I'm looking at buying the Passport 8500 x50. Does anyone have any experiences with this model? Or if anyone has any thoughts on others to purchase, that would be great!

 

I bought an S2. Cordless, and does a great job. I hate the cord...

 

I have a valentines but hate the corded mess. I'm thinking about getting an S2 also but can't imagine its as good as a corded detector.

 

The solution is to have the V1 hardwired. I've had this done in all of our cars. The cord comes down from behind the roof panel and is hiddeln by the rear view mirror. I mount the V1 just below the rear view mirror. The V1 in my 996 is wired to the heated seat circuit down at the fuse box and even has its own fuse. A friend who's an Audi tech does the wiring for me. He has to remove the A-pillar panel and the roof panel to run the wire. But he's a pro and the cars all come back from him 100%.

 

I've always owned Passport/Escort - I now use the Solo S2 although I might need to get a new one soon to keep up with cop technology.
I've been pinched once for speeding in the past 10 years and that's when I was going about a buck forty so even hard breaking didn't help! Ticketed for "in xs of 100" - I didn't fight it despite the officer threatening to "put a bullet in my head right now." Yes, true story.
Anyhow, driving that fast - I deserved some sort of hastle.

 

I've got an 8500. It's a nice unit visually The thing I like about it is the capability to mute it quickly where it plugs in to the lighter. The V1 is nice for the arrows but is also a lot more $$. If I had to do it again I'd probably go V1 but I do like the 8500.

According Mike Valentine on the V1 site you only want to consider a powered detector. That way you are dealing with full detection power at all times. FWIW.

 

BTW, the S2 might not be as powerful as the x50, but it does exactly what it is meant to do...gives you fair warning of any radar threat ahead, behind, or to the side. If your booking down the road, and it beeps, just slow down a bit. The S2 barely barks...and when it does, there is radar nearby.

re: the Michael Valentine comment and cord vs cordless...Introduce me to somebody that produces and sells a product, yet markets their competitor. ;-)

 

I have my Valentine One mounted low above the dash. I hardwired it to the radio power circuit, and ran the supplied wire up along the right door jamb and at the base of the windshield. You can barely see it.

 

Whatever the agenda, logic would suggest that 100% power is more reliable then batteries that run down. My money is on 100% power all the time.

 

The last radar detector that I had was a k-40 undetectable their were no exposed wires. The switch to adjust on/off, volume and the band was under the dash above the clutch. I'm interested in getting a valentine for my 997 but I'm concerned with all the wires and I don't know how to hardwire it myself. Anyone have any suggestions? Can anyone who has a valentine possibly post pics of what it looks like attached to the windshield. Was the issue of the wiring a concern for anyone else?

 

Totally agree with your points. Constant supply of power, never having to worry about running out of batteries and you don't have to carry an extra case of batteries in the glove compartment (because it goes dead every 2-4 weeks, depending on how often you drive and turn it on).

Also, anybody that has had a V1 swears by the arrows. It's a great machine. I just don't see the need to spend $400 on a detector, when one for $280 does a pretty darn good job.

I was surprised to see that a BEL beat the X50 in a test. Granted, it's score was lowered because it had terrible laser range.

For me, that doesn't really concern me, since nobody uses laser in NC. I know up North it's quite the norm to get hit with a laser pulse. I'd say just find something that works for your budget for a detector, what you consider reasonable, and just go with it. Almost like wearing a pair of shoes. Sure, each brand says their's is better, but they all serve the same purpose. ;-)

 

I just installed the new blue tooth k-40 with lase diffuser, so far so good, its clean and out of site. I had the 8500 in the beamer but had 2 stolen, and was sent back to the company at least each one 3 times. The company warrantee is great with the 8500, but I did not want the wires all over and the chance of another one being stolen. I have a cab

 

I am about to embark on my V1 installation design criteria. Here is my plan. I would like to install the V1 under the rearview mirror. I have the self-dimming rearview mirror. When the ignition key is removed, the small power light in the mirror goes out. When the ignition key is inserted, the small power light in the rearview mirror goes on. What does this tell us?

Well, it tells us there is a switched power source in that mirror that travels down the wire stalk from the headliner to a plastic cover thing. That plastic cover thing has the white LED that illuminates the interior of the cabin (well, supposedly illuminates anyway). Then there is a separate small wire stalk that travels to the mirror. I think i can remove the plastic cover in between the two wire stalks and access the wires in there and meter the wires to find the switched power source and the ground. If that switched source is 12 volts, we just may have found a new V1 install design. There would be no visible wires save the 2 inch run from the V1 to the plastic thing.

I did this in the M5 and it worked. Same theory applies here. In theory.

I will do some research on that powered rearview mirror and the plastic thing and i will see if anyone else tapped the lines.

 

I had a Valentine hardwired into my 997S coupe so that it is attached to the windshield up flush against the headliner just to the left of the rear view mirror. Its out of sight, and doesn't block outward vision, but is convenient to glance at when there is a warning signal. I had the local Porsche performance place (Sporthaus) do the hardwire. I will post pictures when I get a chance.

 

I just bought and installed the new Bel rx65 myself in abot 15 minutes. Mounted to the right side of the rear view and hardwired it to the tiptronic fuse (empty in my car) and so far ir works great. The new Bel is getting better reviews than both the Passport and the Valentine. It is far more programmable ans the voice warning is pretty great. It is actually a Passport with more features. Got mine on E-bay for about 220.