Hey everybody, sorry to bother ya'll but when i checked out the reviews section, it didn't help me out very much so i figured i'd get your votes. thanks in advance :cheers: :chevy :cheers:

 

I'm really happy with my V1.

 

i was so happy with my first v1, i bought a second one.

 

I bought the Bel 980 because it was the cheapest of the 3 best radar detector out there; got it for $207 brand new, while the Passport is $300 and the V1 is $450 w/ the conceal module. I think the Bel 980 is the best bang for the bucks. I really liked the V1, but just couldn't see myself spending an extra $250 for the arrows. If my detector beeps, I slow down. I don't care what direction it came from. The $250 that I saved, I got the Donaldson Blackwing intake and the hood seal. Don't get me wrong, I would love to own a V1 anyday, if $$ is not an issue......

 

I picked the Bel 980 over the Escort. It's saved me SEVERAL times from a hefty ticket. The Bel sniffs out radar early every time, including Ka, but the price you pay for the extra sensitivity is the occasional false alarm that kills an otherwise high-velocity cruise. I'm still happy with it. I drove a Vette from Chicago to Florida and back with a friend's Escort last Spring and it seemed to be less prone to falsies. Has anybody seen published tests that show how the V1 compares (besides their ads) in sensitivity and false alarms?

 

Satisfied owner V-1 here!

 

Given the cost of fines and the impact of points on your insurance rates, this is not a decision to agonize over, nor a purchase to skimp on.

Buy the radar detector that beats the competition year in, year out. The V1. I've had two, loved them both; and the acid test...no tickets.

Ranger

 

I have purchase five (5) Valentine one's. Some of them were gifts, because I am so confident in the product. But, I always believe in trying the competition before committing to one product. So I bought an Escort Passport 8500, and ran that too for a while. I alternated days between passport and V1, and sometimes I ran both. In the end, the V1 proved to be superior. No one ever realizes how important the arrows and the counter are, untill driving with one. And the sensetivity is spot on. My Passport got stolen by someone in the dealership when the car was in for service (Don't go to Dobles Chevrolet in Manchester NH) and when I replaced it, I chose a valentine one. For me, there is no substitute. At least not yet.

Scott

 

My passport works great...and alot cheaper than the V1.

 

Ranger has it right....this is not a purchase to worry that additional $150-$250 dollars on. If you're gonna speed, you need the best. The V1 is clearly best unit, time and time again, in all the ***honest*** tests.

It's kinda like buying a cut-rate hardhat that is 75% as strong as a top quailty hat. Do you really want to be wearing it when a brick comes down?

I was an Escort fan for many years (first one bought in 1980 for $249, when "fuzzbusters" cost less than $100 or so) As most of us know, Escort was the first of the "superhet" dectectors, and was light-years ahead of the so-called competition. But many guys thought it was too expensive. I paid the high price, and it saved my backside for many years. Their fuzzusters got them in trouble, and eventually they threw them away.

But now I'm not an Escort fan. The cops here in Virginia have VG1, and I kept getting busted. So I bought the V1, mainly for that reason. But, as it turns out, it's just soooo much better than my Escort was.

 

Have the V1. Almost got nabed the other day but VALENTINE saaaaved me!! Wooosh! Cop came up on ramp after I had passed and entered freeway. He came on freway with radar a blaz'n! I Got the arrow to the rear and slowed. I for one am not familiar with other detectors or ever owned another. Went with the Valentine on recomendation of trusted source. Been very happy with it and been saved more than once!
Does any of the other detectors see from all around as well?

 

I assume you are referring to the VG2 radar detector detector. So are you saying the Escort was not invisible to VG2 and the V1 is? What model did you have. I'm looking to buy one in the next 2 days so I need some feedback on this point as I may be driving in Canada where VG2 is everywhere. I noticed on the Escort web site that only the Passport 8500 is claimed to be invisible to VG2. This is why I'm asking about the model you had.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

I'm looking to buy within 2 days and have another question for you V1 owners out there: Can you effectively dim the huge red arrows without going to a complete black display and remote display unit. I would like to be able to Dim the standard display to the point where it is not visible outside the car but I can still see it. Is that possible?

I've read in some reviews (not Car and Driver but they run full page adds for V1 so I don't know who to trust in these reviews) that the Passport 8500 has slightly better Ka reception. Any truth to this? I really don't care about the laser detection capability as laser is not an issue late at night when I most need a detector.

I know the V1 is a great device but I'm not crazy about the HUGE red arrows, I really like the 'expert mode' in the Passport and am not sure the V1 is worth the extra $140 (including remote display unit).

 

Bertrand--yes, thanks, I meant the VG2 detector-detector. The model I had was a "about 4 years ago" model. Perhaps the newer Escort really is invisible to VG2....maybe. But it certainly seems that V1 is....I haven't been "selected" at all while using it.

The huge red arrows on the V1 cannot be dimmed. Thus, I use the remote, which fits PERFECTLY in the ash tray (with the ash receptacle removed, of course). A little bit of velcro holds in in place.

I cannot comment on the Ka reception differences....don't know, other than what C&D reported. But when I changed to V1 4 years ago, it was significantly better than Escort.

 

Thanks for the great feedback! :cheers:

 

I have my one month old V1 for sale for $375 + shipping. It comes with everything that a new one comes with.

 

You might not be sure, but I am! The V1 is well worth the expense. The arrows -- big or not -- are invaluable, and are EXTREMELY helpful in avoiding tickets.

We all know that despite having a radar detector, if you're speeding and don't slow down when you're getting radar aimed at you, then you're probably going to get a ticket. So, detectors don't keep you from getting ticekts -- they attempt to WARN you so that YOU do what's necessary in order to avoid getting a ticket. If the V1 picks up radar as well as, say, the Passport, but gives you MUCH BETTER information on how to avoid getting caught for speeding, then isn't this a no-brainer?!

You could simply slow down as soon as your detector goes off -- and slow down EVERY time it goes off. Conceivably, you'd be driving pretty slowly most of the time, which is exactly what we all want to AVOID with detectors. The V1, by telling you how many signals it's picking up, and where they're coming from, gives you valuable information that allows you to make more-educated decisions about how you should [continue to] drive. The others just don't have this. Period.

You just have to decide what will give you more peace of mind -- knowing that you got unquestionable protection for a hefty hunk of change, or that you saved money on the second-best detector. I fell in the first category. :)

-Kirk

 

V1= #1

:cheers:

 

Two points:

The Passport has less false alarms in my experience and the expert display on the passport is actually better than the V1 in some respects because it shows you how many sources of radar there are in each category and how strong each are in real time.

In other words, you can see there are 2 Ka sources one is getting weaker while the other one is getting stronger, there might be one K source and two other X band sources all displayed at the same time.

You know the number, intensity, intensity change and types of threats all at once in real time. As to the location, you can infer to some extent based on intensity fluctuation (getting stronger/weaker). The only time you really can't do that is for instant on where the arrows do provide an edge in knowing with one burst whether the threat is ahead or behind.

Not questioning the V1 is the ultimate detector, just that there are positives with both and one is $140 less. Call me cheap but I got better headlight bulbs with those dollars so I don't hit a deer at night...

 

Hey Bertrand -- I don't know you, so I can't say if you're really cheap or not! :) If you spent the "extra" money on more Vette parts, then you're probably not cheap. ;)

Anyway, I hear you with the information to "infer" where a cop is, etc. And the strength per band point is an interesting one, although I believe my V1 flashes the arrow that's getting the strongest/most recent signal, so they probably compare there (and the V1 tells you how many signals you're getting, too).

I guess the strongest part of the V1 IS simply the arrows, and they just seem invaluable. I was at the back of a three car caravan with other family members coming back from the shore this summer. I picked up that there was a NJ trooper "ahead", then I saw him visualluy going the other way on the other side of the road, then he passed "to the side", then he was "behind" me down the road. However, the signal kept beeping slowly. Turns out that he had turned around, and was now coming up behind us all. My father and sister (driving their own cars) didn't have radar, but had seen that the statey passed, and were now flying in the left hand lane. Since my radar was still getting a signal from "behind," I imagined that that cop was now following us. The signal started getting stronger, so he was closing. He was in a car with no lights on top, so you might not have even seen visually that there was a cop behind. I phoned my dad and sister and told them to get out of that lane and slow down, and sure enough the cop soon came flying up on our rears. We were all going the speed limit by then.

I think that if I didn't have the arrows in this situation, we'd have all been nabbed. If I had thought that the cop was ahead somewhere the whole time, I'd have driven too quickly until I get a visual of him (based on knowing where the cops can hide on that road), and I would have been nabbed badly. For me, the "extra" $140 here was money well-spent.

-Kirk