Has anyone tried mounting a Valentine radar detector unit completely concealed inside the rear headliner? This would disable the laser detection, and the remote display (or mirror display) would be used. If so, would it still work okay for radar?

 

You're always going to have an issue with structural members interfering with signal reception. My background is in radar and you need to keep the unit as high up as you can for your earliest detection capability, but in such a fashion that steel doesn't block the antenna. That's just not simple, and you will wind up attenuating the signal sufficiently to negatively impact your detection range by a significant percentage.

 

Hard to say for sure but probably not. There is I think a recommendation in the instruction manual to avoid mounting the unit too high up that its "view" is hampered by the coating some windshields have up at the top.

While the lining material would let radar through unless you mounted the V1 down in some kind of a sag in the headliner its view would be impaired by the roof of the car.

When I am relying on my V1 I want the thing to have the best chance of picking up any radar/laser signal so I mount it up at the top of the windshield (though not too high up) to give it as good a view out as possible.

Besides I try to avoid ever bothering the head liner in a car. Once bothered it can come loose and nothing makes a car's interior look old and decrepit faster than a sagging/loose headliner.

I have not found any reason to worry about a stealth mounting. The only time I got any static about the unit was after getting pulled over just at Williams AZ by an AZ state trooper who was upset I failed to signal before leaving the freeway.

He complained about the V1 being mounted where it was along with the GPS NAV unit. AZ vehicle code restricts where such devices can be placed and he told me to move them to an acceptable location, take them down, and when I offered up some mild/polite resistance he told me he could confiscate them if I refused to comply.

So, I moved the V1 to the lower left hand corner of the windshield and left the GPS on the passenger seat until I was out of AZ into NM. Sure I waited until I was in NM for it is not unknown for in these cases the 1st officer to call in and warn other officers up ahead and one can get pulled over shortly afterwards when he enters another officer's beat. I had no desire to lose a $400 V1 O left things as they were when I left the 1st officer until I got into NM.

A few days later on the way back through AZ I used the V1's sun visor mount and put it on the passenger's visor. The GPS I mounted down low in the left hand corner of the windshield.

I forgot I had this V1 visor mount in the car's glove box but remembered it on the trip back.

 

Some folks value the max effective range of such detectors.

I require the install look as close to OEM as possible - so for me, visor or windshield mounts are categorically out of the question. I'm hoping some day a compromise solution is found where a system has small antenna that can be custom installed into pillar molding, and signals routed back to a control unit that can be hidden in the dash or center console, and a remote display installed where its most useful for the car/driver. The V1 has some of the options, but its still focused on the non-installer run-the-cables on the outside type person.

 

Podi has a nice 2.25 led gauge that is a radar detector display on their website turn off the ignition and the face goes black and no one knows what it is. You just mount it anywhere you would mount an extra gauge.

 

Welp. The smallest unit I found without compromising radar detection was the Escort Smartradar. 3.2x3.5" and 1.2" thick. Think I could fit it concealed behind the dome light/switch panel? Or maybe between the visor and the headliner?

I like the Podi gauge (would look great in the SC wart, but I already have a PDX gauge in there).

 

The best solution would have external antennas and preamps that you mount on the tail and front grill with the laser detectors/jammers and that have wire runs to the control unit so everything can be built in in the best place for that user - vs a sensors and display in one package unit that we are used to seeing.



Then we can mount radar sensors into the a-pillars, lidar into the front bumpers, the display into the dash and buttons into the ashtray or other dash location.

 

If what you want most is a stealthy install, you could go the K40 route. http://www.k40.com/rl360i-radar-detector-pages-165.php

My car had one in it (with the laser jammer) when I bought it, but I put my V1 in it anyway/in addition to. Other than two small blue LEDs on the gauge cluster, there is no visible interface for the system.

I have to say, though, it doesn't pick up nearly as well as the V1. YMMV

-Chris

 

That sort of install option in a Valentine/Escort main board solution is what I'm thinking. K40, if its not sensing well enough either requires its sensors be mounted too low on the car for RADAR, I'm guessing, or the main board logic isn't as good as an Escort or Valentine solution.

 

I suspect the problem (at least in my car) is the sensors are too low (behind the bumpers) compared to the V1. My V1 is mounted under the rear view mirror using a G Rides bracket (http://gridesinc.com/). Not stealthy, but a clean install nonetheless.

-Chris

 

The problem with RADAR range and stealthiness is that they are both mutually exclusive. If you want the maximum detection range you have to give up stealthiness in your unit placement. If you want maximum stealth, you will lose detective range. You have to decide for your situation whether early warning outweighs having your car broken into to have the unit stolen.