if i have to know WHERE a trap is to program it in, then i can easily remember that. as far as false alarms in the city, i dont speed fast enough to be worried in the city. my detector sees its best use on the highway. cops dont keep speed traps in the same spot so locking it in gps seems trivial. as long as i have a few seconds of advance warning, i can protect myself.

and i never said its useless BECAUSE it costs more. im saying, the extra cost doesnt seem justified to me.

we're just going to keep arguing this back and forth but i guess until i try 1, we'll never know so thats that.

 

did someone say they like kittens?

 

With the 9500ix, any idea how often Escort updates their database? How often is it useful to connect it to the internet and update the stuff?

For the first time I might actually consider jumping ship and getting an Escort. I've all but stopped paying attention to my V1 with all of the falses.

For the heck of it, I sent off a message to Valentine inquiring about future updates and if they have anything planned to compete with the 9500. I'm not expecting much for an answer, but we'll see.

(btw, is it me, or does it seem like its the same 10 people that do all of the posting on this site?)

 

I havent bothered to update my database.. I'm not that concerned w/ redlights cams and speedcams in my area (Yet). Out of the box, I have not encountered a redlight cam it does not know about, it knows about a few that are not installed yet but the city confirms are planned, and we have no speedcams in this area, so it hasn't alerted not even once.

I think you can mark them yourself. The main marking feature I use is just marking routine falses like roadside speed displays, K-band door openers, etc.

If you do try the escort 30day trial, make sure you change the display mode on the 9500ix to Expert mode. This is what enables it to display the "multiple bogies" but for some reason Escort thinks people prefer a single bogie display that takes up the entire front display.

 

You don't have to mark them yourself though right? You can also just drive by one 3 times and then it gets stores automatically? I suppose that way you're sure its the same frequency/source every time.

What does LEO stand for btw?

I live just about an hour away from both Escort (and Valentine for that matter) so maybe I'll go down next week and pick one up.

 

Law Enforcement Officer

Yes, you do not have to mark them yourself. In fact, I like to let it mark it automatically because it takes the frequency into account, whereas I'm just using my judgment. I could turn on the frequency display and then I would be able to do it just as well as the automatic marker does it, but I don't like that display

There's plenty of places that I've marked manually though. I mean, there are certain alerts which I *KNOW* are falses, so why wait until multiple drive-bys? Also, even if I mistakenly mark a LEO position, they probably will not use the same radar gun the next time they are there, so the frequency will be different anyway.

So yeah... automatic after 3 times, manual using the frequency display to be sure, or just manual if it is totally obvious.

 

Ah right. Thanks.

 

i think 1 of you should let me borrow your 9500 to test out.

 

How 'bout if I sell you my gently pre-loved V1 instead now that I'm cool with my 9500ix? Anyone wanna buy a V1?

 

does any1 know how to connect the V1 behind the mirror? i would buy v1. how much?

 

Let me drop everything and research prices for YOU! SEARCHHHHHHH

 

best bang for buck right now - escort 8500 x50. get red LED its a bit cheaper and matches our dash.
----close, very close runner up would be a BEL RX65

best on market - escort 9500i

V1 - falses too much and IMHO it's more hype than actual performance, with its clunky NASAesque design its more show than go



Radars have been discussed so much so please do search.

 

Maybe he means he'll buy mine since I loosely offered it up for sale. So if that's the case, I'll sell it for $325 (didn't really intend for this to be a sales post). I think they are $400 new and they seem to go for almost that on ebay. Somehow they seem to really hold their value well.

 

The Escort 9500i is the best on the market? I guess you haven't seen the unbiased testing of the GOL team. It looks like the Valentine One lives up to its hype to me.

http://guysoflidar.com/august-2007/r...ctor-test.html


Hype is what you call the flawed TrueLock feature on the Escort 9500i that will get you a ticket because your Escort 9500i could remain silent if a cop shoots radar in an area that you have TrueLocked. TrueLock breaks K band down in to 8 segments and every time you TrueLock an area, it blocks all K band shot in that segment for 1/2 a mile which is like 7 and 1/3 football fields.

Videos of the problems with TrueLock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxy7gGG-JlI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZnmUd8ysRc


As far as your comments about the Valentine One's clunky design. It has to be shaped a certain way because it is the only radar/laser detector with a front and rear radar antenna facing opposite directions to actually locate radar. The Escorts and Bels only have a front facing radar antenna so they can make them all look like an aerodynamic electric razor for women.

Size (from smallest to largest):

Valentine One -> 16.20 cu. in.
Bel RX65 Pro -> 16.33 cu. in.
Bel STi Driver-> 16.33 cu. in.
Escort 8500 X50 -> 18.95 cu. in.
Escort 9500i -> 21.72 cu. in.

Weight (from lightest to heaviest):

Valentine One -> 181.5g (6.40 ounces)
Bel RX65 Pro -> 236.6g (8.35 ounces)
Escort 8500 X50 -> 253.7g (8.95 ounces)
Escort 9500i -> 269.2g (9.49 ounces)
Bel STi Driver -> 291.6g (10.29 ounces)

The Escort 9500i is the largest in size and the Beltronics STi Driver is the heaviest. The Valentine One is the smallest and lightest radar detector of the top five radar detectors made today.

 

Wow Valentine fanboy much???



Any top end radar discussed above will do a good job. IMHO I'd rather pick up an Escort 8500 x50 red LED used for $200 than spend $400ish on V1. Why pay the amount of 2 tickets up front with the V1, when you can pay the price of one violation with the x50. The V1 may have slightly better protection but most experts agree as a result the V1 falses more than top end Escorts. Me personally I think best bang for buck is the x50. Not that I'm a fanboy of it but at the price it's right. If the V1 was priced $50 mroe than the x50 I'd consider it - why? Cause if it is better it's only about $50 better, not twice better.....