Best Radar Detector Poll - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Rail26 · 07-19-2005, 03:14 PM

I dig this poll thing you can do with the website...There is great thread on Radar detectors and seems like there is two camps

1. Valentine V1
2. Passport 8500 X50

I'm about to make the purchase based purely on what the poll indicates because I don't know Jack about radar detectors other than the basics.

SURVEY SAYS.....!!!!!

RandallNeighbour · 07-19-2005, 04:02 PM

I just bought my V1 two weeks ago. Amazing detector, and far superior to any I've owned previously, which has been six or seven units.

I chose the V1 because:

1. The arrows. They really do inform you as to what's setting it off, where it's located, and if you've passed it or not.
2. Multiple Bogies indicator. With the V1, I know that there are 4 threats on three bands, for example. Really helpful.
3. It's upgradeable. Mike is dedicated to keeping existing units on the market up to date if the owner wants to pay a small fee to make it the latest and greatest they sell.
4. The concealed display you can buy with it makes the thing invisible to tailgaters and cops riding behind you.
5. It's programmable. You can turn off X band if you don't live in one of two states that still use it and don't care about being notified that every Walmart has automatic doors that use the X band frequency.

My only gripe is I can't find a good chest-level spot for the concealed display in our cars, but that's not the fault of the detector.

I've heard the X50 is a great unit as well, but it doesn't have the arrows nor does it have the remote display option if I'm not mistaken. Could be wrong on that.

Anyway, I decided to take V1 up on their 30 day money back guarantee for my looooong road trip this week and I'll come back to this thread and give you a report as to how well it held up on a long road trip with rural cops, city cops, highway patrol, etc.

I recommend you do the same. Buy one at a time or both and try them out and send the one back that you don't like. You gotta love those MBG's!

KRZTACO · 07-19-2005, 04:27 PM

I have a Beltronics Radar Detector Very new and its from thier professional line only offered at select Audio Alarm stores. Love it and has saved me numerous times. Still is expensive retail like $350, I got mine for $225 good guy deal while I worked at Magnaflow.

Here's the link: http://www.beltronicspro.com/rx65.html

TOM986 · 07-19-2005, 04:52 PM

I like my whistler. It has a compass when not showing a radar signal. It has always warned me in plenty of time, even with pulse radar. It is not over priced like the two shown in the poll

.

porscheguy05 · 07-19-2005, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOM986

I like my whistler. It has a compass when not showing a radar signal. It has always warned me in plenty of time, even with pulse radar. It is not over priced like the two shown in the poll

.

Have you ever used one of the "over priced" radar detectors, or are you only experienced with the whistler? I bought a second car and thought I would try a whistler, and ended up giving it away and purchasing another Passport. "

"

spgribben007 · 07-20-2005, 05:55 AM

I love my cordless Passport Solo 2. I drive several cars and the ability to easily swap this detector (mounting bracket in each car) without seeing a thick coiled cord is nice. It deffinitely provides me with plenty of time.

TOM986 · 07-20-2005, 03:54 PM

I've had passports and do not think they are any better that what I have now, but they sure cost alot more.

Cecil Suzuki · 07-20-2005, 11:21 PM

What kind of detector do you have now?
Did you find something comparable to V and Passport?

Cecil Suzuki
Burbank Boxsterer

tonyg · 08-29-2005, 06:48 PM

K40 - I've had 'em all and this is the best yet. A little pricey but worth it.

wvicary · 08-29-2005, 08:29 PM

My friend has the Valentine and likes it very much. I really could care less about the arrows..... if it goes off I hammer on the brakes, I don't care if it's in front, to the side or behind me- I slow down no matter what. Where I live they used nothing but Ka band or laser.... lots of laser and my Bell picks up signals a fraction of a second before my friends valintine when we did a little test in his car. The bell is also upgradeable and can pick up other warning systems aswell. I thought about the 8500 but a fellow I know has one and it has broken down several times over the year he's owned it, maybe he just got a lemon. Just my two cents worth but I just never got what everybody sees in the arrows.

deliriousga · 08-30-2005, 05:09 AM

Valentine V1.

Perfectlap · 08-30-2005, 06:18 AM

V1.
The arrows are indespensible. Makes the driving experience much less agitating when you know you've passed the threat.

Interesting story:
not so long ago the laser warning went off but luckily I was travelling just at the speed limit. I looked in the mirror and I could see a large crown vic type car 5 cars behind. Then the laser went off a second time. Yep Porsche profiling! I was surrounded by Hondas and Nissans etc. This went on for about five minutes until
I saw the cop accellerate and zip past me. I guess he figured out his cover was blown. A half mile down the road and He's pulling over BMW.

The V1 has consistently tested as the best performer at picking up laser from a trailing vehicle, which is much harder than a stationary laser.

The remote readout also eliminates tail gaters and doesn't attract attention from
cops parked on the side of the road waiting for a target.

Frank · 08-30-2005, 08:57 AM

Do you know if they are legal in NJ?I see people with thembut someone told me they are illegal??

JackG · 08-30-2005, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

not so long ago the laser warning went off but luckily I was travelling just at the speed limit. I looked in the mirror and I could see a large crown vic type car 5 cars behind. Then the laser went off a second time. Yep Porsche profiling! I was surrounded by Hondas and Nissans etc. This went on for about five minutes until
I saw the cop accellerate and zip past me.

How is that happening? I've always understood that laser had to be used from a stationary position, since it must be aimed accurately at the target, and it can't be used through glass, so a driver couldn't aim at a car in front and drive at the same time?

Perfectlap · 08-30-2005, 10:34 AM

no laser can be fired from a moving vehicle. The cop that was following me didn't trip the K or Ka band on my V1, only the laser. And he pulled over the other car after trailing him and not from a sneaky hideout behind a tree.
What impressed me was that detectors will only pick up laser if its pointed directly at the detector. And my V1 picked it up twice.

I think if I'm not mistaken that K and Ka radar guns have to be fired from stationary points (by law in some states). I was told that if you were pulled over to ask to see the the laser gun readout and that the officer was obligated to show it to you. They don't tell you that you have this right apparently.

The V1 was the only detector to pick up laser from a pursuing vehicle in one of the recent evaluations (posted on this forum). Laser certainly travels through glass, isn't that how my EZ-Pass for tolls works?
My understanding is that radars are only illegal in Virginia and Canada.

RandallNeighbour · 08-30-2005, 11:22 AM

I almost got nailed with laser a few weeks ago and my brand new V1 didn't warn me a bit... it only went off when I was being hit far too late to slow down! Almost made me want to send it back because I was inside that 30 day MBG window, but knowing laser can't be detected unless they're shooting at you helps ease my pain a bit.

It was a two-car sting operation set up with one stationary cop in an unmarked vehicle with the window rolled down and him aiming it at me like it was a real gun. He also blasted me with it when I was far too close to do anything except pull over and then bend over! The other Texas DPS officer was in a marked unit attempting to nail me a second time with his Ka band just in case the cop with the laser didn't get an over the limit reading... the V1 did notify me of multiple threats on Laser and Ka and that saved my butt a second time. They were close to one another, but so close as to see them both instantly in one glance over the hill.

Had it not been for the construction truck on the other side of the road with his yellow lights blazing when I was a a quarter of a mile back from that rise (which caused me to stand on my brakes unnecessarily) I'd have been arrested for doing 92 in a 65 (26+ mph over the limit earns you a reckless driving charge, not a speeding ticket).

I encountered three laser-based speed traps on my vacation. Just got plain lucky I wasn't ticketed on all three occasions. Frankly, the laser guns are by far the best way to catch speeders today as the detectors just can't do anything more than light up and make a racket that states, You just got busted."

I think I will now invest in a laser deflector, diffuser or jammer of some sort.

JackG · 08-30-2005, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

no laser can be fired from a moving vehicle. The cop that was following me didn't trip the K or Ka band on my V1, only the laser. And he pulled over the other car after trailing him and not from a sneaky hideout behind a tree.
What impressed me was that detectors will only pick up laser if its pointed directly at the detector. And my V1 picked it up twice.

I think if I'm not mistaken that K and Ka radar guns have to be fired from stationary points (by law in some states). I was told that if you were pulled over to ask to see the the laser gun readout and that the officer was obligated to show it to you. They don't tell you that you have this right apparently.

The V1 was the only detector to pick up laser from a pursuing vehicle in one of the recent evaluations (posted on this forum). Laser certainly travels through glass, isn't that how my EZ-Pass for tolls works?

I'm quite sure that laser can be FIRED from a moving vehicle, but it cannot be USED from a moving vehicle. It must be directed to a certain spot on the target car and held there to be accurate. All LIDAR units that I'm aware of are hand-held and have a scope with crosshairs or a dot to use for targetting. Even if the officer had a partner trying to use one from the passenger seat, jiggling the laser spot from the rear bumper to the rear glass would yeild an inaccurate result. It is refracted by glass, making the aiming of from inside a moving car pretty much useless.

At 1000 feet, the laser "spot" has grown to about 3.5 feet by 3 feet. At that distance, the laser is pretty much covering the entire back of our cars.

The K and KA bands are totally different, and can be used from a moving vehicle with any aiming needed. They are simply pointed forward, and typically display the speed for the strongest reflection. Glass does not materially affect their signal, and neither does a little bouncing around. While some states may legislate that they can only be used when stationary, that certainly isn't the case in SC.

I don't doubt that the officer in your story was spraying laser around and looking for brakelights, and ended up pulling someone over. I just can't make any sense from the laser part. He can certainly write a ticket by using his judgement and speedometer to say you were traveling X mph faster than his calibrated speedo says that he was. Perhaps he looked for someone to act guilty based on brakelights, and wrote them up on presumed guilt? Like that's never happened before!

Perfectlap · 08-30-2005, 12:22 PM

wait....so if you hit your brakes after spotting a cruiser in your rear view
and you're more likely to get a ticket?

JackG · 08-30-2005, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

wait....so if you hit your brakes after spotting a cruiser in your rear view
and you're more likely to get a ticket?

No... but if a cruiser is behind two cars that are speeding, and he's looking to pull someone, and he hits those two cars with an instant-on KA or laser signal, you can bet he will pull the car that hits it's brakes, giving away the fact it's using a radar detector.

Just seeing a cruiser behind you, then hitting your brakes will simply provide the officer some amusement, or possibly some curiosity as he wonders what you're so paranoid about, eh?

RandallNeighbour · 08-30-2005, 03:17 PM

Whenever I see a cruiser behind me tracking along to find speeders, I just take my foot off the gas and coast down to the speed limit and hold it. In Houston, there's always a kid flying down the road faster than me when I spot a cop and every single time he sees the flagrant violator and zooms around me to catch him. I bet this has happened to you as well.

While we always think cops are on the prowl to give someone a ticket like their next meal depended upon it, I don't think this is entirely true. I've asked friends in law enforcement about this and they say that if you slowly reduce your speed and abide by the law, quite often they'll leave you alone and move on to blatant law breakers who are not paying attention to the fact that there's a cruiser on the same road headed in the same direction. Their goal, I am told, is not to write tickets, but to provide a presence on the road so drivers will be safe and abide by the law. Yeah, right... I'll believe that about 20% of the time, but no more than that.

Those cops who are trying to make their quota or are out for "the thrill of the hunt" are a different story, and it's impossible to know the difference when you're being tailed.

I do know they like to brag about ticketing Porsche drivers to fellow cops, so we should all be on guard when driving. It's far more fun to write a ticket for a driver of a Boxster than a mother or father in a minivan with kids in the back. Where's the joy in saying "I really stuck it to the poor mother of three this afternoon" compared to "I got me a Porsche today! That rich prick really thought he could drive as fast as he liked, but I taught him an expensive lesson!"

Don't flame me on that last statement... I know most Porsche driver's aren't rich and arrogant, but it is a common stereotype with which we must all live.