Just bought a V1 off ebay...do I need the concealed display?

[Randy Webb]

Well, we can always measure the line of sight. We take a 911 (with 1 deg rake) and a Crown Vic, park the latter behind the former.....

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by Randy Webb
Well, we can always measure the line of sight. We take a 911 (with 1 deg rake) and a Crown Vic, park the latter behind the former.....

yeah, I guess so. maybe just stand behind your car and slooowly lower your line..

all I'm doing is giving my somewhat hard info. That's my profile or I state that it's not.

Originally posted by JackOlsen
Oh, no -- I use the radar detector. Just not the remote display. I keep meaning to install it, but the base unit works great for me.

In fact, it's riding with Tyson across country right now, (hopefully) keeping him out of harm's way.

V1 in Tysons case should be for voltage detector. He ran into a altinator problem in PA. He's spending the night and waiting for a overnighted replacement.

[rdane]

Ok, I'll bite.

My car is at Euro ride height. Makes my V1 a measured 40" off the street directly below the rear view mirror.

From somewhere between 5 and 10 yards the V1 comes into view depending on your height and how flat it is. At 50 yards if you have the eyes for it I suspect you can actually see the V1. You aren't going to see it up close from the rear or walking up on a approach unless you are really looking and the lights are all flashing. (Neither will anyone trained in LE be looking for a V1 on the approach, they be looking for your hands) You want to make LE feel all warm and fuzzy and skip giving you a ticket? Don't be digging for registration and DL, just leave your hands on the wheel at 10 and 2 and wait for them to arrive @ the window and ask. They aren't in any hurry, trust me.)

10 days ago I had a RCMP follow me for several miles in broad daylight.

When he finally pulled me over and walked up to the car he asked how I knew to slow down....V1 in plain sight mind you. I ended up pulling the unit down and handing it to him. He took a closer look with me out of the car at how it was installed (suction cup V1 mount)

Having been in his position myself, looking for a radar detector (if they are legal) is the last thing on most traffic cops minds. Plates, registration, lights, insurance card and the simple fact that if you are being an idiot driver and need to be pulled over anyway typically means you are an idiot and are just as likely to come up with a gun or try to run him over. Car stops suck and are very high risk for LE.

Radar detectors are part of the game. You speed and they try to catch you. You have to be a little paranoid to think LE is going to rip you for using a V1. What can they do besides write you a ticket Rodney?

If you get busted most of the guys will be laughing at the expensive toy (if they notice it at all) that obviously didn't work for you...."here is a ticket and ...oh, have a nice day"

Just don't tell me the lights or box are a signal that you are Mario or Al Capone. Just the facts mam, just the facts.

My V1 has paid my insurance and then some every year.

[VaSteve]

Originally posted by Rufblackbird
Hmm...I glance at my mirror all the time when I'm going fast, just in case I see familiar Crown Vic or Impala headlights

Steve, it's exactly why I finally bought it. I'm a gadget freak too, but need to save $$ for the roadtrip. Now with less than 10 days left in MD, I have to hurry up and learn how to make the best of it. Then again, there's that trip I have to take down to NC to pick up a Recaro seat this weekend...if the cop sees the V1 will he/she still confiscate it after I show my Hawaii license?

Make sure you hardwire it in in someway. 911 cigarette lighters are bigger than other cars and the thing shakes loose over every other bump:

"deet-doot, doot-doot, da-ne-na-ne-nah-nah"

[anthony]

It seems like V1s on ebay sell for almost what they sell for new. Why do the used one hold their value so well? Are they somehow better than the new ones?

[cstreit]

I would get it. You need to react quickly to radar sometimes and it's really nice to haev the thing in easy reach of the eyes... Plus, being in MD you want the concealment.

[Randy Webb]

Ah.. it worked. Thx to rdane for doing something Ron & I are/were too lazy to do. Now, who will measure the ht. of eyeballs for someone sitting in a Crown Vic? I'm sure you can find an officer sitting along a roadside somewhere, and approach them with a yardstick....

We also need someone to determine how far behind you can see the V1 light up at night. Ibet it's more than 50 yards.

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by anthony
It seems like V1s on ebay sell for almost what they sell for new. Why do the used one hold their value so well? Are they somehow better than the new ones?

my original V-1 got up-dated when they up-graded the whole line up.

don't know about an old one keeping its value.. the up-grade is over $200 to the old one.

[anthony]

I see them selling for $350-375. To me for less than a $50 difference on a $400 item I'd go for the new one with a warranty every time. I saw one with the remote unit sell for $400. That's only $30 less than a new unit. I just figured I was missing something.

[Jack Olsen]

They seem to hold their value really well, which is odd, considering that Valentine keeps upgrading them -- and sending an old unit in to get upgraded isn't cheap. Before I bought one used, I'd want to check the age of the unit by entering the serial number at this link, and letting Valentine email me about what upgrades the unit would need to be as good as new (and what that would cost).

[rdane]

Randy may be this will help you out. Here are pictures of a SureFire flash light with 60 lumens or three to four times brighter than a two D-cell flashlight hung from the V1 mount just below the rear view mirror. As a reference the Surefire is bright enough to turn your head in broad daylight.

15 feet & 4X


25 yards @ 4X


50 yards again @ 4x


Here is on light glowing
@ 15 feet and 4X


@4x and 15 yards or where a cop would be in a normal stop


@4X and 25 yards


@4x and 50 yards


Somewhere between 30 yards and 50 yards with 20/20 vision a V1 with all lights flashing across the board became invisable for two of us pacing back and forth.

More importantly you need to find someone who cares if you are using a detector and can actually see it as you go by 50+ mph. I know it is there and the car is standing still in broad daylight I am having a hard time seeing it.

[pwd72s]

R Dane? Why would you want a sure fire light? I've been thinking of getting one through the NRA. A good purchase? IMHO, a V-1 is the best self defense device since the SA Colt..(this to stay on the V-1 topic)

[Randy Webb]

interesting. I agree as to whether a cop would care. Two things: 1. some people use them where state law makes them illegal (they may not be illegal, but no one has challenged the state/fed conflict of laws in a published court case that I now of).

2, a cop that did see it migh be more likely to make a stop, or more likely to write a ticket. Many cops are "car guys" but we need to face the fact that a det. is a device whose main purpose is to evade certain traffic laws.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by JackOlsen
They seem to hold their value really well, which is odd, considering that Valentine keeps upgrading them -- and sending an old unit in to get upgraded isn't cheap. Before I bought one used, I'd want to check the age of the unit by entering the serial number at this link, and letting Valentine email me about what upgrades the unit would need to be as good as new (and what that would cost).

But Jack, that is semi protection for people who have them stolen. Recently, at a local mall, I arrived at one of our daily drivers to find the guy parked next to us in a panic. He'd left his V-1 in sight, window smashed, you know the tale. Whenever I call V-1 for anything, the first question they ask is the serial # of my unit, then talk to me by my first name, ask my last name. If I give the wrong one, I assume bells will be sounded. To go back to the guy in the mall lot? I suggested he call V-1...first call, as his best bet to catch a thief.

[Jack Olsen]

Outside of states where they're illegal, has anyone ever come across a police officer who was upset by a radar detector? I've been pulled over with them, and it's never come up in the discussion, even when the stop was for speeding.

[pwd72s]

I've been running one detector or another for years. Jack, in the "few" times I've been pulled over? No comments from the cop about the detector. However, that doesn't mean he didn't notice, then put me in his book as a "professional speeder"...as opposed to the speeders who don't use self defense. One long ago ticket that I fought in court, the officer testified that I had a detector. I still won, thanks to having hired a good lawyer. Hell, I'd have paid the fine for speeding...this guy wrote me up for "careless driving", a much higher penalty. Why can't these guys take a joke? He admitted, during the trial, that he was outside his car in a gravel company's lot when I went by...he taking a leak. He said I must have been going 130! Yet I was stopped less than 2 miles later...my lawyer, using math, demonstrated that he must have been doing 310 to catch me...
Case dismissed.

[anthony]

has anyone ever come across a police officer who was upset by a radar detector?

I had an old Escort and I got a ticket while using it. The cop just kind of smirked at it. I think a radar detector essentially means that you don't ever get a warning - although in Porsche you probably have to be a hot chick to get off with a warning.

I did learn one lesson that day. Don't speed when you aren't paying attention and have the radio blasting. The Escort would have warned me far in advance but I didn't hear it until it was too late.

[Randy Webb]

I came a cross a judge one time (or maybe the creep was a hearings officer) who was upset at a radar det.

[rdane]

Never have in the 2 years and 15K miles I have been using my V1. I have been pulled over 4 times now with the V1 in plain view. 3 in Washington state and the most recent in BC, 120kph in a 60. Only one ended with a ticket, HOV lane with a single driver. The other three let me walk with a warning. 3 of them noted the V1 and asked if it was radar. I have had two cars follow me close enough to read my plates and then back off...may be they saw the V1 and gave up