AdMan21

What are you guys using and how has it saved you? I've had cheap cobras in the past and an escort, looking for something a little nicer. Thanks.

gnat

I'm a valentine guy. No bells and whistles, but its served me well since 97. Mine has been upgraded a few times, but my wife's is still the original which she got in 98.

At that time of my life $450 was tough to justify, but that was also the point in my life where it had the biggest impact on my life. I'd say it paid for itself within the first year and has saved me quite a bit since.

AdMan21

Thanks, I've never heard negatives about valentine.

pdxjim

I went on a 600 mile trip this past weekend to southern Oregon using the V1. I don't care about false alarms in the the city-I obey the speed laws in the city. But, out in the open, sometimes I TRY to keep up with traffic. The arrows are a game changer. Had a state policeman that was radiating from behind me and I watched as the signal strength kept increasing from behind and I gradually was not keeping up with traffic and watched him go past me, still looking for the guys that were going too fast. Coming home I pulled out onto the highway and nailed it to stay in front of traffic that was coming and I was radiated from the rear before I got to the speed limit and I got up to about 3 over and hit the cruise control. That policeman did a U turn after following in the group for about a mile. I know the Escort has GPS etc., but until they have forward and rearward tracking, I will stay with the V1. I have sent it back in to have the updated firmware installed. One can input the serial # on their website to see if there are updates.

philg3

Had a Valentine for about 20 years -- also had it upgraded a few times -- just had it upgraded recently, since my new CD has LCA -- and the Valentine didn't care for it too much. Latest upgrade fixed that, along with new freeway speed monitoring systems -- all over California and spreading elsewhere. Getting far fewer false alarms now. Arrows make a big difference. With the upgrade capability, it's like this device is on lease, but it's far better than throwing the old one out, and maybe every 5-7 years you do the upgrade. I probably speed less than the average Porsche driver, and use the Valentine only for long trips, but it can really guard against a dreadful day with the flashing lights behind you. Excellent product.

Cole

V1, permanently mounted, hard wired, micro mute switch on back of turn signal stalk is a must have (available on eBay)

AdMan21

the Valentine love is strong in here, thanks for all of the insights. I will be getting one.

Dennis C

I use a BEL RX-65 driver and I've been very happy with it.

I've also heard good things about the V1, but it's impossible to use one in the Denver metro area. In Denver (and quite a few other major metro areas) the traffic flow and speed is measured by k-band radar for TV news stations, etc. There are radar speed sensors all over the city on major highways. They shoot a quick blast of k-band radar every so often to monitor traffic flow. During rush hour times, this happens every 15-seconds. At lighter traffic times, it's every 30-seconds. At low-traffic times, it's every minute. The result of this schedule is that you're never in the exact same place when you get hit with a blast of k-band radar.

High-end BEL and Escort detectors have an option called "TSR" that you can enable that prevents your radar detector from responding to these signals. The V1 doesn't offer this option.

It might be worth checking this out for your local area before you buy. Check out www.speedinfo.com.

EDIT: Valentine didn't offer an option to deal with this situation a few years ago when I bought my BEL. It now appears that they have a traffic monitor filter software algorithm for the V1 that needs to be activated by Valentine at the factory at the owner's request. It does require that you disable k-band POP on your V1. This is different than the way the BEL system deals with this situation.

Cole

Dennis,

You should revisit the V1.

First, the latest version of it has a filter to filter out the traffic sensors now. Any older model can be updated to the latest version.

Second, the V1 comes "wide open" right out of the box and very few users seem to take the time to learn how to use as program the detector. Eventually getting frustrated at the level of activity, I'm very happy with my V1 around the Denver area and I don't even have the latest version that eliminates the traffic flow sensors.

Just for some information. Nobody in the Denver metro area uses X-band radar anymore. So I turned it off in the settings. This eliminates a huge amount of "door openers".

The next step was the K-band. Which is still in heavy use by some of the suburbs. Rarely do cops use this as a "speed trap" thing though. They just drive around with it on. I set my k-band to a "30 second, 4 bar" filter. This means that if the signal is not longer than 30s OR MORE than 4 bars in strength then it keeps things muted for me. This means that I can drive past all the grocery stores and even most of the traffic flow sensors without being notified.

For example. If I get a green traffic light at the major intersection by my house I will never hear the V1. If I get stopped by the traffic light then I end up sitting "in the area" of the grocery store door openers for more than 30 seconds and it will alert me. However, the signal is usually weak and there are 4 door openers. Which the V1 will display the number 4 and point backwards towards the Safeway grocery store! If the arrow changes direction and I get any signal higher than 4 I know to watch for a cop at that intersection.

KA-band I leave wide open since this is the only band that is ALWAYS a cop!

Now, add to all this the cool little micro mute switch, (I will update with a picture in minute) and you can very easily dismiss unwanted (or just mute true alerts) with your finger on the back of the turn signal stalk. No reaching up to adjust volume on the unit.


Update with pic.

(Man the camera makes stuff look like crap....guess the "soft touch" coating has really worn off my turn signal stalk.)

This little switch is totally hidden when you don't stick a camera phone in and take a picture of it. I've got one of these in nearly all of my cars and have for nearly 10 years. They are now $7 on ebay. They plug right into the factory V1 hardwire kit (which is the simplest hardwire on earth on a Cayenne)

mudman2

V1

philg3

My experience is same as Cole. With a new or upgraded unit, it's very easy to adjust settings, such as the speedinfo filtering -- it's option "t". Valentine's web site has excellent documentation on the customization -- under "Support", then "How to Reprogram". I took my laptop into my car for reference while my V1 was plugged in, and followed directions -- took no more than 5 minutes to tweek the settings.

GTS 6 spd

Another vote for V1's arrows. Just sent mine in for an update that inlcudes the LCA and traffic flow, and my conversation with them 2nds Cole's comments vs what Dennis listed as completely turning off K band.

Dennis C

Good to know that they have updated the V1 and that you can program it.

I've also got x-band deactivated on my BEL. The BEL can track multiple signals like the V1, but it doesn't have the arrows.

I'll reconsider the V1 when the time comes to replace my BEL.

I've been very happy with the BEL. When I purchased it, the V1 simply wasn't a good option. It was roughly the same price as the V1 and it wasn't available at "big box" stores like the cheap models.

I think that knowing how to use a detector makes the biggest difference in effectiveness vs. features. Lots of people think you just plug it in and you're good to go. You have to be aware of your environment and understand the signals that the detector is giving you if you want to avoid getting caught.

Dennis C

I've got the BEL hard wired for both the C4S and the Cayenne. I like the remote indicator with a mute button - I know Valentine offers this also. The little switch on the stalk is pretty cool though...

gnat

Since people are showing off their hardwire solutions, here is my remote display mount in a 958: