Best radar detector
 

Just curious if anyone here uses a radar detector and what they think of it. Im sporting a Valentine One. and let me say, this baby is fantastic! Got arrows pointing front/back/and side to side. IMO, best one on the market. Prove me wrong if you can!

Can't

Valentine One is currently the best available I believe. It has always been on top in every test I've seen....

Valentine 1. No questions about it.

--Dan

Disagree - Escort 8500. (like ford/chevy, bmw/mercedes, politica and religion, wars have been fought over radar detector choice ;) )

The arrows do not make up for the lower sensitivity.

But you really cannot go wrong with either the Valentine 1 or Escort 8500.

RC45: lower sensitivity? WHen you can pick up a cop over 1 mile away, it doesn't matter whether it's 1 mile or 1.2 miles. It's a moot point, because it's well before the cop picks you up, and that's what matters.

Being informed, however, of everything else (arrows, bogey count, etc) will help you make informed decisions that you can't w/o said information.

Therein lies the true power of the V1, which separates it from the rest.

--Dan

both are the best, but ive never seen a valentine pick up from 5+ miles away, whereas i have seen an escort passport 8500 quite regularly (highway)

any way you look at it, you generally have about 2 seconds to appropriate yourself to the correct speed before the radar locks on to a specific velocity.


oh, and most US band radars are accurate to only 120 ish...


and those who have a valentine, i ask this. what good do arrows really do for you? if the radar hits, it still has the potential to lock on. the only thing i could logically think of is if its hitting from behind; and using downshifting, and e brake rather then the brake pedal to avoid the brake lights. i can't see myself doing that one

I'm getting a V1.

I'm getting an escort :P

By the way....what an interesting topic....could anyone go further about the general information of radar detectors such as the price, how it works,.....

For clarification - all my sports car buddies are pretty much evely devided between V1 and the 8500.

The 8500 has bogey count and there have been very few time over the couple of years where an arrow would have been better than simply an indicaiton that there is Ka working within a few miles.

I have been hauling through the woods before, only to have a Ka blip for a second and I have backed off and as we rounded the curve or passed over the hill there the DPS was sitting workin ghis instant on radar.

And as soon as he sees us *bam* he paints us with radar but it's ok, because are already slowed to the limit.

That is the true value of a radar detector, even when the cops use instant-on.

Had I burst over the hill without that for-warning all an arrow or a bogey count or even the 8500 frequency readout would be worth is telling me which direction and what frequency the radar is that just caught me... ;)

Passport would be nice but i prefer the V1

I have one of the early models which I bought in '92. I can tell you that I have personally tracked a police car that was parked on the side of the road from 5 miles away. Have also tracked an undercover car that was hitting me with instant-on repeatedly from behind and he was about a half mile away. Just make sure that whatever detector you get, get the best that you can afford.

For the benifits of the arrows, I once was hit from behind and I didn't even see it coming. The arrow flashed on and it said it was coming from behind. Because I knew it hit me from behind, I darted into some sububarn areas where I did a u-turn in a driveway. Right when I pulled back out onto the road where I was hit with a radar, I saw a cop just flying by. Saved me a pretty expensive ticket that day. If the radar hit me from the sides or the front, I would have probably turned around and avoided the area where it was coming from, but becuase it hit me from the back, I knew where the cop was and I could try to "avoid" him. It felt awesome to see that I pysched out a cop that day :wink:

I'd swear by the V1, but I've seen if fail, as I've seen the Escort fail. My dad had both and they both inspired false confidence. My feeling on the matter is that if you're going to be going fast enough that the radar detector might save you money, you'd best be doing it late at night on some deserted open road, or on a highway that where you can see for miles. The risks just don't outweigh the benefits.

You have to use your smarts when driving fast and knowing when not to drive fast. A detector is a tool and if you use it wisely you can gain the maximum benefit of it.