Radar Detectors....Valentine vs the new generation units

[75USCarrera]

Well...went for a nice drive last evening in my 03 cab 2...

Beautiful Sunset...after a long hard winter in chicago.
Red Hot Chili Peppers Jamin...
Long day at the office....
My porsche is wired for my valentine....BUT...is wasnt in the car....
Downshift into third...nice lunge forward.....and
I looked up.....at that moment passed an oncoming trooper....

73 in a 45!!!!!!!

Oh well...I hate that woe is me feeling.....

anyway....

So I am going to get a unit to keep in the car for good!!! I usually keep the radar detector in my daily driver. I have always used a valentine. I checked the threads and there are no new threads about some of the newer "smart" units that have gps and know where cameras are. There is a new version of the passport that has this technology.

http://www.escortradar.com/passport9500ix-details.php

Does anyone have this and any thoughts on how it compares to the valentine. I read an online review and the passport one rated as #1...valentine was #2.

Let me know....

Greg
----------------------
03 Cab 2
75 US Carrera
69 Camaro Z11 Pace Car

[Joe Bob]

I now have two Valentine's....one for my driver and one for my work vehicle. It saves me from the "road tax".....

I very rarely see the instant on Laser. It's mostly the moving Ka band of the CHP. Soon as I hear that double chirp I back off.

Yesterday I saw a dickweed in Mercedes weaving thru traffic while I was exiting the freeway and I then got the Ka hit.....three cruisers were right behind him.....

[Dottore]

subscribed

[RWebb]

nothing else has the arrows...

[Por_sha911]

The way I understand it, the Escorts have GPS feature to help with false alarms. If you are using it in a dense urban area that might be good. As far as sensitivity is concerned, V1 still has it. Lastly, the arrows really do help. I thought it was a gimmick until I started using the V1.

[bonkers]

At the risk of sounding played out, how about making better use of the old Mark 1 Eyeballs? You lunged forward and passed that oncoming cop so he wasn't lurking in the bushes, he was visible and coming right at you. Did you look before you lunged or were you lost in the music?

I like listening to classical music - Mozart for preference - or something light like the Beetles when driving my Porsche (when I'm not listening to the Zuffenhausen symphony of course) because it calms me down and makes me less tempted to lunge. I find that rock music has the opposite effect. Might want to re-consider your choice of driving music.

Just a couple of thoughts.

[burgermeister]

I'm a fan of the V1 as well, but in certain urban areas it is intolerable, as it is constantly beeping and refuses to stay muted for more than 10 seconds. On the freeway or country 2-lanes, it can't be beat.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by bonkers

how about making better use of the old Mark 1 Eyeballs?

This certainly has to be part of the equation. Having said that, it is nice to be reminded to stay on your toes when the little beep says you have company.

[84 911 WideBody]

Originally Posted by bonkers

I like listening to classical music - Mozart for preference - or something light like the Beetles when driving my Porsche (when I'm not listening to the Zuffenhausen symphony of course) because it calms me down and makes me less tempted to lunge. I find that rock music has the opposite effect. Might want to re-consider your choice of driving music.

Just a couple of thoughts.

AH HA found the guy in the left lane doing 45mph........




lol all in fun.

[jcunning]

I have used V1 for about 15 years now, but have also thought about getting the new escort with GPS technology. Another feature is that you can manually set places to avoid as you drive. You may also be able to download other people's avoid lists as well. I think I read that somewhere on Escorts page. That would be very cool.

In my opinion Valentine has not really moved forward with the latest technology available. They got their arrows and think that nothing else matters...

Escort also has add-on units that can disrupt laser attacks. They plug right into the main unit. Another feature I read about is that the they can display the actual radar wavelength in Hertz. From there you are supposed to be able to determine if the radar is a police gun or a road sign. Just another way to help determine false alarms.

If I ever buy another radar detector, I will probably get an Escort and at least try it out. You can always send it back!

[porschenut]

Arrows are 100% useless IMO. What difference does it make if you know where he is? Your reaction will be the same regardless - slow down until it stops beeping. I don't get why people think arrows make it somehow better.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by porschenut

Arrows are 100% useless IMO. What difference does it make if you know where he is? Your reaction will be the same regardless - slow down until it stops beeping. I don't get why people think arrows make it somehow better.

After you've run one, you'll know. Arrows to the side usually mean a signal from a building...automatic door openers and such. Behind you usually means a cop travelling in the opposite direction, arrow ahead is the real alert...

[m110]

There's no dumber feeling than having a car wired for a detector, having it in the glovebox and getting nailed.

I generally don't speed in urban areas so it comes on whenever I need to open it up. I thought A LOT about 911 mounting options, detector choices and permanently mounting the detector as this negates the theft risk of leaving it in the windshield and hassle of putting it up and down. I don't think the GPS thing would be so helpful as of yet. The key is early detetection...I'll accept some falses. You get to really understand the patterns of falses and what is real so that slowing down becomes second nature

The Elise and Boxster crew have a setup to mount it between the seats so it can see front and back. I thought of an outrigger off the passenger seat headrest. Also thought of a front valentine in the fresh air vent and one in the back window. After some unstandardized testing and viewing other's choices it seemed mounting it in the back window was the best compromise. I talked to Mike Valentine who said it would be ok to mount it in the back window although there might be some forward loss of range...it's so sensitive that I don't think it's a problem.

As it stands now the detector hangs below my high mounted third brake light, the controller box (extra item) is mounted to the back of the heater control box between the seats on 3.2 cars, the display is a custom job that sits somewhere on the dash (common spots are on the turn signal shroud at 6 o'clock of the tach, high up between the tach and speedo, over by the fuel door release, or in the ashtray). I also have an extra mute button hooked up to a microswitch that is afixed to the back of the turnsignal stalk. It works great.

Of note, when I was reading the 102, 087th google page on radar detectors I came across a police bulletin board like this one with all sorts of threads. One was talking about how useless detectors are. They were saying how many times they have pulled over people to ticket them and they had a detector on the dash. The consensus really was that they are useless. The boneheads forget that they have NO way of knowing how many people with their Valentines cranked on the brakes 2 miles ahead and were sitting in their cars wondering "is this guy really this far ahead of me" as the Valentine ticks like a bomb about to explode. The attitude was really amazing.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

After you've run one, you'll know. Arrows to the side usually mean a signal from a building...automatic door openers and such. Behind you usually means a cop travelling in the opposite direction, arrow ahead is the real alert...

In addition to what Paul said, you may want to visit the V-1 web site, where additional explanation with pics is provided.

You will never go back...

[RWebb]

I agree with m110 that mounting can be problematic. I'd love to have a black box built in just below or above the rear view mirror to conceal the V-1.

There are way too many kids, dogs, bikes, pedestrians, etc. to speed in an urban area.

[m110]

[QUOTE=RWebb;4640536]I agree with m110 that mounting can be problematic. I'd love to have a black box built in just below or above the rear view mirror to conceal the V-1.
QUOTE]

I worked on some prototypes for a rear view mirror integrated with a detector. One had the mirror a touch closer to the driver and a notch cut for the rear sensor with the unit ahead of the mirror. Another had the unit sitting under the mirror. There is company that makes a mount that suspends the V1 from the mirror nicely. Above the mirror location seems to have a problem with the slope of the roofline obscuring the rearward view (although I don't know if this makes a difference in reality).
I abandoned all these because I drove around with two valentines for a few months. One in the optimal location of front and center just below the mirror and one in various locations like the back window suspended from the third brake light. I couldn't tell a difference in detection capability. It obscures rearward vision a little but it's ok.
I also drove with a V1 and Escort side by side....sometimes both on, sometimes one or the other. There probably is some interference from having both going but I liked the V1 better. They were pretty close. The extra mounting V1 options sealed it for me. I believe escort has more mounting options now as well.

[glennspiegler]

Escort 9500ci is unbelievable. Read about it before buying a Valentine.

[RWebb]

Contact info or URL for the "company that makes a mount that suspends the V1 from the mirror nicely"??

Thanks!

That has to be cheaper than 2 units...

[m110]

Driving with two detectors was purely to test different mount locations and models with an internal control.

the website for the mount is

http://www.countryjoycrafts.com/350Z/valentinemount.htm

one of them there fits our mirrors, however it is still exposed to world, I thought about building an enclosure around it

[frankc]

Originally Posted by m110

one of them there fits our mirrors, however it is still exposed to world, I thought about building an enclosure around it

Is the purpose of the enclosure to keep the detector out of sight of thieves, or out of sight of an officer who may have pulled you over (or both)?

I always wondered if the sight of a radar detector affected the attitude of an officer who has pulled you over for any type of violation. That is, would it tend to make him/her more inclined to issue a citation rather than just a warning?

Frank