c993k

I like the 8500 better for a few reasons
It connects to their Laser jammers and makes you invisible to Laser.
It looks much nicer under the passenger visor
It gets very few false signals where the V1 can make you crazy
It gives you voltage readings of your electrical system
It gives you the actual frequency of the signal not just X, Ka or La
The Escort stays in the 993 always.
Now with that said, I use the V1 too as a portable going from car to car and I like it also.
The only thing that I don't like about the V1 is that it gets far more false readings in the city, otherwise it's great.
On longer trips I use both of them just testing.
All high end radar detectors will save you under certain circumstances

As for POP radar and Instant On Trigger Ka and sometimes Laser
it's very hard to detect if you are the only car which should be mostly the case
according PD training methods to set up speed traps.
In court they don't want you to have the option of saying that there were other cars near you
or behind you adding ambiguity to the reading.
In training they also spend many hours in judging the speed of a vehicle with no equipment.
Out of 100 cars going by, a well trained eye can be 90% accurate within 5mph
A traffic officer and an examiner stand next to a Laser operator
and call out the speeds as the cars go by.
The examiner marks the accuracy and if the officer passes, his judgement of speed holds the same weight as a radar reading in most courts.
He gets tested every 3 months. Add those two together and you're done.
So, when you hear that buzzer you need to slam on your brakes but chances are you were already tagged.
The Escort 8500 is better for your brakes pads.
Chris