Exactly. But how often is it just you and a cop alone on the road? You'd have to be a moron to keep speeding then. Most the time there a several cars on the road and they are zapping them as they drive by. Your detector will pick these hit on other cars up way before you get to him. This is where they come in handy. If it's just you and a cop all alone you are screwed no matter what.

 

passport 9500ix. Great unit because you can download a frequently updated list of red light cameras, speed cameras, speed traps. Plus, it learns false signals, as others have described...Those get annoying real quick.
It is not 100% foolproof but well worth the investment...you have to still be alert for cops but i can't tell you how many times the passport has given me advance warning on the NJ turnpike

 

V1 with hardwire and concealed display = gangster

 

+!______

 

Exactly^^

 

Valentine 1 for 7+ years have never gotten a ticket while its been in my car/truck. Physical look might be old but the internal hardware and software gets refreshed all the time. Makes it nice only having to pay for an upgrade and not an entirely new detector.

My vote Valentine 1 with Blendmount and Laser jammer!

Mike K.

 

v1 plus mirror mount.. worth every dollar

 

i want that.

 

I have passport escort 9500i with hardwire kit. it has saved me numerous times.. most people get turned away from the Valentine and Passport because of thier price but it is worth every penny

 

I have a V1 that is about 5 years old. It will pick up rear signals from up to 1/2 miles out ( I know because I see the CHP car on the side and checked my odometer to see when the signal goes dim). But on frontal side, by the time it alerts, I can already see the patrol car by sight........ and I'm sure the nice officer already saw me speeediung down the road too.

 

The best on the market right now is the Bel STI-R +. Its been awesome and has band segmentation. It's detection is awesome as well. I've put it up against jsut about everyone's radar detector and its' blown it out of the water.

 

Radar wave must hit you and reflect back to the radar gun. You will always get an alert before the officer gets a reading when talking line of site hits.

 

^ That assumes that your radar detector is capable of detecting the radar that hits your vehicle.

You're always hit by the radar before the cop gets a reading, but your detector doesn't necessarily detect what hit you due to sensitivity or other factors.

 

Hey Fezzik, what made you choose the STI-R over the Escort 9500ci? I've been looking at both and was curious as to the differences between them, beyond the ~$300.00 price point for the 9500ci.

Edit: Found this, thought it might be relevant.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2-YZzUZoB7E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

The thing with comparison videos like the one above is that there is a potential for interference betweent he devices...

As a V1 user, if you can stomach the false signals then I'd go with that...the arrows make a huge difference IMO as far as threat identification goes. Outside of the Redline you can't go wrong with the V1...there are certain instances were the Redline will perform better than the V1 (don't remember the exact differences) but when I was shopping it wasn't enough to convince me to buy the escort product.

My friend has the 9500ix. The GPS feature and the road light cam database are good features that give it a plus but as far as the highway goes I'd take the V1 over that hands down...

If money isn't an issue, the the Beltronics STI-R plus >>>____________

...another thing about the V1 is that it is detectable by radar detector detectors (RDD) so in states like VA this may be of concern to you...as far as I remember the Redline and the STI-R are not detectable by RDD.

FYI, these devices are all useless if you come by a cop who is good with instant on radar...there are about two instances were I wasn't speeding and got hit by I/0 and I got no warning whatsoever from my detector...and as far as Laser goes, these things are simply ticket detectors if you're speeding when you get hit