Bruce In Philly

Issue: V-1 falses so much in congested Northern NJ (a sorry state) that it was useless
Solution: Logic mode plus Traffic Monitor / Junk-K Fighter filter. IT WORKS.

Thanx The Mick

Background: I had a V-1 vintage 2000 or so for 15 years and the thing just falsed more and more. Now that I am driving in that crapofaplace New Jersey, the falsing was so severe, the unit was useless. So I upgraded the unit for $270 (I also purchased the savvy unit for additional $70). The upgrades prices differ depending on the unit vintage. For me, it was a total replacement to the new, slightly thinner unit.

Verdict Upgrade Alone: Improved but still not useable. So I tried the new unit for about one month or so in Logic mode (middle setting) as I always did with my older unit and the thing still falsed way too much. Less so than my previous unit but still unusable. The laser was definitely quieter and is not set off as easily from tail lights and flashing sunlight through the trees.

Verdict with Traffic Monitor / Junk-K Fighter filter ON: WOW!!! This is it! Quiet as a church mouse. Valentine nailed this one. Perfect. I kept my unit in Logic mode to keep things the same.

Savvy unit worth it? Not really as the Junk filter is just so darn good. I used the Savvy unit before I turned on the junk filter and it really works (as well as powers the unit easily instead of hard wiring). The unit plugs into your OBD2 port and pulls speed and power. You set the max speed where the unit is mostly silent. If I knew the junk filter was so good, I would not have purchased the savvy unit.

How do I know it still sniffs radar? Good question as this always worried me. I picked up and passed three Rozzs and picked them all up. One had a car over and was in the same lane facing forward. I had to be well over a mile away as the signal was tailing off. Really good.

Does it still false? Yes, but rarely. The lights will flash sometimes but I don't get the alarms. But then maybe it was picking up the real deal. This is the challenge in congested noisy areas as you are never sure.

I sent an email to Valentine asking if I should use Advanced Logic with this filter (I don't use advanced, just Logic mode) and their reply to me: "You really need both—the Junk-K Fighter to combat all of these falses from cars with side-assist radar and the Advanced Logic to suppress as much X-band falsing as possible". I never used Advanced Logic and don't need it as the filter does such a great job with just Logic mode.

By the way Traffic Monitor / Junk-K Fighter filter is one software switch, there is no way to choose either. The V-1 has a ton of other software switches but I see no need for them.

If you want to read up on it, check out the Valentine website here: http://www.valentine1.com/v1info/junk_k_fighter/

This guy here does not like the V-1, but has an interesting chart on what the Rozzs in your state and city use. New Jersey has every trick in the book and uses them all. http://www.radarbusters.com/Police-R...ate-s/2524.htm

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Chaos

Thank you

ADias

Finally someone saw the light.

To the OP: the upgrade is relevant. Without it you could not set the new filters.

Valentine could set as default out-of-the-box all popular filters on and all the complaints would go away I suspect though that M. Valentine prefers to offer a fully sensitive mode and allow the customer to filter selectively. Remember that a filter may miss a true threat, less likely in the case of the traffic/junk filter as fewer X-band threats exist.

Wayne Smith

Love the timing on this ... My V1 is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning. I ordered the V1, the Savvy, the remote display, and the Bluetooth. I have installed YaV1 on my Note 2 and from what I have read this will allow V1 programming including alert lock outs based on GPS speed and show alerts as an overlay on top of Waze. It also allows dark mode and remote full off if needed. I am hoping this is all true (it isn't real until you see it!), and if so then I can return the Savvy and the remote display.

The demo mode for YaV1 (menus and options) looks pretty sweet.

First step is suction cup mounting with lighter power and Bluetooth. If YaV1 doesn't live up to the hype then Savvy may be next, or the remote display.

Friday lunch therapy is scheduled and I am anxious to see how it works (or better yet, not need it at all!).

Thanks for the updates Bruce!

porterror

Bruce,

North Jersey = different state than South Jersey. Don't include us in your NJ slander. Love my updated V1 w/ Savy in South NJ.

fskof

Thanks for the updates Bruce! I need to update my V1 (purchased in 2005)

sclemmons

I have had a V1 for 25 years. Maybe longer. They give their customers an upgrade path and build a loyal family of referral resources that way. What is not to like?

gota911

The most effective way to quiet a V-1 is to unplug it from the power source.

Bruce In Philly

My sincerest apologies for those who call South Jersey home. Yes, you are completely correct in that New Jersey is a two state solution: Bad and good.

I have travelled and worked all over the USA and some in Europe and I can honestly say, Northern NJ is unlike any other place. There are many reasons, but in short, I find the place more dishonest and aggressive than anywhere else.

How about this conversation I had with a few folks before a meeting:

Me: "What is up with driving around here? They cut you off at 75 MPH, no turn signals, with just feet between???"
Other guy: Stupid stare....... "If we used a turn signal, they would speed up an not let you in"
Others: Stupid stare "dope"

Case closed.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

M3 Defector

I actually shut k band completely off...maybe I need to look into these filters you speak of I have seen it used by local police once in six years.

djantlive

I turn off x band and that removes 90% of false alarms. I don't know how many cops still use k band but I suspect not much. In fact, most use laser and Ka.

How do u test laser? Mine never goes off even when a cop is aiming at me.

Waze is a free app that is more effective than v1 or escort. You just need to plug in power as gps has to be on.

vg247

Hope all is well djantlive.. It has been a while. I also turned off K band in addition to X bands... Seems here in the Bay Area and roads through SoCal where I've done driving mostly with the V1, K and X bands have been nothing but false alarms and a nuisance..

Carmichael

Great read. Thanks for the info.

I'm still on the fence as to what RD to buy. My uncle has always used a V1 and it's always worked for him in NJ/PA (he's got a 928 S4).

Bruce In Philly

Usage report after about 6 months of usage with Junk Filter ON.

I honestly think Valentine is hurting themselves by not putting these filters ON by default. The darn thing is so sensitive, it is useless in high-density environments. I am not exaggerating that it was useless. I came within a hair of throwing away my older unit and buying another brand. The reason I didn't is that a poster on Rennlist, The Mick, said simply that turning on the filter in these newer units does the job, and I was so satisfied with the product for so many years I figured it was worth the chance of me not being satisfied.

I figured either my unit was failing or something in the environment changed. I suspect it was the environment with all these collision avoidance systems and Northern NJ having such a high percentage of high-end cars on the road.

Of course the big question is: Does turning on these junk filters reduce sensitivity of legitimate threats? I have now owned and used the new unit with Junk Filter ON literally daily for about 6 months and can honestly say I am experiencing no perceived reduction in sensitivity to legitimate threats. Further, I find the unit way more effective, given its silence, that I react faster/quicker when it does bark at me.

Can you get the same performance from another brand? I suspect so.... as I noted before, these things are just radios and have been around for a long long time. I can't believe others haven't figured this all out.

What about the identification of Rozzs by other users and denoting a hot spot with GPS? Regarding crowd sourcing of information, I think using Waze is the way to go as the population of users is so massive and growing; I don't find Waze that good, but I like the concept (I have used Waze almost daily... probably about 90% of the time.)

I would like the V1 to have a GPS memory so I can load my known Rozz hideouts.... they do tend to sit in the same places.

What I really would like is that the V1 report a "highly probable detection" incident up to the cloud and report that back to my unit and all units within say a few miles. You can do this via a cell phone link with an appropriate app. Then V1 geeks could do analytics on detections and load back high-probability locations..... ah.... the possibilities......

Peace
Bruce in Philly
Finally, a very happy V1 user

Alansglide

To those in Southern Cal. LA county sheriff still uses K band . Saw this the other day up on Mulholland as he pulled over a driver coming the opposite direction and my K band stared screaming.