Who makes a great unite

 

Valentine.....http://www.valentine1.com


Bel.............. http://www.beltronics.com/detectors.htm :cheers:

 

Suppose to be an independent review on the new Escort model and the V1 out soon. (This month or next) Publication?

I have Escorts,....
I like the V1

 

There are a number of threads about just this issue over in general C4...

I have had escorts... never again... I use V1s and thats that...

 

just got back from a 500 mile road trip with the new escort 8500. have had many others before this. 8500 is the way!!!!!!knocked down KA band way ahead of time from the front and rear!!!!!!what really surprised me was one coming down a side road 3/4 mile away which equals 1 1/2 miles!!!!! down a curvy side road!!!!!does extremely well on K-band and KA-band. on auto, it really gets rid of the trash,e.g. stores and the like without comprmising performance.really like this one!!!! :yesnod: :yesnod: :yesnod: :yesnod:

 

as the crow flies it might still be around 3/4 mile....

 

or 2 1/4 miles!!!!! :D

 

Installed a V1 and am very pleased. There is a guy who makes a wonderful bracket which allows you to mount the V! just below the rear view mirror. If you bury the wire behing the plastic windshield moulding, you have a pro-looking installation with very minimal visibility of the unit. I wouldn't mess with anything than a V1. It is the best, no doubt about it.

You can see pics of the bracket and the installed V1 at a site called "Great Lakes Trophies". The bracket is shown with a C5, but it works fine in a C4. The V1 has certainly saved my butt a number of times.

 

Check this link..
http://www.radartest.com/DS4HEM.html

 

On this subject, I went a little extreme...while I like the performance of the V1 (sitting in my garage unused now...), I decided to go with a more expensive, but "invisible" K40 unit. This thing is just awesome. The unit was professionally installed and consists of two boxes, one inside the front and rear fascias, connected to an internally mounted cpu. The signals come from two eraser sized speakers mounted in the a-pillars (one each side) and signify which side the radar or laser is coming from. This is further enhanced by led's mounted in the instrument cluster underneath the glass, so it looks as if the car came with them (hence the invisibility factor...no external wires or big quirky boxes to steal). The control switch for highway/city and to run it silent/dark is a single **** which I have hidden away in the console. It comes with a 1-year guarantee to repay traffic citations incurred, and I can verify they have insured themselves well. 2 years of kicking **** and taking names and no stops yet...just a coupla looks! It's detection capability is stand-alone...if you wanna spend the bucks...(hell, you own a Corvette!) get a K40...

 

Radartest.com is owned by Craig Peterson who offers his services as a consultant and if you decline as Valentine Research has, he retaliates by downgrading his assessment of its performance. I wouldn't believe anything he has to say about radar detectors. Speedzone.com is the exact same deal except it is owned by Carl Fors. I wouldn't believe anything on that site either.

 

While I am sure the Valentine is an extremely good unit, it does seem strange that this would be the case with two places that stake their reputation on evaluating radar detectors. This almost sounds like a conspiracy, if it is true.
Are there any more independent tests and comparisons out there? If ten different places said the Valentine one was inferior to some new units, would you believe it? Could they all be in on the Conspiracy? The latest tests that I read on a URL (wish I had it, but I don't), that wasn't either of these two places that you mention, said that they attempted to get a unit from each manufacturer for evaluation and they were turned down by only one -- Valentine 1. (Why is Valentine afraid to submit a unit for comparison?) So, they purchased one the normal way. While their evaluation of the Valentine 1 was extremely high (I think it came in second), some others were rated as having sensed the radar at a longer range. The tests didn't "bad mouth" the Valentine 1. The message I got was the Valentine was a very good choice, but not necessarily the best.
I'm not saying that all these places aren't in on a conspiracy -- I don't know. But, something is starting to feel unusual here.

Tom Piper


[Modified by Tom Piper, 8:45 AM 9/5/2001]

 

Tom - those are the facts. Peterson is a real rip...

check out http://www.valentine1.com - Mike Valentine outlines the score on detectors.

I know... there are lots of dung being flung around... All I know - the V1 is the best detector I have ever used....

 

Just remember that you can trade in your old Valentine1 for the newer version if they update it.
I did this when mine was 2 years old, got the new front panel display and updated software for $75.00 + shipping.
Can you do that with any other detector? I think not!