rfkirk

It has been several years since I've owned a car that I felt needed a radar detector. With a C8 still months away, I've begun looking at the Valentine One Gen2 detector, since I formerly had the first generation one in my C6 and 911. To be honest, while I'm not a speed demon, I have been known to exceed the posted limit by a few mph's. The reason I gave my old V1 to my son was that around town I found the false alarms from motion detectors and collision avoidance systems on other car to be highly annoying and I would end up turning it off anyway. With a 700+ mile trip back from my Museum delivery, I'm thinking that the newest system might not be a bad idea.

How many of you have one in your car? What brand do you use if you have one? In a coupe, do you find that the rear detection is even functional?

Before any of you say it, I know that many/most police agencies now use laser guns and that the detector is mostly useless with that method, but it is still better than nothing. Although I know staying below the posted limit is the best method of avoiding a ticking, but lets face it, there are 495 reasons under the lid for occasionally exceeding the posted limit.

ZR-1DUDE

V1 Gen 2 is so much better. I have one in each car. Totally worth the money.

D.

Zormecteon

Here's where to start.
https://www.vortexradar.com/



It all depends upon a couple of factors.
How much do you want to spend?
How involved do you want to be?
What kind of range do you need/want.

It seems that likely.. again likely.. the most protection comes from a V1g2 using the Android app JBV1.
The JBV1 app gives you crowd sourced warnings, aircraft alerts, GPS lockout learning, Muting, Black out, Band Control, Weather, Altitude, Street, County names, Posted Limits, On Ramp Marking, ...and more more more.
If you choose to go THIS route, you will want to have a phone mount that will keep the phone withing your vision, not down in the cup holder, or the charger.
If you don't have an Android phone, I have no other personal recommendations Others will weigh in.

RKCRLR

JBV1 can also be run on a CarPlay AI box so it projects onto the infotainment screen instead of your phone but there are some downsides to doing it this way.

JoeD-C8

Opinions galore. Some objective testing on line though....not here.

papillion

Don't speed.

SMOKN C8

Literally everyone speeds to some degree or another... 1mph OVER the posted is still speeding.

What do non-Android users use instead of JBV1?

Kvou812

I have a Uniden R7 that I love. It too has arrows and auto lockouts so I rarely get false alerts, and no app needed.
If you're travling back through Arkansas, laser still really isn't in use here. State and most local police use KA band, and a few local sherrifs still use K band.

Red Mist Rulz

Actually, most police are still using radar. They may have a few laser units, but the bulk of their speed checking devices are radar. LIDAR units are costly and much more difficult to use. I've put about 2500 road trip miles on my C8 this year, in 6 or 8 states, and have encountered lots of radar, and not one LIDAR.

A better site than this one to get info on RDs is here: https://www.vortexradar.com/

Totally unbiased, and no one is arguing that the one they have is the best because, well, they have it and it's hard to admit you might have bought the wrong one.

Spend a little time on the site, and you'll realize none of them do everything. They all have strengths and weaknesses, so you need to think about which one matches your needs and wants and how much effort you're willing to spend setting it up.

If you use an Android phone, and are willing to put in a fair bit of effort, I think it's hard to beat the combination of a V1 Gen 2 and the JBV1 app. But it does have a pretty steep learning curve, and you've got to use two devices to get the most out of it (The V1 and the phone.)

Finally, don't waste your money on a cheap, or even mid-range, unit. There are so many radar sources now anything but the best detectors either false alarm too much, or miss real radar units too much.

Red Mist Rulz

Right. You'll be the only car on the highway who's NOT speeding, you'll be a rolling road block who probably causes accidents and may get rear ended by a semi, and why the heck aren't you driving a Prius?

Red Mist Rulz

There is an iPhone app that connects to the V1G2, but from what I understand it offers little, and doesn't really compete with JBV1 in terms of capabilities. If you're an iPhone user, there may be better choices for you than the V1.

rfkirk

Anyone running the Escort Redline 360c? thoughts?

RKCRLR

The Escort 360c, Uniden R7/R8, and Valentine 1 are all good detectors. They all have their strong and weak points. As mentioned, go to https://www.vortexradar.com/ for extensive reviews.

rfkirk

Yeah, I just spent an hour reading the reviews and watching most of the videos. Great reviews for both the V1G2 and the 360c, before I read them I was inclined towards the Valentine 1, after the Escort Redline 360c. Just looking for some happy 360c campers.

EvanZR1

I've been using the Uniden R3 since it came out, and it's been excellent for me (so good that I have one both in the Corvette and my Jeep). Excellent range (as good or better than the most recent high end units), very customizable, and decent to good filtering (can be made better with some customizing of settings or running the custom firmware available from Mithheru on rdforum. Best of all, the price is the best bang for the buck of the good units at under $300.

Very good source for info.

LIDAR is rare, but they are out there. Their biggest weakness is they have to be sitting still to uses it, so they'll typically get reported on Waze (and sometimes on Google Maps). I ran across quite a few of them in TN driving home from the museum. Partnering up a good radar detector and Waze gives pretty much full coverage, on major highways (especially in more populous states) Waze has almost always alerted me to police sitting stationary on the shoulder.
I agree 1,000% on the falsing. If your detector falses too much, you'll ignore it, which will make it worthless.

saleen556

That’s how one gets run over where I live🤣. I have seen a red Corvette doing 55MPH in the right lane being passed by everyone. Was that you?

SMOKN C8

I need one not “detectable” as my state says they are illegal for some reason

bhvrdr

I've had them all including v1g2

The 360c redline is the one to get if you drive anywhere near cars that other detectors false on such as the CX-5 and CRV.

You turn it on and it works. No forum you need to join to learn some ridiculous set of advanced settings, no obd dongle to plug in so your detector knows you are going a slow parking lot speed so it mutes out door sensors, no app you have to open on your cellphone.

I wasn't looking for another hobby and if I was it probably wouldn't be playing with radar detectors so this one is perfect for me.

You just plug it in and when it goes off you stand in the brakes.

Too easy

rfkirk

Perfect. I hate messing with settings to get any device what it ought to do right out of the box. Thanks.

papillion

Your advice worth what I paid Thanks for that.