I have made several post lately about what brand of radar detector is the best and which I should get. So let me bring you up to date on what has happened lately.
I had a very old Escort Solo, their first battery operated detector, that had quit working. It was excellent and I loved it. But it only covered X and K bands, nothing for Ka or Laser. But since laser detection is useless (if the detector picks it up you were just nailed) that one was not important, but the Ka is. Well, one day my Solo just quit. It would go through the start up routine okay but would not pick up any radar. So time for a new one.
Since I was so happy with my old Escort I wanted to try to stay with them in my selection on a new one. Escort has the new Passport 8500. It is $299 complete with mounting and remote unit built into the power cord (and a nice storage case). Then there is the Valentine 1 at $399 with mounting but the remote unit is an additional $39 (and no case).
In my previous posts I got a lot of positive responses about the Valentine 1. But I was still leaning toward the Escort. The V1s main claim to fame seemed to be it rear antenna to provide additional rear protection. The Escort was $140 cheaper (not just pocket change). It seemed to me that the rear protection of the V1 would not be that important. Tests showed that the Escort would pick up the rear radar before the radar could acquire the car.
So I ordered the Escort 8500. Used it the first weekend for a 1000 mile trip. It provided excellent performance, a really good detector. But.....there was just something about it that I did not like. Cannot put my finger on it but it did not appeal to me. One thing is that is was so big.
So then I ordered the Valentine 1. After using the V1 for a week I returned the Escort. I do not feel that the V1 is any better at detection then the Escort, they are very closely matched. What did sell me on the V1 is the location arrows and its size. It is nice to have any idea of where the radar is located. The size is quite a bit smaller then the Escort. You do a cubic dimension on the advertised sizes of the units and the V1 is about 3 cu.in. smaller.
But the V1 is not perfect. I have not yet found a good use for the radar counter. In a business area it is constantly sounding off showing from 4-8 radars all the time with all the arrows lit up. In that situation it would be just as good to have my old detector with one tone indicating X band in the area. The V1 can provide too much sensory overload. Since radar to the side is useless why have it indicated so prominently? Would like the see the rear detector show a warning only if the rear radar signal is getting stronger. If it is getting weaker then ignore it.
The bottom line is that I went with the V1 after studying everything I could find about the two units. It finally took using both to determine which was for me. Which would I recommend for you? Neither! My recommendation would be to try both and make your own decision.
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (Tom73)
You can run your V1 in logic mode in the city and it will cut down a lot of the false alarms. :yesnod: If you're worried you might miss something run it in the mode between, this way you'll still see it, but you won't hear it till it's stronger. As far as the counter is concerned, once you do this it will not pick up as many false alarms. If you go by the same place every day you'll develop a pattern, 2 here 3 there and so forth. The day you drive by the normal 2 spot and it says 3 is the day it just saved your butt! :D
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (R94 LT 1)
I went through a crazy ambush a few weeks ago. I was on the highway approaching my turn off. I get K band, 1 bogey, ahead. I look up and see a cop car on the right side of the road in front of me and another on the other side of the highway facing towards me. 1 bogey remember and a ahead. Get this. The arrows turn sideways BEFORE I get to the cop cars. I drive by both cars and it still says 1 and sideways. I make my right hand turn off the highway about 100 ft past the cops. Drive away from the highway. Says 1 ahead, K band still. A cop passes me going the other way. Still says ahead. Finally another ways up the street the V1 goes ballistic and a cop passes me going the other way. Out of 4 cop cars, only 1 had his radar on. I never would have guessed which one if not for the bogey counter and arrows.
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (Charcoal Convertible)
I LET at Porshe I had been playing with blow by me in a construction zone once. He had an el cheapo detector. I'm sure both of ours went off when we saw the YOUR SPEED is sign on the side of the road, he chose to ignore it, but my V1 was giving me TWO bogeys. I wisely stayed at the speed limit as he blew by the sign and under the bridge were Johnny Law was waiting with HIS RADAR also, for the morons testing the sign. :eek: :D :lol:
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (Tom73)
From everything I read, it is accepted by most, that the Passport SR1 (at about $1000) is the best unit available. Does anyone have any experience with it? Does it do everything that is claimed for both radar and laser?
If it is truly that good, it shows that Escort has the technology available to them.
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (Tom Piper)
My understanding about the SR1 is that is main weakness is the mounting points for the receivers are too low. They mount in the grill in front and at the license plate in the rear. You want a detector mounted as high as you can get them for imporved line of sight detection.
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (Tom Piper)
Have the SR1 on my 2001 vert for almost a year and it has saved my rear many times. The mounting is low but it seems to pick up better than my Lexus with the 8500. The rear unit does pick up very well.
I travel most of the time in the Vette and have only been stopped for no front lic. plate, although I see a lot of cops. :D :D :D :cheers:
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (Tom73)
For several years, I maintained radar (including doppler radar, like the police radar) in the military, so I know how radar signals are propogated and detected.
Since we are giving opinions, here's mine:
After trying both the V1 (borrowed) and the Passport 8500 (ordered), at different times like the Valentine site recommends and I agree with (multiple radar detector "local oscillators" can cause interference with each other), I decided to keep the Passport 8500.
If they were both the same price, I would probably have wanted the V1; but, I don't think the directional arrows are worth $100 -- I can see how you could become addicted to them though. In a high "motion detector" area with police radar present the arrows are actually confusing.
This is just my opinion, but the Passport 8500 seems to pick up the radar signal at a much longer distance on K band. And, it sensed the K band from a cruiser coming at me from the rear (this is what made me negate the rear wave guide of the V1 as being a factor) at an amazing distance (in theory, the V1 should be much more sensitive from the rear, but the 8500 seems very sensitive to scatter) -- it also picked up the K band signal from a cruiser parked one mile ahead of me (giving someone a ticket with the radar on) with the radar facing to the front (away from me) with a continuous signal (not beeping) -- this is almost too sensitive. I saw it tracking two K band police units (I could see both) and two X band (motion detectors) at the same time -- it is supposed to be able to detect, show intensity, and display two Ka, two K, and four X band signals at the same time.
Unfortunately, I did not get to test the Ka band well enough for either unit to make a comment.
In Tallahassee, they frequently use laser; but, I didn't run into laser with either of these two units.
The V1 Pros:
Arrows
Size
The V1 Cons:
Price
The Passport 8500 Pros:
Sensitivity
Selectivity - after programming it the way I want it.
Price
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (Tom Piper)
Quote:
but the 8500 seems very sensitive to scatter
I would not want to rely on "Scatter" for rear protection :nono:
Also the V1 comes with a remote face "as to black out Main unit" so no one can see the red lites going off ...........and the case is made of Magnesium.....
As for "Laser"......LaserEcho front and rear will take care of that...... :yesnod: http://www.lidatek.com
Re: Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.] (Tom73)
I have an Escort 8300 that is in my wife's car and a couple of V1's, one in the Vette and the other in the truck. The multiple signal will come in handy as you find signals around your normal driving areas. When you get an alert and see just one signal you know it is only a known false signal. But when you are in the same area and you get 2 or more signals you know one is likely going to be the real thing. Like the others before me have said, use the logic mode. The V1 is the best unit I have used.
Corvette Store
Valentine, Escort, and Me. [Long, sorry.]
