Valentine radar detector opinions?

[juniorfjr]

I love my V1, have had it for 7 years. I think I'd also like a Escort as well. It is most effective on the open road in moderate to heavy traffic. LEO's are impatient and will keep bumping that instant on to find someone. In town, I turn it down and mind my business. Too much other signals, I can tell you where every automatic door is for 100 miles. Use it with a wary eye and you will be good.

 

[user 28803]

Thanks folks. I placed some orders this morning.

 

[ionbeam]

You can't look at me cuz I'm hiding. Then I POP out and pull you over. By then it's too late. Haha...
The other night I paced a guy going 110 through the middle of Albuquerque. Had no idea until I lit him up. He had a detector on the dash, but I couldn't tell what it was.

I know what kind it is. Crushed and tossed out the window right after you left the scene :lol:

Situational awareness makes you a better and safer driver and vastly improves your chances to adjust your speed before the police officer has an opportunity to point it out to you.

 

[juniorfjr]

Years ago I stopped a guy in a 911 doing about 90 in a 60 on hwy 97 north of town. Contacted hin and was running hin through the computer when he gets out of the car and starts rooting around behind the seat. I tell him to get back in the car, which he did after he found his detector. I was the second one to write him since he'd left Canada.

 

[bigjohnsd]

Adaptive 2.0 working well for me. Laser detector has allowed me to avoid at least one ticket. There must be more scatter than I thought as there was a truck about a half mile in front of me which I assume is where the alert came from when the LEO lazed him 30 seconds before I got there.

 

[Hudson]

The V1 came in handy at least three times at the Rueben Run. Went off once just after Bend as he came up from behind, once as we came down 35 to Hood River and he instant-on'd the group, giving us enough time to slow it just a bit, and once as I was headed down 20 and rolled into town.

The new V1 comes with two cool options. The first is for use in the car; it plugs into the OBD port and lets you mute the radar signal below an adjustable speed limit. Plus, it powers the unit, leaving your spare 12v open for a GPS. Second option is a Bluetooth unit that has a nifty feature that lets you pick specific radar bands to sweep; for example, ignore x and k bands and just sweep KA bands (not recommended in OR where the locals and rangers use K band, but useful when searching for state patrol, who use laser and KA band).

I liked my older unit enough to get a second one, and I like my second one enough to upgrade the first one.

 

[user 28803]

Great info, everybody.

Here's a question (and I'll add it to the original post):

What do you do, if anything, to or with your RD if you go somewhere they're illegal (VA for example)?

 

[ionbeam]

In places in the US where they are illegal: Don't turn it on, radar detector-detectors work real good. My Redline is supposed to be undetectable but I wouldn't risk it. Keep it out of plain sight. I know many run with their detector on in VA and have never had a problem. I don't personally know of anyone stopped just for having a detector on but that means close to zero. When RDs were illegal in CT my LEO brother always had his detector-detector running and it was a target rich environment, especially for out of state cars.

Canada: Some people will bring one and use it and seem to get away with it. I did a border crossing with someone that had a bad day. As Customs was taking his luggage and motorcycle apart they found his radar detector and it made a nice crunch under the inspector's heel. If detected, your radar detector is removed from your possession and you probably will be assessed a fine in the $150 - $200 range though I think the cap is in the $500 range.

 

[Bounce]

1. With the new features of the V1 now available, I sent mine off for an update yesterday.

2. As explained when it was asked elsewhere: I avoid states that don't want me - for whatever reason. If they don't want my radar detector (or whatever the item is) then they also don't want my vacation dollars.

 

[owsley]

Jesse,

My experience in VA, which I have lived in for the past 20 plus years, is two tickets for having a RD.

They will find you at the most inopportune time and will be glad to write you a ticket. Trust me on this one!

I don't believe they confiscate them in VA anymore, they did not with mine. It was not a moving violation, but it did cost $.

Given the choice of a ticket for having an RD or speeding, I know what I would choose.

I generally don't go super fast anymore, but I do like to know where LEO is if I can.

I am working out of state now and run V1 all the time. I have tried to figure out why VA and DC are the only holdouts for RD use. $$$?.

I hear different stories about whether some detectors cant be picked up by a radar detector detector or not.

Put in the trunk while riding through?

 

[ionbeam]

...I hear different stories about whether some detectors cant be picked up by a radar detector detector or not...

Depends on the equipment the police are using and somewhat on the radar detector's design. Today the gold standard for a radar detector-detector (RDD) is the Spectre IV. In theory there are only two radar detectors that this unit can't detect, they are both made by the same parent company -- Escort Redline & Beltronic STi Driver and two are detectable at short distance: Valentine One & Escort 9500 ci meaning you have to be right on the officer before the RDD can detect these two. The older the Spectre model number the better chance that a radar detector (RD) is not detectable by the RDD

Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing what model Spectre RDD the police may be using.

There are two parts that go into making a RD invisible to RDD. One is the shielding inside the RD to prevent the oscillator frequency from leaking out and the other is the operating frequency of the superheterodyne in the RD. The RD sprays out the superheterodyne frequency like a broadcast antenna and the RDD is tuned to receive this signal. If the frequency is outside the scanning range of the Spectre IV it won't 'see' the RD. If the shielding is good enough, the superheterodyne signal will be too weak for detection. Shielding across the large frequency span the RD uses is very difficult. Generally speaking the higher energy the oscillator works at the more sensitive the RD is, but it also makes it harder to shield.

Almost all other RDs aren't shielded over the entire frequency span to be completely invisible to the RDD. They may be invisible to Spectre I and Spectre II but not to Spectre III and IV. These days the VG-2 Interceptor RDD isn't in the game any more. All the RD companies changed the oscillator frequencies outside the VG-2 range making them invisible to VG-2.

 

[Mogan]

Ok IonBeam,

Great post. I've been working on a broad systems upgrade on my '05 machine and perhaps the last frazzle that's a candidate for upgrade in my radar detector. I have an Escort 9500ix and have had that for quite a few years now. My sense is that radar technology change pretty quickly. I've had a fair number of LEO encounters over the years despite my investments in radar.

If the technology has materially improved, I'd like to upgrade. Is the Escort Redline now the unit to beat? Price is secondary. I hate tickets. I'd also like to make my alerts bluetooth capable. I've used outcome integrated audio, LED blocks and the HARD system. I hate excess wiring so am thinking about a bluetooth transmitter for audio... something like this:

https://www.adaptivtechnologies.com/adaptiv_store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=67&products_id=249

All suggestions on best current radar and best alert system greatly appreciated.

Mogan

 

[ionbeam]

The number one best radar detector is the Valentine V1 because it has arrows. But it doesn't have the best sensitivity and it falses more than others. If you ride in urban areas this could become irritating fast.

For best sensitivity and low falsing the Escort and Passport units are the current leaders along with the Beltronic (basically the same as the Escort/Passport) but they come at a serious price. The Valentine has similar performance but isn't quite as sensitive by a very small amount. In the end, for daily use they all are essentially equal except for those arrows on the V1. If the patrolling officers simply has the radar unit on as he drives around or sits on the side of the road with the radar gun on there is no question any radar detector will be adequate. If the patrolling officer runs proper speed enforcement procedures he will shoot only the cars that appear to be exceeding the speed limit and there is no radar detector that will protect you from this. Let me tell ya, an experienced officer can tell your speed visually within a mph or two and you are getting a ticket. My Redline has worked just fine for me but there will be zealots others along to preach expound on the critical importance of V1 arrows.

Bluetooth can have one short coming; if it has to open a session with the receiver there will be a delay between the radar detector going off and the signal getting to your bluetooth receiver. This delay will probably be fatally long. If the channel is left connected there will be no appreciable delay; you need to be sure how your bluetooth system will work with the dongle.

The local towns around me offer a great service, they have lots of radar based speed signs which is great for checking the sensitivity of the radar detector and distance to locked speed. My Redline will detect the speed sign at twice the distance before the sign can lock my speed. Because the FJR has a small, angular front end the speed signs can't lock the motorcycle speed until a quarter the distance. The local police get anxious and shoot my motorcycle at car distances so they can't lock my speed until I get much closer which gives me time to 'adjust my speed if required' before they are close enough to lock my speed.

I wouldn't trust any detector alone to do a dependable job with laser. Your first best defense against laser is simply situational awareness.

 

[Mogan]

Uh, great info Ionbeam, but not the answer I'm looking for. Please quit your day job and invent the device that will beat laser... ;-)

Mogan

 

[Fred W]

Living and riding primarily in New England, I would not own any RD that you can't turn X band off. There are no police using that frequency around here (NJ used to but I avoid NJ for other reasons) but lots of automatic doors that do. Turning X band off on my passport has made life with the RD piped into my helmet much more bearable.

I downloaded the V1 manual. It appears that the ability to turn bands on or off is not a feature of the Valentine V1.

 

[Pterodactyl]

In my old life I worked with the police often. I learned that good police work depends a great deal on the stupidity of the bad guys. Using a RD has taught me that its usefulness depends a great deal on the failure of police officers to use their equipment properly.

 

[Bounce]

Living and riding primarily in New England, I would not own any RD that you can't turn X band off. There are no police using that frequency around here (NJ used to but I avoid NJ for other reasons) but lots of automatic doors that do. Turning X band off on my passport has made life with the RD piped into my helmet much more bearable.
I downloaded the V1 manual. It appears that the ability to turn bands on or off is not a feature of the Valentine V1.

You can program the V1 to turn off POP, X and other functions. I turned off POP X recently because the number of newer cars with proximity radar using that band that was starting to piss me off.

From Here: https://www.valentine1.com/SiteMap/

I went to this: https://www.valentine1.com/v1info/aboutprogramming/

 

[Hudson]

Thanks Bounce. I was wondering how to defeat Pop Xband. I bought a new V1 a while back but still have the old one.

Did you use the app method, or the knob programming method? (it seems a bit complicated without the app).

 

[Fred W]

OK thanks. I couldn't find that in the owners manual.

 

[Bounce]

I used the animated GIF example and used the knob to make the changes.

https://www.valentine1.com/V1info/animation/TMF_frontpanel.asp