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Radar Detector, Scanner

M

Matts_U.A.V.

Charter Member
Full Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
192
Hello,

I find myself followed and looked at and getting alot of attention lately and was wandering any opinions on radar detectors which ones were good and worked well.

It's been years since I have had one> I live in the City and remember it going off everytime I passed a grocery store. I am sure the technology has improved greatly and would like peoples opinion on what they have or heard about.

thanks
 
Search for Valentine 1 and the escort one.

I prefer the Valentine but it does go off a bit more due to its higher sensitivity.
 
I've used the Escort/Passport 8500 for about a year, and love it. It has outstanding Ka-band range, and doesn't chatter as much as my old detector. It's probably outclassed only by a V1, but the Passport was smaller in dimension and $100 cheaper, and I had to but two (one extra for my wife's car).
 
i work in the safety department for drilling company in south louisiana and i run about 4000 miles a month, cb with linear to check on things ahead, but will not run without my valentine one. actual sensor facing rear and one facing front, not like others that just have one sensor facing front. go to radarcops.com. they did show this time on their test that the new escort 8500 did better on the ka, but i am just used to my V-1 it has done a hell of a job over the last few years.
 
Naylor99,

Question for ya....

I notice in your photos, that your V1 is high in the windshield of your AV. ?I run a V1 in my Expedition the same way except:

The review mirror is low enough to allow the V1 to sit just under the tint band... and still allows it a great view out the rear glass.

My question is:

Do you notice any diminished performance of the V1 so high in the tint band? ?(did you run in installed another way previously to compare). ?

And... In the Avalance... mounted that high does it still have a good view out the rear glass?

I am going to get an 03 Avalanche and would love to mount my V1 just like you have yours... But would hate to take a performance hit.

Thanks in advance for any info.

RayoVac
 
RayoVac,

I haven't done any scientific studies, but...

I read through all of the related material on the V1 web site, and, according to Mike Valentine, the tint should not cause any significant reduction. I tested it by moving it around to different locations while getting a stable signal. I never saw any change. From the rear, the signals appear better when the unti is placed higher up, although the difference was very small. Here's a solution to your concern. I left a length of wire tucked inside the headliner, in case I wanted to move it later. If I need it, I can just pull it out. Good luck.

p.s. If you get your windows tinted, be sure they don't use a metallic film. That plays heck with the signal...
 
IMHO if you can find a 7 to 10 year old one that does laser, X, K, and Ka it's your best bet. Radar detector performance in the very common X and K bands has really back slided on newer models. I would put it up high by the upper console and hard wire it. Someone here outlined how to do it...
 
One thing to keep in mind with radar detectors. Almost all of the newer radar units that law enforcement uses have the ability to PULSE a signal to the target. If you are pulsed you are had.... If they target someone else in front of you your detector would alert you. When I used radar I always used it in the pulse mode and did catch a few with detectors. Overall detectors probably work pretty well. In Calif you have to be careful where the detector is installed. You could have a problem if it is mounted on the windshield.

Gary
 
Valentine Research (http://www.valentine1.com) has an in-depth article on this new type of 'pulse' radar. (Called POP mode by radar manufacturer MPH Industries.) I will not attempt to rewrite the article, but instead relay two points that the article makes:

1. POP mode is inaccurate; the electronics in the radar gun are unable to initialize quickly enough to get an accurate reading.

2. Because of this, it is stated in the MPH Industries' BEE III Operation and Service Manual, "A note of caution: Information derived during the POP burst is non-evidential. Citations should not be issued based soley on information derived from the POP burst."

Thus, while it is possible to be nailed with one of these, the officer behind the radar gun would be unable to issue a ticket based upon any reading derived while in POP mode.

There are other radar guns out there that disperse their beam less, but the Valentine One is quite capable of picking up this radar, even when the beam is narrow. I took my Valentine One to a friend's workplace, where they sell and install all of the equipment on the city police vehicles, including radar guns. He brought out all of the models available and we set up a series of tests. Even pointed away from the vehicle, the Valentine One picked up the radar at significant range. (Even laser, which surprised even myself.) He was very impressed with the radar detector, as were several police officers that were there at the same time. Many had heard of the Valentine One, but very few have actually seen it in action and were skeptical of its performance. I'm not sure if I made the officers nervous or not. :)

Regardless, while I do not speed often, the times that I have, the Valentine One has located radar far in advance of the radar gun coming within a usable range of my vehicle.

If you are interesting in Valentine Research's article, it is located at http://www.valentine1.com/pop/
 
Good Lord, I'm replying to a police officer. :) I'll just run away now. :)
 
Somewhere I've got a Fuzzbuster from the '70's in my basement - I can make you a good deal!

More recent experience - though not personal - gives the Valentine One the nod. Car and Driver did a fairly comprensive review, and Mike Valentine's credentials are pretty good!

Some automatic doors at grocery stores, malls, etc. will still set them off though.
 
I use the Escort Passport Solo. It works well and it has made me a more cautious driver. I chose this model because it is cordless (with an option for a cord) and I can transport it from car to car.
 
On the subject of Radar Detectors,I recently purchased a Rocky Mountain Model called Viper...It is an upgrade to the Phantom II....has anyone out there had any experience with this Model. It is supposed to jam the signel from the Radar source so a reading can not be taken....would like to hear some feed back on this....
thx....
 
I have a programable Bel, the 970 purchased after getting a $345.00 ticket and it has saved me from quite a few other tickets and has more than paid for itself.

See the post above for a good comparrison, the V1 is definitely not the best when it comes to KA band.

Check out the Radar guys for more goodies as well

http://www.radarguys.com/
 
While most would acknowledge that the Valentine One does not excel in all areas, I also think most would agree that there is something wrong with a radar test that gives more points to ergnomics and features than it does to laser radar sensitivity. That alone makes me question the validity of the test, regardless of a URL that prominent. Another questionable item is the loudness of the radar detector. At full volume, it competes with my stereo, and if that is insufficient, what do the other detectors use? A fog horn for incoming alerts? I'll stick to the Valentine One for now. I've taken back Bels, Escorts, and Unidens in favour of the Valentine One and I'm not going back.
 
I'm not a site representative but...

....Our rating system is simple. From an overall total of 100 points, 50 points are allocated to radar sensitivity and 10 points to laser sensitivity. Laser scores were calculated by combining right and left FOV and dividing by two to determine the average. We assigned 15 points to features and ergonomics, a category that also includes the clarity of the audio alerts, the comprehensiveness of the visual alerts and status indicators and the quality of the mounts and hardware.

Sensitivty is the highest category as it should be. As with most things personal preference plays a large part of any decision.
 
To each his own I say...Any detector is better then no detector.

PS I think I may have one of them old green lighted FUZZBUSTERS myself. Man how times change! The thing was as big as a 2 liter bottle of coke...well almost.
 
;DI have to put another post in this section, as i mentioned before i drive alot of miles,, about 45,000 a year and i went from the escort to the valentine 1 and have not been dissapointed. i have read all the reports with the links that were supplied in this section as well and it does even mention that with the cordless models you loose some of the sensitivity.
V1 has performed flawlessly for the past 4 years and there is a post on installation that is real cool by running your wires to the console in the ceiling and using the power wires there to power up unit. check that post out. pretty cool.
5.1 miles was farthest pick up by using cb and detector together it works really great against that pop on.....
zeeya
 
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