V1 = awesome

I have got K40s in one car. I bought the V1 to use in my leased A4 30V. I did a comparrison of the two one a trip last summer. I placed the V1 in my car with K40s. The V1 had a much better range especially in X band.<p>On the trip, I had an instance were the V1 had a quick hit in X band. The front K40s were silent. I was near an overpass and thought it may be interference. About 300 or so yards down the road, I got another quick X band hit. The K40s were again silent. I thought it was a bit strange so I began slowing down a bit. Then a few seconds later, a cop hit me with instant on that was parked between trees in the median of the interstate. Both detectors indicated lock.<p>If I had not had the V1s, I would have gotten a ticket. I drive exceedingly fast and average about 1 ticket every three or four years. The K40s are very good but unless there is a decent amount of traffic immediately in front of you, there are prone to failure with instant-on. The V1 is much stronger and after a while, you can pretty much tell what is false and what is a hit.

Brad Bilut

I just bought my V1 about 6 months ago, but have had BEL's for the past 9 years. My first BEL was the Vector and I just gave my girlfriend my 945STi. I think BEL makes a hell of a nice detector (top of the line models), but nothing tops the V1. I've been in situations where the source counter and direction finder saved my a--! I think the range of the V1 is superior to all other detectors, but let me give you a situation I was in.<p>Driving down the highway doing about 80MPH when I started to pick up a signal on my V1. I would say I was about 1.5 miles away around a 90degree turn. I started slowing down as the signal strength increased until I was doing 55MPH and saw the state trooper sitting on the shoulder. As I was about right next to him I locked onto a second source and the direction finder told me one source ahead and one behind as I passed. I then knew to watch myself after I passed. Oh, about another 1.5 miles up the road was another trooper radaring. I think if I still had my BEL I would have passed the first cop and punched the gas again thinking the signal I was picking up was still the first cop, then BAM I would have gotten busted by the second cop. <p>Cops are getting pretty sneaky these days.<p>I have a similar V1 story, but I won't bore you.<p>Brad Bilut 98.5 A4 2.8Qtip Stebro

Roger

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Roger

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Rodney

Are radar detectors still illegal in CT? I lived in Mass until recently and remember CT being particularly nasty (using unmarked foreign cars and destroying illicit radar detectors on the spot). I witnessed the first part, think it was a Honda but can't remember, but have not experienced the radar detector thing first hand.<p>Just a thought, might want to make sure you get one that is invisible to radar detector detectors.<p>Regards,<br>Rodney

vik

Since we're on this topic...<p>As many of you may know, Mike Valentine is the inventor of the V1. He and one other guy were also the inventors of the legendary original Escort, back when it had a needle instead of LEDs to indicate signal strength. In fact, he was one of the founders of Cincinnati Microwave, one of the pioneering radar detector companies. It was the undisputed market leader while he was there, with their excellent Escort and Passport detectors, but quickly went downhill when he left 8-10 years ago. This part of the story is all fact.<p>The rest of this post is "heard from a friend of a friend" stuff, but it sounds plausible. Apparently, when Valentine left Cincinnati Microwave, he signed a five year non-competition agreement with them -- pretty standard, really. So he spent those five years in the lab doing nothing but R&D in order to develop the best damn detector money could buy. As soon as the five years were up, he formed Valentine Research, Inc., and released the V1. The rest, as the ubiquitous "they" say, is history....<p><br>-vik<br>1.8tqms (5 weeks away?)

Dave W

Not anymore,been legal in CT for the last couple of years.

Wondering

Read a couple of years ago that driving with headlights and fog lights on confuses the laser gun? Is this still true or have advances in technology changed this?<p>Thanks in advance

George W

Yup, its true. <br>A friend of mine is a local sherrif's cop and tested the theory on my Z3 - with the lights on and utilising a $3.99 Custom Accessories License plate protector, from Big Wheel Rossi, he said he had a real problem locating the licence plate and could not get a reading.<br>Interestingly, the Licence Plate protector from Custom Accessories is labelled:<br>"RECOMMENDED FOR OFF-ROAD USE"<br>I think this is because they know how effective it is against Lidar, but dont want to come out and say it.

Jon C

as Valentine notes in current promo material, the newer detectors are NOT more sensitive on the X & K bands than the original Escort. I'll sometimes take mine w/ me just to see how sensitive it is compared to other detectors (have a Passport & a BEL Remote in one car, which I had pre-V1). The original Passport is still the most sensitive albeit with limited bandwidth.