radar detectors
who uses them? which ones?
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Do a search. There were couple of recent threads on this subject. I believe consensus was that Valentine One is worth paying for.
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I just did a bunch of research on this topic...
the top 3 radar detectors seem to be: Valentine 1 Escort 8500 and Beltronics rx65 I went with the Bel, and absolutely LOVE it. No complaints at all whatsoever. It ran me around $250 |
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I've got a V1 and have considered selling it twice on Ebay, as I only get to use it while traveling through Canada during the summer.
Then I come to my senses. It's saved me from many a ticket. I always have plenty of warning, too. |
V-1 Baby! :) :) :)
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I've had the Solo S2, the X50 and V1.
the solo doesn't compare (its cordless) the X50 and V1 are close.....each has its advantages...currently running the V1, its my 2nd one....the first one seemed defective, this one is great rangewise. |
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i have the escort. got it from my friend for 100 bux.
wow does that thing work we did a little comparison of our own when he got his V1, and they both were getting signal at about the same time and in most occasions escort was picking up better |
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I have the Solo S2 and I love it ! I agree the V1 is a great radar detector, but I was wondering why do you like the X50 better than the Solo ? Nick |
the big difference between the x50 and the v1 is sensitivity.
You will get allot more alerts with the v1 and most will be false alerts. But I think that's a positive, not a negative. After a while you know right away what a real threat sounds like, its hard to confuse. So you learn how to "tune out" the false beeps. THe other difference from the testing I have seen is that the V1 is the best at picking up lazer from a trailing vehicle. Lazer from a stationary vehicle (cop on the side of the road hiding behind trees) seem to be about even in x50 vs. V1 In other words you've got somewhat of a chance at eluding a state trooper following cars from behind with the V1. This is the hardest type of signal to pick up of all the radar situations and the V1 has come up many times as the only one to succeed at this. I've had two instances where a state trooper was lurking from behind the V1 fired off Lazer and a minute or two later he was speeding after another car. There are some neat installs of the V1 on Renntech.org One 911 guy mounted it above his rearview mirror (the best spot) and hardwired it so it fires up on ignition with all wires hidden under the pillars. Get the attachment display box that keeps the V1 from flashing on the windshield. Helps to avoid tailgaters looking to mooch off your $400 and keeps the five-O from noticing flashing lights in your cockpit. I've been yelled at by cops several tiems for having a radar detector. |
There are three reasons I chose my V1:
1) I can program the dang thing to turn OFF X band. It's only used in Ohio if I'm not mistaken, and is the cause of most of my false alarms (Walmart, Kroger, etc.) 2) It is upgradeable. Hopefully, it will be the last radar detector I must buy. I have a drawer full of noisemakers that I've retired and can't get a dime for now, even in a garage sale. 3) The arrows. Just last night, it was very comforting to know it was a cop on the other side of the barricaded tollway with his radar blazing... when I got side arrows then a rear arrow, I punched it back up to my "normal" driving speed. No worries that he's lurking ahead of me. One gripe though: The V1's laser settings seem to go off randomly or when a newer SUV with LED tail lamps taps their brakes on the freeway. It's frustrating. |
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I run with my 8500 X50 and slow down every time the thing goes off - it doesn't happen that often, so I just don't worry about false alarms - better safe than sorry + it is always fun to speed back up again later. |
Just FYI,
another source of false laser signals for the V1 is the cruise control systems in the big Nissan and Infiniti tank-like SUVs. Annoying, but that's why it goes off around those vehicles. I expect this to increase as more cars use auto-controlling cruise controls. Personally, I think cruise controls should be disallowed as they let drivers pay even less attention to the world around them than they do anyway. Cell phones, too, for that matter. Except for me, of course. |
actually I think its worse than that, it's the Ifiniti lighting systems. I only seem to get a false positive lazer alert when the FX45 SUV is behind me. once the car goes past the V1 goes silent. I've pulled back in front of it just to test it and sure enough it went off.
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I see there are a number of radar detectors with remote mounted sensors including the Passport SR7+ and the Calibre K40. Has anyone installed one of these in a Boxster and what is your opinion. Also, if you installed the SR7+, do you know if the laser shifting has worked? At $1,599, it seems pricey unless it truely works.
Since I have not seen too many comments on these, my assumption is that they are not widely used. |
Love my V1!!! And the arrows did actually save me!
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Aparently radar detection is more of a priority than have a clear view of the tach eh Euro? ;) |
550, I see you live in Socal as do I, so the number one concern is Ka detection as that's what the CHP and municipalities use out here. It's nice as you can ignore all the other warnings.
There are rumors of laser usage starting in LA County although I haven't encountered it myself (and I'm up there alot). I have run into laser out of state and I'm in the "if you get a real laser warning, it's already too late" camp. One more point I'll add is that with my particular unit mounted low on the windshield I get alot more false-laser warnings from LED tail-lights in the Box than my other cars due (I believe) to the particular curvature of the Boxster's front hood. That being said, I've been running the V1 for about four years and it has come in handy many-o-time. Ka detection is strong with unique sound warning as well (as with other detectors) and once you've lived with the arrows... But stealthy it ain't, however, running in a top-down convertible neither are the other ones. |
UKChris,
I would love to see more pictures of your V1 installation. I like the idea of the mirror lights for the V1. Is the main unit hidden? Did you have it professionally installed or did you do it yourself? Also, what was involved with the footwell lighting hack? This would be great. I still can't believe a car that cost over $53k only has one interior dome light. Any more info on the installation would be appreciated. |
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Not really. From the saddle it only covers up to 4k. There is a pivot in the platform at the stem head so I adjusted it to be as high as possible without obscuring the important part of the tach, i.e. 6000-11500. |
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The remote display is in the mirror, the mutew button is small and mounted in the back of the mirror so I can easily reach it and there is the jack plug to connect it to the main V1. The display is unobtrusive and IMHO in about the perfect spot to view. Once I decided I wanted it in the mirror I found out the places that used to make them seemed to have stopped and also they were very expensive ($600 - $1200). Instead I decided to try and do it myself which turned in to a bit of an epic trying to figure out the best way to prepare the glass. After several failed attempts I think I have a multi-stpe process that now works well and have made a few mirrors for other people too. |
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This picture makes them look much brighter and more defined than they really are because I had to take it with a long exposure so you could see them, the effect is pretty subtle and I really love it. |
V1 all the way. I've been using one ever since Mike Valentine left Escort and created it. The arrows as well as the bogey counter are indispensable and after a short while you'll know just from the sounds what's up around you.
There was a period about 3 years ago when Valentine gave into the POP radar craze (he can be stubborn) and their first 2 attempts at it were a software flop. These have been resolved and the latest units work flawlessly. I have 2 units, one that goes between the Boxster and the Cayenne, depending on which one is being used and another that stays in the Mazda since the wife uses it everyday to commute to work. One of the units is about 18 months old, the other is over 10 years old (it's been upgraded 3 times and patched once for the POP glitch). BTW, the "upgrade" actually gets you a brand new unit for a fraction of the cost. |
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only thing I don't like about the V1 is the little dots that lite up indicating what type of radar you are detecting......next to Laser / X / K / Ka....why not just make the L / X / K / Ka light up????
maybe I'll send this in to Valentine for consideration. |
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I just did this as a mock-up for a remote display mirror for someone to make it more stealth... I suppose I might call it "the Virginian". The idea is to make it look like a compass rather than a radar detector display.
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My Beltronics 915r Install
I've been using the Beltronics 915r for about 6 years now. The current gen model # is 975r I believe. I chose this one over the V1 because I could not figure out any way to make the V1 installed stealth, and all of the detection/falsing/etc were pretty much the same between the two units. Honestly, I can't see how the arrows would be that beneficial to the way I drive, since when my detector says "Cops!", I slow my ass down :) I have upgraded my receiver 1 time, just like you can do with the V1
I just got done installing this detector in my (new to me) 97 Box. I think this install is rather sweet, and definitely stealth as far as detectors go. Enough with the yappin', more pictures ;) |
Personally I really liek the arrows, I like knowing if I'm heading towards the threat or away from it. I even had them save me once, I was driving in traffic towards the end of rush hour maybe a little over the limit when I got a blip from behind. I eased over to the middle lane and a couple of minutes later a trooper came by then cut across two lanes to exit the highway. The curious thing was the V1 still showed the threat as being behind then low and behold a black Crown Vic appears that had been trailing him.
I assume it's some sort of decoy trick where people are supposed to feel reassured after they see the trooper exit and pick up speed again, really made me smile at the time. Each to their own. Chris. |
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When it indicates Ka band is near, is there ever a direction it points to that prohibits one from slowing down? |
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The rear arrow really came in handy yesterday with me too. I got a forward reading that was just a beep or two and then it went dead. I slowed to the speed limit, and he was sitting on my right side on the shoulder. I crept past him with everyone else and maintained my speed, thinking he might be pacing me back a bit without the radar to get me "the old fashioned way."
Then he started turning his radar on and off to monitor the oncoming traffic, which I saw had a rear arrow lit. Now if I didn't have those arrows, I would have been looking for another threat ahead of me because he was out of sight in my rear view mirror. After seeing Wonko's pictures, I wonder if I could tear down my V1 and solder wires to the front and rear sensors and move them the front sensor to the back of my mirror and the rear sensor to the top of my mirror and put the remote down to the top of my shift column and the rest of the box under the dash. Anyone thought of this, tried this, or decided it was a crappy idea? |
That is exactly the kind of thing that I planning on doing if I bought a V1... what I came up with:
Obviously, this void any and all warranties from valentine. Not that this is a huge concern, normally, but one of the selling points of a valentine was that they get to be upgraded. This wouldn't allow that to happen, which could potentially get you stuck with an outdated detector. The other thing that I couldn't verify at the time: How sensitive are these devices to external interference? I would imagine that extending the antenna to the reciever like that would open it up to all kinds of interference. In the Beltronics one, the whole sensor assembly is actually built into the front radar detector, and then only the output (that triggers the band and led displays) is run back to a very small display piece. I don't believe that the display piece in the dash does any of the processing. Just some food for thought... |
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Again, it satisfies curiosity. Arrows aren't saving. If you are in range of a threat, you lay low -regardless of where the signal was. Think of a smoke detector and imagine if it had arrows. It goes off. Do you exit the burning building, or do you check forward, to the sides, or behind for smoke? I dig the V1. I'd probably have one if it wasn't so ugly (what can I say, I'm a designer -and my X50 hasn't let me down yet). I'm curious as to the source of the signal. But the fact is, it alerts, you slow down. Not "where is it, should I slow down." Maybe my point is one of semantics. Is this making sense to anyone? |
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That's exactly my take on it too :) Basically, regardless of direction, if my little Beeper goes off, my arse is suddenly going the speedlimit :) I assume that if I'm in radar-range, I'm in visual range, and I behave when johnny-law is around.. |
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At the end of the day it's all personal preference and I think we all have a tendency to justify what we have to ourselves. The best defense is to drive at or under the speed limit of course but let's avoid that option for now at least! :D My V1 came with my car, if it hadn't I might very well still be driving with no radar detector to be honest. |
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As far as the sensitivity? Man, some of it is quite subjective, imho. All I know is I've had it in my Dakota before i got the Boxster and it paid for itself first time. Laser radar is the worst. By the time you get a signal, you have most likely been spied. No scatter is the big problem. It's a very concentrated beam. |
Nice motorcycle mounting UroTrash!
Although a good biker friend of mine stands behind an interesting statistic concerning bikes and speedtraps, that of all the bikes that are flagged and chased for speeding, only 15% actually get caught. Which with a decent sport bike is certainly possible, if a ZX-14 wants to lose a Crown Vic, there's not much the cop can do short of calling for a block or a chopper or something. Ghostrider anyone? -David |
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