Catfood

Valentine 1 is the solution. It I'd has the best Ka range and detects laser very well, mount it high on ur windshield and you will be fine! As long as u don't speed through city streets you will be fine! I have run it for 5 years with no problems just learn to differentiate between the falses and true signals

Donald

Level8Drummer, geeesh!- is a quote from George Pickle next?

Alan

Holy thread resurrection catfood! ...this one was from the crypt...

Alan

SeanR

I think this is the oldest bring back ever and I think the V-1 rocks.

Andre Hedrick

V1 plus Blinder X47 or X45

andy-gts

I have the blinder but havent installed yet...seems to make things more complicated. I dont speed in suburbia and that seems to be where the lasers are. not in the open road

dan212

Valentine is the only source for V1's.. I've used them for years. Still the best. I tried the newest escort 9500 last summer and was disappointed with its range compared to the Valentine.

MGW-Fla

The V-1 Rocks!

H2

+928

My V1 has paid for itself several times over. There are, however, false alarm transmitters which are liberally scattered around in some areas of the country on purpose so as to trigger any of the detectors. No detector is really effective for instant-on. And cops are using that more and more so the level of effectiveness of any detector is debatable.

The only way to really avoid a speeding ticket is to not speed. Cruise Control is your best friend. In the P-car it's way too easy to creep to 120mph without realizing it.

A friend claims that the operating costs of his owning a high performance car is to factor in periodic speeding tickets. That can get pretty expensive in a quality car if you're not cautious.

Another tactic that some use is to follow a pretty fast car fairly closely...hoping that they'll get pulled over and you won't. That has a downside in that both of you may be pulled over. In my files somewhere I have a photo of a whole row of 928s pulled over at once. I don't know how that happened as I know that some of them have dectectors.

Here is the northwest, a fair number of 928 guys rent race tracks for "track attacks."

H2

redpathtribe

Agree V-1 is the best. Paid for itself many times over! FWIW, for those wanting to save a few bucks on a new one (assuming they still do this...), you can call them and order a "refurbished" unit with full warranty for about $40 cheaper. This is how I ordered mine years ago and it looked brand new. The lady I talked to at V-1 said that a lot of the refurbished units are returns from people that do a 30 day free trial, so nothing is wrong with them or needed to be repaired, just tested, cleaned up and sent back out.

pcar928fan

LOVE my V1's (yes, I have several of them!) they have always been great and I love the directional arrows and the counter! The only thing I wish they would do (ok, TWO things) is make the audible warnings more unique for each alert as well make the visuals for the different signals different colors. They could do ALL ON for Laser, Red for Ka, Yellow for K and Blue for X or nothing for X...does that even matter anymore???

I also have a Passport IQ...the GPS is actually pretty good (I prefer it to my NUVI actually) but the radar detection leaves more than a bit to be desired. If you get a Ka hit, you better be ON THE BRAKES! That said, it seems to have better Laser detection than my V1... I figure if you get a hit from laser it is just letting you know you are about to get a ticket...not much you can do about it really.

blown 87

James, I am not even sure that the IQ even counts as a radar detector, why in the world did you buy that?

It was designed for folks in Virginia that had to hide the detector, it is near worthless.

For the rest of the replies here and all the love towards the V1, I had one, it was great 15 years ago, but that is almost forever inn the electronics world, they have not even offered a software update in over ten years.

I can think of at least four detectors that are better than a V1.

All you folks that think they are so great have never tried a newer GPS detector next to a V1, and no, the IQ is not a real detector in most folks book that follow the RD world.

I have owned many detectors including the V1, it drove me nuts with the constant false alarms unless you turn the sensitivity down.

The arrows can be a helpful feature for newbies, but any one with some time under their belt will know with out them.

The patent has run out on that feature, so look for it to come on a newer detector from Bellscort, maybe?? (the 9500Ix and 9500Ci both have arrows to point to other things, so it would be simple for them to add that feature I think)

My last detectors have been a V1, a Escort 8500, a Escort 9500Ix and the current Escort 9500CI.

I wish I had a Belltronics STI-r with a set of four head LI laser jamers, but the 9500Ci works well on a 928, as a few here can attest to from being behind me when hit by laser at almost over the limit speeds.

Just so we are up to date on this, the current range king is the Escort Redline, but it is a non GPS detector, most folks are wiling to give up a couple of tenths range from 15.9 miles to 15.7 miles for a detector that wont drive you nuts with seemingly constant false alarms like the V1 will in a urban area.

So when you guys tell me I am wrong, and nuts and that the V1 is perfect, tell me if you have ever used a modern GPS based detector. ( a GPS based detector has nothing to do with telling you where to go like a Gamin GPS, it locks out false alarms. The IQ is a GPS based unit like the Garmins with a so called radar detector in it)

Alan

I suspect the one you mean is where Rick Redpath, Rich Andrade, Marc White, myself & 2-3 others ended up in a line with 2 police cars (a local and a county sherriff) and a bunch of 928s. Nobody got a ticket (just warnings) - when we were stopped we were driving the speed limit. However it had taken them about 15 minutes to catch up after we blew past them as they were chatting off the side of the road. We knew they were coming because we had radar detectors (V1's) and 2 way radios - it was pretty much a battle of the technologies - I'd say it ended up a draw.

Helped that they liked cars..

This was actually a tale about why you need a radar detector

We blew by them near the bottom of Yarnell hill on the way to Jerome, AZ. I think they were waiting for speeders coming downhill - I guess they weren't expecting anyone to go up the hill that fast... (let alone 6-7!) - however the only radar readings obtained were all legal speed ones...

Alan

WyattsRide

So Greg, out of the RD's above what one would consider the best to own if you just want ONE basic all around RD for the $ with the ability to easily move it from one car to another?

It seems that the V1, Escort 8500 and 9500Ix are all about in the same price range. ($300-$500) The 9500CI is more than double that. Am I correct?

blown 87

the 9500Ix hands down if you want a quite RD that can be moved around, if you want a max performance get a Redline, and if you want arrows get a V1.

I hope I did not give the impression that the V1 was bad, it is not, it is still a great RD and if all you want to spend is 400 bucks, well it is the only game in town.

I just get tired of folks that have never used a good modern GPS based detector like the 9500Ix that stays quite until it gets a new signal, and 99% of the time it is a LEO, so when it start to ramp up you get on the brakes.

A good GPS based unit will run at least 500, the 9500Ci is only for the real serious guys that want to hide the RD, last time I looked it was 1700 plus instal.
I would not advise getting a 9500Ci at this point, I think that Escort or Belltronics will come out with a newer version in the near future, it has been out for at least 5 years, since 2008 IIRC, and that is a long time for electronics.