SharkSkin

Ron, if anyone would know, it's you... is X-band still in use in Calif.? I know CHP is Ka with some leftover K units on Bikes. Sunnyvale is K. Any solid info on X band usage? I for one have not seen an X alert turn out to be a cop -- ever. Well, not in the last ~ 5 years anyway.

GT Jackson

Anybody using a V1 is being fooled by bogus advertising by Valetine. Read the reports. It is called the "Chicken Little" of detectors because of all the false readings. The technology is outdated and hasn't been improved in nearly ten years. The arrows are bogus. Most all new dectectors have forward and rear reception. The only thing it exceeds in, is radar dectection that is no longer in use by the most all highway depts. It's so called new and improved technology isn't.

Save yourself some serious money and do the research.

Yikes!!! Is this going to cause a hornet's nest response! Or better, some honest debate.

Gordon

heinrich

Gordon while I do agree from my actual observations, you are about to be creamed. V1 is a cult, among some of my best and most respected friends. Kinda like walking up to a man and saying his wife is ugly.

Foz

I am somewhat surprised that they still haven't come out with a V2. It's not like Mike Valentine isn't a radar genius -- The V1 was way ahead of it's time. It would be interesting to know why development apparently stalled at the company. I can think of a few possible reasons:

1. Maybe Mike Valentine was much better as an RF engineer than a signal processing expert. A lot of the progress that has been made since the V1 came out has been due to Digital Signal Processing (i.e. programming).

2. Rest on one's laurels -- Why innovate & spend on R&D when your product is raking in the dough.

3. Internal corporate politics?

Would be interesting to find out.

Edit: I've always liked RadarTest.com... Their latest test (March 2006) isn't very Valentine friendly, though :

http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleid=9090

For those who don't want to read the whole article, the BEL RX65 comes out on top, with the Passport 8500 right behind... The Valentine: You don't want to know (it only wins in 'Best Windshield Mount' & 'Best Laser Performance').

As for X-Band, they say:

"But X-band sensitivity doesn't matter today; two of the three biggest manufacturers stopped making X-band guns except by special order some years back--they list X-band in the catalog only for competitive bidding purposes--and only one state police department, New Jersey, continues to use it in any quantity. The highway patrols In Ohio and North Carolina are fast disposing of their ancient X-band K-55s in lieu of modern Ka-band hardware and even New Jersey is migrating to K band, that state's only other approved frequency."

"We generally left X-band disabled, knowing that with so few X-band units remaining in service, the likelihood of encountering one anywhere west of Ohio ranks right up there with getting a call from the pope, inviting us over for pizza and beer."

davek9

You are correct Dave A. the V1 manual calls them “Bogeys” it is my interpretation that these are reflected radar sources coming in slightly out of phase.

cobalt

Why don't you ask Mike himself he resides on the Carerra GT board.

I have had no issues with my V1. I get the occasional false allert from a Chevy Blazer but nothing major.

Living in NJ I find that many of the older Staties cars are still using X although they have gotten smarter and turn them off once the pulled someone over. On recent drives down the GSP I have been hit by Ka and Laser by staties and in both cases I had adequate warning to brake down from 100 to 65 with only a stare from the cop.

This past weekend I took a trip up to Rhinebeck NY and a NY statie was sitting deep in the woods with laser. I could not see him but was still able to brake down fast enough to let me by, although the Hemi powered Jeep trying to prove he could keep up was not so lucky.

heinrich

Anthony, you are the FIRST to validate what I've been saying for 6 years, namely that laser warnings are useful and I have been saved MANY times against it, by my SR1.

cobalt

My friend just bought a Boxster S and his came with the SR1. He was very scheptical to start but he has grown to love it.

Yes they do help with laser BUT, You better be fast and hard on the brakes. Unlike radar there is little to no reaction time allowed. I guess too many years of driving well above the legal limit has tought me a thing or two. To be honest I think NJ has a long way to go in training their officers how to use these things properly, which I hope they never do. Then again the relatively small cross section of our cars gives them very little to accurately aim at so there is another plus for the shark.

Foz

Haha... That's a good one.

"Excuse me W8MM, I just sent you a PM asking about confidential business info. But hey, we're all Rennlisters, right?"

Reminds me of that Jack in the Box commercial where the guy jokingly asks to speak to Jack at the drive-in window, and the order-taker punches the button that patches him through to 'Mr. Box'

BTW, is magwheel his son?

Alan

Gordon,

Whoa - Red Flags to a bunch of bulls....!

Nah I'm not going for it - to each his own.... if you don't like it don't buy it...

Alan

AO

I love my V1. It is the best radar detector I've ever owned. I don't get too many falses, but I did get one this past weekend from a truck with adaptive cruise control. Took me a minute to figure it out. The great thing about the V1 is that it tells you how many radars signatures it's picking up and where they are coming from. Let me tell you a true story why the V1 is superior in this regard.

About 3 weeks ago I was driving home at night. I knew the radar detector was going to give me a false when I pass a particular building on this road. It always goes off without fail. This night was the same except for one thing, the bogey counter showed "2". "Hmmm, that's different!", I thought. So I slowed down just in case.

Sure enough. 'ol smokey was sitting in the driveway pointing my way. There is no way I would have seen him until it was too late. Thankfully I had my V1 and it saved my *** from getting a ticket. If I had been using any other detector, I would have just kept cruising falsely thinking that is was the automatic doors at this business that were setting my detector off, and the cop knew it!

hacker-pschorr

I doubt it based on this post & in a different thread he mentioned being 58 years old:

auzivision

Any radar detector is better than no radar detector and some radar detectors are better than others. As much as I wish Valentine would come up with evolutions to his product, in my opinion it still has all the best features that appeal to me. These being the signal direction, sensitivity, multiple antennas and source count.

Like someone else mention, provide me the data and let me decide how to react. Once you have learned to use a V1 effectively, theirs no comparison… it the best tool if you want maximum protection. Sure it might not look pretty, the band LEDs are hard to distinguish, no user friendly programming, no auto mute, beep more often, dated user manual and it costs more.

http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleid=9090

Radartest.com states that Valentine’s market share has plummeted to .6%. I have nothing to dispute this with, but I’d find it hard to believe they could continue to advertise in so many magazines if this were true.

This think came out in 1992 with only one face lift and some updates. Still selling after 14 years, kind of reminds me a certain automobile that a lot of us drive. I wonder what the GTS market share look like in 1995?

AO

About 0.0006%! Definately less than 1 thousandth of one percent.

SharkSkin

I won't try to argue with your opinion, but I will dispute the "fact" highlighted in bold above. The V1 has been continuously improved and upgraded over the years. Any older unit can be upgraded to the latest they have to offer. Check this link: http://www.valentine1.com/upgrades

True, it has undergone one change in the packaging, a slimmer case. But saying it hasn't changed because you can't see the changes is like saying Porsche didn't improve the 928 between 1978 & 1995! (oh, wait, there was a cosmetic change to the bumpers between 86 & 87...)