Radar detectors?
 

I am going to find myself doing alot more traveling and am thinking about a new radar detector.

Maybe radar and GPS combo... if they make those.
I want something that I can move from car to car.
And I prefer to plug it in rather than on AA batteries.

Thanks for any suggestions.
And detectors aren't illegal in Ohio...yet (give them time).

buy a passport 9500ix.

I have a Beltronics RX65 Pro (made by Passport and almost the same circuitry as the 9500ix) which has saved my rear many a time. The POP instant on laser feature is amazing, since it picks it up so quickly (just don't be the ONLY car on the road).
The Ka response is also very impressive, since most depts use this around my area, though laser is becoming increasingly more active.

Anyone have any thoughts on how the Bel and Passport compare to the Valentine 1? I have a V1 sitting in a closet somewhere...

Passport 9500 ix all the way. NO comparison. I have had mine for almost a year, paid slighly less than $500 and its worth every penny. The main advantage over most others is that if you drive by walgreens 3 times it will auto block that gps/band frequency(you can manually do it also, like those speed signs that are meant as a deterent). I have never even had a close call as it gives plenty of distance(unless they aren't radaring) The red light camera warning is pretty nice as I had two of those before I bought this. Oh did I mention blocking out false signals? :D

When I drive through my town / city, it is quiet. If my radar goes off, then there is a cop. Isn't that how they are suppose to work? :cool:

Valentine One, with-out-a-doubt ( http://www.valentine1.com/ ). They give you 360 degree coverage, the unit is upgradeable to the latest software available and you have options to suite multiple applications.

I have it hard wired with a concealed head unit in my Boxster. I also have my SUV, wife's car and the Sienna hard wired with a Blendmount
( http://www.blendmount.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12 ) under the rear view mirror. They're working on a Porsche mount. Whatever I'm driving it comes with me, all it takes to remove it is as simple as unplugging a phone jack, that's it. Rental car? Visor mount and traditional phone cord to the cigarette lighter.

I can't tell you how secure I feel knowing my V1 is on and sniffing the air for the smell of bacon, and then telling me when it's at.

V1 Baby! If you've never used one, you simply cannot comprehend what situational awareness with the arrows provides.

Others might be newer or have GPS, but they're not better without those arrows. Moreover, the V1 has two HUGE advantages over most other detectors:

1. User programmable. I turned off X band and WalMarts don't set it off. No need to use fancy GPS to find false alarms. Most of them are on X band.

2. Upgradeable. The V1 can be sent back to be reprogrammed with the latest software for a moderate amount of money. The other detectors? Sell them for a pittance on eBay and buy the new version.

Let the games begin! (we always have heated debates about this topic once a quarter or so!)

Do search on radar detector for many many threads and posts about why we all think the one we bought is the best and everyone else's choice absolutely sucks.

Passport all the way!! In an unexpected head-to-head comparison of my Passport 8500 and a friend's V1, my 8500 alerted me to oncoming Ka radar way before my friends V1 alerted him in the next lane. He doesn't use his anymore after he got a ticket with it later. Arrows... who cares. Passport goes off, you slow down. Turns back off, G2G. No bling, all business. And it's user programmable.

The newer 9500 with GPS is the deal, hands down. :dance:

Another V1 lover here. It simply cannot be beat.

If cost is an issue ask them for a "retuned unit" which gives you the same product
with the same warranty for about $100 less.

A no-brainer.

Heres what it comes down to...

If by "a lot of driving" you are talking highway, then V1 is the way to go. It does not have GPS feature but it's detection is much better for laser. This is starting to become the norm for highway patrol.

However, if you are driving in the city a lot, then from what I hear the 9500ix is it. It does have gps and will be able to block out falses around the city if you pass them three times. It is a little (not by much) lacking in the laser detection department when compared to V1.

Both are high quality detectors and you can't go wrong with either one.

I personally have a V1 and I love it.

Done a little research and no one makes what I really want... the GPS directions with a built in radar detector.

I do like the Escort 9500ix, but it is a premium price. The one advantage of the Escort is to upgrade, you plug it into your computer... the V1 have to be shipped back.

The Belronics RX65 Pro is a cheaper alternative.

I have V1 and wouldn't trade those arrows for anything on the market right now

V1 is the only way to go
 

I would not travel with anything except a V1.
It finds ALL the bogey without fail.
V1 all the way.

As long as this has turned into a debate, I'm going to weigh in.... I'm another V1 owner who loves those arrows. I often just can NOT see the cop. The arrows help a lot to show where they are. Absolutely love it and it works to warn you most of the time before the radar source is even within your field of view!

Kirk

i used a V1 when going accross country... 3 times. never got a ticket... i dont have any comparisons for you but i will say that no tickets is a pretty good idea of its effectiveness.

I agree both the v1 and the passport are the two best in different ways, but I prefer silence, which v1 can't provide. If my radar beeps I know its a cop. I also love the redlight camera detection. when it does detect a radar it will display your speed on its screen. As for the arrows, I would love to have them but they fall behind quiet and redlight cam detections in my pecking order of importance.

I guess its personal preference. If you want quiet and redlight/speed cam detection, then passport; if you want to know what direction they are, then v1. It is still up for debate as which has superior dection. I have red reviews either way.

The deciding factor for me was...I actually was ready to pull the trigger on the v1 (as you can't go wrong with it) until I road with my buddy in his vette and only heard it beep once, and yes it was a cop. I still adhere to the fact that a radar detectors job is to beep only when there is a threat, not 15 times on each drive.

Wow dare devil arent you? Red light camera or not, if its red im stopping!!!

Ya think Einstein, they also have speed detection on them. If you speed up to go through them, they send you a speeding ticket regardless of the color of the light. They will also send you a seat belt ticket if you aren't wearing yours.

or you didn't see that "no right on red" sign 3 miles back and end up making a right turn. around here the city's changed from "no right on red" to "stop here on red" which to me meant "stop here when the light's red, then you can turn right." but nooooo....

Quote;

"I agree both the v1 and the passport are the two best in different ways, but I prefer silence, which v1 can't provide. If my radar beeps I know its a cop." mptoledo
V1 can't provide silence? WTF? Ever try turning down the volume? When mine goes off I know the band (by sound and light), the strength and the direction of the thread. Enough said.

Can't decide for sure????

Do a google search for 9500ix vs valentine 1 and you will get an incredible amount of stuff pop up. Some swear by escort, some swear by V1.

To tell you the truth, I think they both are excellent and it comes down to a coin toss. I have a speedy history and used to love the K40 in dash stuff back in the day, but prior to purchasing my passport 8500 in the fall of '02, I have never received a ticket with it on. And that's the 8500 mind you without all the new technology.

I like the size of that model so it would be natural for me to go for the 9500ix next.

Why would you want a gps/radar combo? If you want something reliable, get a dedicated radar detector and a dedicated gps. Also to the guy who rode in his friends vette...all the radar detector does is detect frequencies. If your friend has a passport and it's not going off, either it's because it's broken, or he has one of the bands turned off. Personally, I would just rather have a detector which lets me know about every threat so that I can make a determination of if I think it's a cop. I won't trust a radar detector to do that for me. I do have X band (electronic doors) turned off on mine though.

detectors will not save you
 

Let me inform all of you folks that if you're doing excessive speed, no radar detector in the world is going to help you deaccelerate to to lawful speed prior to being intermittenly zapped by a cop running lidar or radar for that matter.. Those units sample a dozen or so speeds per second and take an average faster than you can say oh ***it. The only thing you can hope for is a good reflection single from the car in front of you.

jbox, detectors can definitely save you. As for laser, you have a point. Unless you are getting a detection from a vehicle in front of you then you are screwed. But with radar you can get plenty of warning if you can interpret the radar detector correctly unless again you are the only car on the road AND he is using instant on.

So on my dash would be sitting a 4x6 GPS display and the another 2x1 radar detector, both requiring to be plugged into my cig lighter. So now I need a 12v power splitter for the power to feed both... wires everywhere.
Remember, one of my criteria was to be able to move it from vehicle to vehicle...easily. Oh I may also need to charge my cell phone too... another wire... and maybe charge the IPod.

I want an IPhone with a radar detector app!!!

umm interesting.....maybe it has to be really excessive speed as i never had a problem with that, but i do always wear my seat belt so not worried about that.....either way with all taken in to consideration V1 with gps would by great

skip the radar dectector, I carry a fresh bag of doughnuts each morning. Has saved me a couple times. when in doubt I can throw them out the window when I am being chased and the police will loose my car everytime. :dance:

on a side note, I do use a passport. I have had it for years and really like it.

Escort 9500ix at $450
Ducan Donuts (or Timmys) at $5 per dozen, 10 trips a week, ..$50 a week, 9 weeks of coverage... hmm... not counting the littering ticket.

Decisions, decisions.

Viper5, I don't think you actually know how it works.(no offense) Here are a couple of links to help clarify some of the stuff for you.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4279971.html

https://www.escortradar.com/store/passport-9500ix.html

Maybe some of you misunderstood the "gps" part of it. It doesn't give you directions, it just tells detector the global position of itself in geographical relation/speed, to the radar signal being emitted. It stores them so the next time you drive by that spot it will not beep. The GPS will alert you to all the speed/redlight cameras and is updateable from your computer/laptop. As for blocking out that particular signal, each band (k,ka,x) have a wide variety of sub bands within them. it blocks those subbands and not the whole band.

Again, both units are top notch and you couldn't go wrong with each. Do your homework and try not to listen to the coolaid drinkers. I own the passport and love it. I love the fact that it only beeps when there is a cop. To me that is the deciding factor. Yes I would love the directional arrows,but not at the cost of locking out false alarms, and if anybody has owned one they will agree.


Excerpt from Popular Mechanics:
Bottom Line: Within a week, the Escort 9500ix was 50 percent less irritating than when it started, which made it 90 percent less irritating than any other detector on the market. It's a weird metric to use for a piece of electronics, but a radar detector is only valuable if it gets your attention at the right moment. The problem with most detectors is the desensitization that occurs when you are alerted over and over again at all the wrong moments, and that makes the learning feature of the Escort 9500ix a truly elegant idea.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4279971.html

While I have a V1 in my SUV, I don't like having an expensive target for theft in an open/soft top car. I bought a cheap cordless radar detector for my Box (Radar hawk brand) which looks good and does the job for around here. If I lived in a big city I could see the need for a more sophisticated unit, but mine does the job for most radar and laser shots around here (not much extraneous radar pollution). No cops at all in the mountains, where the Box really gets flogged. This cheapie is expendable/not a target for thieves.

I've had 2 tickets in the past 10 years - both when I didn't have a detector, even though I use one 95% of the time.

I just pluck mine off the windshield, suction cups and all, and stick it in my armrest storage compartment. it really fits well in there and can be locked. Plus worse case I make a claim on my insurance for that and about a half other dozen things I can list.

It should also be noted that the Passport doesn't just know about red light cameras, but speed cameras as well. Does the V1 point to that?

Ooh, and another thing not mentioned... the Passport doesn't look like an old Sony portable CD player on your dash. Pick up an old copy of Motor Trend from the 90s, you'll see the same beastly looking chunk of plastic known as the Valentine.

If some one fires a gun at me, I'm not too concerned where it's coming from. I just duck. Same goes for those "helpful" arrows. If a detector goes off, slow down. I'm sure it's rewarding to have superfluous directional info, but it's still less important to me than the added benefits of a detector that does more.

Jeph, I was waiting for you to join this thread :)

1. If someone has never used a V1, that person really cannot discuss a valid opinion about having the arrows vs. not having them in a detector. Jeph, you said that when your passport goes off, you slow down regardless of the source. I do not do this. I look at the arrows and then decide if it's a threat. When I see side arrows that quickly move to a rear arrow, I speed up most of the time or resist the urge to slam on my brake. Without arrows and what Valentine calls "situational awareness", you have no choice. You must slow down and start looking through all your windows and mirrors because you have no situational awareness of the radar threat. It's really quite simple. I've been on both sides of this situation and the awareness of the directional source has dramatically changed my reaction to an alert. If you've not used both kinds of detectors on short and long trips, you can't comment on the arrows the same education as a V1 user who has used detectors with and without arrows.

2. The Passport cannot be upgraded. You must buy another one when the technology changes or purchase the upgrade option which knocks $50 or less off the price of the new one. I believe the Valentine upgrade path is part of the reason why the V1's sturdy metal enclosure has not changed through the years. When something new is invented for radar use for law enforcement and widely used, Valentine is committed to existing customers enough to upgrade their equipment for a small fee. All the others? Sell your old one to someone for a fraction of what you paid for it and shell out another $399 or more or take Escort's pitiful $50 "trade in" value of your old one.

3. The bogey counter. When I see a 2 or 3 (or even a 4!) on the big LED display, I know the noises I'm hearing and the bars I'm seeing represent more than one threat and not to speed up after I pass the first cop. This is a huge advantage combined with the arrows. It has saved me a half dozen times in complex radar traps. I pass the first cop shooting Ka and the arrows go to the back but there's an arrow forward with a new threat on the counter and the K band indicator is also lighting up. The Escorts probably show both kinds of radar on the display, but without those numbers combines with the arrows, you just don't know how many threats you should be aware of and the directional source of the radar.

If anyone is reading this thread and debating which unit to buy, BUY BOTH just before you leave on a driving trip. Return the one that you don't like under the 30 day, money-back guarantee. Buy a double socket to power them both up on your dash, and run them side by side. Then, do a second test on your own reaction to each unit. Run them alone for a day per unit to see how you react and then decide for yourself. This is the only real way to have a solid comparison of which one is best for YOU. Many V1 users swear by the arrows, upgrade path, and bogey counter. Many Escort users, especially the owners of the newer GPS models swear by them for their connectivity to satellites and the internet for speed camera updates.

Quite a debate, again I'm on the V1 side, but only because it works great for ME. I think both units have their merits. What's important to you probably depends a lot on how you use the radar detector.

I live in a more rural area. I don't care about speed cameras as there are none in my state. Even still, if the speed camera has radar on all the time, then the V1 will pick it up 2 miles away! The closest city to me only has three red light cameras and I know where each one is, so again not a concern. I also really don't have any issues with false alarms as they seldom occur.

So for me there is little benefit to the extra technology that the Passport has. I prefer to have the directional arrows so I know where the cop is when I do actually pick one up on the highway. Now if I lived in a big city with lots of red light cameras and lots of places with false alarms, then I might really want the GPS function of the Passport instead.

So... to each their own, both detectors have their merits and their uses. Obviously you have to pick which one suits you and your situation the best.

Kirk

Randall, in response to your three points:

1. Your reaction to the arrows is precisely what earned my friend a couple of tickets with his V1. He thought the arrows were showing him things they weren't, or can't. Results: busted, and he doesn't use it anymore.

2. This is wrong... the Passport can be upgraded, and without sending it back. Uses a USB cable, and both the location database and the detector software (it's a software, DSP-based unit) can be upgraded.

3. The Passport has an "Expert" mode which allows you to track and display multiple bogeys across multiple bands.

Hey, I think the V1 is a good unit, you're just propagating bad info. ;)

has anyone used the bel sti-r?

All good stuff there!

And Randall, I love you brother, but this part made me laugh...
"Jeph, you said that when your passport goes off, you slow down regardless of the source. I do not do this. I look at the arrows and then decide if it's a threat."
The beauty of the Passport is... it doesn't go off unless there is a threat! I guess if the detector doesn't block false alarms, it NEEDS the arrows (ha, crutch).

I'll say this though, if a detector could do everything as good as the Passport AND have arrows like a V1, there would be no debate here. (As long as it doesn't look like a V1.)

Haven't used that one, but I understand that's the way to go if you're state or province outlaws detectors. It's supposedly undetectable by radar detector detectors (and great at detecting radar period).

Jeph, you make a great point.

If Escort could wiggle around the arrow display and directional patents that Valentine holds and fiercely defends, AND I did not own a perfectly good detector with arrows, I'd seriously consider an Escort product. That would make for an apples-to-apples comparison.