tomc_mets

Indeed, many states have commercial vehicle restrictions. Did not know about the military base ban....T

tomc_mets

Great question. Am starting to love waze. This is what I find w a quick Google, which suggests the answer is yes.
http://lifehacker.com/5883572/waze-f...-while-driving
T

oldfrat

Malcolm, when I researched the V1, reviewers were saying that it only came with a warranty if it was bought directly from Valentine. And there were enough reviews complaining about manufacturer defects that I would not buy one without a warranty.

If you are driving down to Third Coast, you can probably find somebody here who lives along your route and will buy one for you to pick up COD. I'll be happy to do that for you if you can hold off on delivery until you get to 3rd Coast. That probably doesn't help you with exchange rates though.

Brad

the flyin' scotsman

thank you Brad; very generous of you.

Perhaps our dollar may be back to around par by 3rd Coast

redpathtribe

Thought I tried to answer that in my post, at least for the Valentine 1:

"you can contact them directly and get a decent discount (10-20%?) on a "refurbished" unit. Carries full warranty and they told me a lot of them are just returns from customers who were "testing" them but didn't want it for various reasons and returned it."

I guess "reasonable" cost is debatable, but it doesn't take too many saves by the radar detector to pay for itself.

oldfrat

Thanks for finding that, Tom. Voice commands make this attractive to me. I'll probably stick with my GPS for routing and traffic, but WAZE's radar warning will be a nice addition.

Brad

the flyin' scotsman

thx Rick, much appreciated

GlennD

Malcolm,

There is a V1 for sale on Calgary Kijiji.

I am curious as to why you are looking at the V1? I believe technology has moved forward and there are better choices out there now.

What are you looking for in terms of use? For city, you may wish to consider a detector with GPS / database (redlines, etc.).

For highway - look at the Escort Redline. Very sensitive on the highway but no GPS. But has technology that makes it undetectable. According to reviews I have read, it beat the V1.

Glenn

the flyin' scotsman

thx Glenn..........as you know Im in the business of high frequency radio engineering (microwave) but not as familiar in how they have been utilized in speed detection with the anti-fun group.

Im not stuck on V1 and the fact we can buy Escort RDs locally with PCA discount makes them even more attractive.

Just thought Id reach out to this group for input before exceeding the wifes budget for my bday pressie

ashmason

I completely agree the Valentine 1 is a significant investment and hard to swallow right up until it saves you from getting a ticket. I bought mine 15 years ago and it has saved me more times than I can count. Mostly from the traps where police will sit just beyond a speed limit change... grrr

Anyway to add to the story mine was becoming less effective, so many false readings from radar cruise control on cars through to radar traffic gauges. So after 15 years I decided to try out their upgrade program. Sent the old unit off with payment information, and they sent me a brand new one, same general design but much slimmer. False readings are way down, range seems greater and I was impressed by the fast turn around, plus it was cheaper to upgrade than buy a new one.

Bottom line its an investment that will serve you a long long time. When you compare it to today's expensive smart phones that become outdated in a year or two, then the value is undeniable and well worth paying the extra $ for.

Hope that helps, you have the best car, why not get what some consider (myself included) the best radar detector?

Wisconsin Joe

I don't think the V1 has become "outdated" because they keep updating it.

But the only real "dealer" is the factory.

And the other high-end ones are very close in performance, so see what works best.

It may be that you can find a different, high quality one, close to you for a reasonable price.

Or you may wish to try to smuggle one home. Keep in mind that the customs folks usually ask "Did you purchase anything that you are bringing back with you?"

jcb928

Do you drive in Calgary much? If you do you should look at the Escort Passport 9500ix that has a GPS database loaded with speed camera locations.

If you drive mostly outside the city and want bang for the buck look at the Escort 8500 X50,

http://www.costco.com/Escort-Passpor...100043550.html

It will give you plenty of range on KA & K (bands most used in Canada)