Valentine One! Yipee!!

[Perfectlap]

well the roads became clear again so I pulled out the Valentine One which arrived before the 2005 Blizzard. Installed it in 5 minutes with the remote relocator. The boxster has a small rear window so the placement of the Valentine One radar locator is limited to a small area underneath the rear view mirror. The V1 needs a completely unobstructed view of the road in front and car's behind. The higher up above the road the better. I stepped out of the car and stood behind to see if I had a clear view of the "radar locator" as Valentine likes to refer to it since it just doesn't detect the radars but let's you know if you are approaching them and when you have passed them. The view has to be unobstructed in order for the laser detection to work. Some have mounted the V1 on their sun visors and on the left side of the dash which is obviously an obstructed view and prevents 100% effectiveness.

I opted for the remote read out box that displays the flashing alerts, instead of on the actual detector itself. This eliminates the red flashing light on your dash board which the cops and tailgaters love to fixate on. I placed the remote box in between the steering wheel and the gauges, over to the right. All the flashing occurs there where it can't be seen from those away from your car. I tucked the wiring behind the console and set the Valentine One to Logic mode (displays an "L")

In logic mode the V1 ignores X band and concentrates on Ka and K band which is where the police usually live on. Laser gets its own unique warning. Once a Ka or K band alert is detected arrows flash letting you know where its coming from and how many different possible radars. Generally once the arrow is pointing behind you, you're know your safe unless of course it continues to beep while pointing behind you meaning the threat is following you.

So out we went. It was dead silent for a while and (no kidding) as soon as I aprroached a dunkin donuts it started squealling with the arrow in front, just above a wall of snow I could see the lights from a police car. The arrow switched from "in front" to "along sides" and then to "from behind" and then went silent.
I was great to drive long strethches without looking to sides since I was going about 70.


I'll post pics of the V1 and my Sirius Plug and Play soon. My Boxster is becoming very electronic.

[Automon]

I have had my two for the last couple of years and I drive like a wild man it is nothing for me to drive at sustained speeds 120+ and I don't even think about it any more until it lites up. I ride my hayabusa at sustained speeds of 170mph+ on a regular basis, so you could say that i have complete trust in this system, I won't stop anyway but it is nice to know where they are.
Automon

[Perfectlap]

SLOW DOWN!
(just courious have you participatted in SCCA or org.'s ? It helps to cut down the addiction)

[Automon]

NEVER! There is nothing better than that feeling, in fact I went skydiving and thought that it was boring so what can I say. The feeling of passing cars so fast that you can't tell what color they are is better than sex. I wish this snow would melt
Automon

[hdpt73]

i have been using the valentine 1 ver 1.8. it's been a great radar but now it's considered old technology. i got 2 speeding tickets in 3 days due to this thing not picking up. pop radar. i called v1 and they say they don't have the technology yet. alot of pigs are using pop today so beware, i haul a$$ everywhere i go, but now i cannot because i don't trust the unit i have. it picks up k and ka fine, so i know it's a good working unit. do some research on the net about this pop technology and u'll want to switch radar detectors....

2 tickets = me mad...
call v1 to ask for upgrade, they say i will be charged to get upgraded when they develope pop detection. = me never buy a v1 again.....

i was a die hard v1 fan but now my opinion has changed, escort lacks the arrows but is very dependable as well.

[jwocky]

I thought the most current ones that you can buy from Valentine 1 has pop detection? At least that's what their website seems to indicate.

[hdpt73]

wow, guess i was wrong, i called them this morning and they say their pop detection came out end of december. i guess i'm going to send mine in to get the software upgraded.

[QporscheQ]

I'm pretty sure if you fight the "pop" tickets they will get thrown out. When the cops use the guns in that mode they are not accurate. It’s actually in the manual for the gun. I don’t know, it might be worth checking in to.

Do you guys have the ticket fixing places there? Here we have these chains of lawyers where you bring them a traffic ticket (including DUI!!!!) and they do the work for you. It’s surprisingly cheap, and you end up with a littering ticket 95% of the time. The fine usually is a little more than what the ticket would have been, but its better then getting a moving violation. It’s obviously a broken system, but as long as the municipalities get their cash they don’t care.

[RandallNeighbour]

I have heard that V1 detectors receive lots of false signals and don't filter it out well. The Passport is rated better at filtering out automatic doors at Walmart, etc.

Anyone have a newer passport?

[hdpt73]

my bro uses the escort 8500, that thing is remarkable. saved me twice while going to mexico for a bachelor party. i've done alittle research on which one to get to complement the V1. the bell rx65 http://www.radarbusters.com/products/beltronics/rx65.asp looks to be a good one. i'm going to buy this bel soon and use it in conjunction with the V1. I'll have to repost on this thread in a few months to give you guys my results. i paid for the tickets already so that's a done deal. i checked lawyers here and they are pricey. one even told me to go negociate with the prosecuter before i went to the judge.

[Perfectlap]

dhpt73, yeah looks like you have the 1.7 the current 1.8 has the new pop upgrade.
Does the passaport give you the location of the radar? If not then there's a big difference between that and the V1. Huge I would say as one is a detector and
one is a locator.
The Walmart doors are unavoidable which is why its good to have the threat counter. if you see the number 2 flashing you'll know its not just the automatic doors operating on the K/Ka band.
Also I'm not sure that the Escort model has a remote box, that was a big selling point for me because my previous Bell would attract allot of attention from tailgaters spotting the detector a stop lights and I'm sure cops in speed traps love to spot a challenge.

[hdpt73]

i'm pretty sure v1.8 has been around for awhile. ur correct escort doesn't have the arrows, i think all of them are good, but i kinda lost my faith in v1 after the 2 tickets. i called them today and asked them why my unit did not go off, the tech told me laser is very hard to pick up. so sometimes they shoot u, but the detector won't go off. have to be exact. i'll post a follow up on this thread when i get my up grade back. should be 5 business days from today. 1-28-05

here's my 2nd girlfriend (1998 57000 miles), not recent though, since then i've done:
b&m ssk --- great upgrade
b&b tri flow -- too loud for my taste but i'm cheap and leave it on there...
k&n air filter -- maf destroyer
crossed drilled rotors -- looks cool squeaks alot

[Automon]

I sent my V1 out this morning for the POP upgarde I should have it back by the end of the week. The upgrade was only $55.00 so big deal, I will have to slow down for a few days.
Automon

[Perfectlap]

while you're at it, ask the Valentine One reps. why it was that in the SML 2004 testing (in the speedzones article posted on the board) the V1 was the only unit tested that failed to detect POP at 500 and 1000 feet. Even the "sub $200" units from Cobra and Whistler were able to pick POP from both distances.
The Valentine people should be familiar with the test, the only thing I can think of is that they were not using the latest V1 which would be very misleading.

On the bright side was that the V1 was the only unit that picked up Laser from a trailing vehicle from 1/4 mile awasy. That's impressive given how difficult it is to detect laser from the front let alone while you're being followed.
a black bra, removing the front license plate and applying some laserveil "paint" ($90) to your headlights seems like the best combination to protect against the difficult to detect Laser. Here in NJ it seems well worth the investment since our Ex-Governor dramatically increase insurance against speeders and we already have the highest insurance nationwide.

Very satisfied with this V1, the arrows make all the difference.

[Automon]

I sent my Valentine in on monday to be upgraded for the POP radar and it is thursday and I already have it back. Fantastic customer service, I wish all come oporated like Valentine
Automon

[RandallNeighbour]

Perfectlap:

Your original post in this thread showed some enthusiasm for how the V1 detected a Dunkin Donuts and displayed all the arrows as you passed by. While cops do like donuts and might be there watching for speeders, why are you so excited that on it's maiden voyage the first thing it did was give a false signal?

This is precisely why I have not bought a new radar detector since owning a Porsche and find most all of them to be annoying... those false signals are enough to make me nuts and my wife simply won't ride on long trips with the squealing in the ear every five minutes just because we passed a WalMart.

Radar detectors cry wolf soooo much that when the real deal lights up the detector and it goes off, I wonder "is this me about to get a ticket, or is it just another reminder that I should stop and get a cup of coffee and a donut?"

Who can testify to their radar detectors ability to filter out the crap and provide only the radar being shot at them by a police officer? That's the unit I want to buy... who cares about arrows pointing me to a Dunkin Donuts!!!

[Automon]

I can only speak from my experience, i have had this radar for two years now and it work flawlessly. There are detectors which give false signals true but the V1 i believe is the best on the market I have felt naked for the past couple of days without it but now I am back to mach 1 speeds. The donut shop was funny and the cops probably left there unit on that is why he got the signal.
Automon

[Perfectlap]

question, when teh V1 is in Logic mode isn't it supposed to ignore the X band?
I noticed yesterday that it was picking up X alerts and the read out clearly said full "L" mode.

[Automon]

I think that you are right on that i will have to check my book although the web site should have that information.
Automon