SPEEDING....With the SR1, cops would see me slow down but never see the radar detector...priceless!

Each band is designated it's own sound....I've learned to "not hear X" unless I'm in a new area or town....My biggest ticket was with the V1, so I gave it to my friend as a gift

I've been trying to sell this for a while...The price is low because I need the money.

Passport SR1 Remote Radar/Laser Detector, $175 obo. shipped
If you've never seen this unit, a quick web search under Passport SR1 will get you lot's of great info. Same internals as Passport 8500 + rear sensor that goes on license plate....Impossible to tell you have a radar detector!

This is a super stealth unit typically installed by dealers only. I paid $500 installed. It was on my WRX one year, about 5000 miles of use (not a daily driven car)

It comes with all hardware, instructions and original box.


Thanks - Rob


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Not true. The radar uses doppler as a screen and throws away targets at zero or near zero doppler (e.g. speed). Your detector doesn't or else it would go off for non-moving sources (e.g. your not moving, nor is the radar).

 

I use "Valentine" and "V1" interchangeably I know they are the same thing, sorry for the confusion. The arrows are unique to the V1 (or Valentine ), but the strengh & band indicators are also a feature of the Passport 8500. Unlike some of you, I just cannot ignore the alarms, they drive me nuts if they are false so I just disabled the X band. Like I said, the cops don't use that band around here. I like the stealth installations so I think the Valentine and the Passport suffer from the similar problem of being too obvious. The Valentine is particularly huge and definitely hard to hide. I wish the Passport was smaller too. Another thing I don't like about the windshield mounted units is that they invite theft. Even if you take the detector away when you park, the suction cups and little bracket (and the hanging cord) invite thiefs to break in the car and check the storage compartments to see if you left the detector and radio face plate in there......

 

One thing I haven't heard mentioned is the V1's use of directional arrows. I think that one feature in particular really hooked me onto their product. It's quite useful to know where your enemy is coming from, no? I guess you could extrapolate the same information from the rate of increasing frequency that your detector beeps (ie. fast, faster, FASTEST!!!--approaching quickly; fast, kinda fast, a little faster, faster--coming from rear/approaching slowly), but simply looking at the arrows is so much easier.

 

The arrows are a convenience, not a necessity. When you hear Ka band on any radar detector, what do you do? You slow down. V1 owners don't say "it's coming from behind, so I'll continue doing 85 mph. They slow down. V1 used to be king of the hill, but the competition has caught up. In fact, some high end radar detectors, like the Bel 985, have features the others don't for 1/2 the cost. Like a great voice option, which is important for certain areas where they are illegal (VA/DC). I drive with my Bel on in Va at night, in dark mode (which I don't have to pay more for like the V1) and know exactly which band I'm coming across. I can also mount the unit upside down if that's what it takes to make it stealthy, and the inverted option makes the display right.

Bottom line is, the Passport 8500 and the Bel 985 both test as well as the V1 in all respects (see the latest MT mag for their new test) for less money and with some options the V1 should have standard. Charging me an additional $39 to have a dark mode on a $400 detector is insulting.

My opinion, buy the Bel online for $225. Equal performance to Escort and V1 with money left over for mods.

BTW, Bel and Escort are now the same company. Their detectors from here on out will share the same components.

 

The biggest feature of those arrows for me was that it let me know for sure that all those falsing X band alarms were garage doors, Kmarts, Etc. Like DP03 says, when the Passport signals a KA band alarm (or a K band alarm), I don't start calculating where it comes from, I slow down!

 

silverEVO8, the point the guys above were making is that you shouldn't have to deal with excessive x-band falsing to begin with. I drove through DC tonight with the Bel (on city mode, which is where I leave it set at all the time) and I didn't get a single X-band signal. Surely there were plenty out there, but this unit gives you a wide variety of filtering choices, which really work.

There are few area left (maybe out in the boonies) that really need to be worried about the X-band anymore. K and Ka are still a threat, and of course intant on Ka and laser are killers (little defense available for them if you're up front).

 

You are preaching to the converted I don't like the V1's falsing all the time. I filtered the X band completely in my Passport. If you live in a city like Atlanta, you are going to get tons of false alarms even of K & KA bands (yes, the door openers in many stores seem to use K band now ). Also, as I posted before, the emergency vehicles around here send out big K & KA signals. You really have to have a good detector around here and know how to use it. IMHO, the V1 is excellent, the best of them all....... for detecting X band . It lags behind the Passport and the Bel in K & KA detection . I tried the Valentine and I tried to like it (specially after sending those big $$ to them) but it was no good, I just could not use such a chatty detector. I've not tried the Bel yet although I've heard & read some good things about it. I got the Passport from an online store for about $280. I think it's the best one I've ever had no questions. Is it perfect? No, could it be better? Yes. Still, for me it's a better unit than the V1. To each his own.....