I was curious which radar detector everyone uses? I live in Houston and have a lot of laser used over here, I was thinking about going with the V1 ? Anyone else use this. I found this one website at http://www.RadarReviews.net which helped out a bunch, but I was curious what all you guys used as well.

Thanks!

 

I have a Valentine 1. I really like it...you really only have three choices for a real radar detector: The V1, the best Escort available, or the BEL STi Driver. I love the V1 (hardwired with the remote display in the instrument cluster)!

 

go cobra IMHO, saved me alot of tickets (got none)

 

V1 is the best $400 investment I have ever made. One of my friends has an escort and also has a speeding ticket from the tollway. He said it never went off.

 

Well if you search on google for radar detector comparisons, you will find the escort has better performance ratings. I use the escort and it has saved my many times and not saved me a couple times. The times it hasn't saved me is when the washington and oregon police were using lasers. Unless you want to spend of a grand for a detect and a jammer (illeagal in most states) you really won't have much protection against laser speed guns. This is my experience. You can go wrong with the valentine or the escort, they are very close in performance almost identical except in the range of KA radar detection where I think the escort performed better.

You will need to keep in mind that if they use laser in your area that a detector may not give you enough notice to slow down in time. Also you need to think of it like going into battle with a gun you haven't test fired. What I did was drive like a normally do after getting the detect and start to learn what kind of range it has.

Also the escort has one key feature that the valentine didn't have when I was purchasing them last year. "Auto Mute" the warnings can get pretty annoying, especially if you like to listen to music which makes you turn the volume on the detector up. Then if it starts going off it can get really irritating. The escort will warn you with normal loud warning (different tones for different radar/laser types) then i will auto mute itself so you don't have to keep listening to it, and you don't have take your eyes off the road to mute it manually.


Hope this helps.

 

Repost of my review which several people agreed whole heartedly with

I have the V-1 and when i went to get flashed in Maryland i arrived in under 3.5 hours from Staten Island to Westmeinster md. Went to take care of buissness in Baltimore,then DC. Went from DC back to NYC in 3 hours 7 minutes with no traffic. the V-1 called out everything,even a couple of cops who's presence wasn't known 2 me through my scanner or CB radio. I'm a pilot who flies out of an airport in south Jersey so making the 50 mile commute on the Garden State parkway is a great way to test any detectors mettle along a 50 mile route i will see 2-10+ cops some hidden in sneaky spots.It gives initial warning of both instant on and regular radar from over a mile away on a straight rd and about .8 miles around even the most intricate curves. It will let u know when the cop actually has you painted with the radar 2 and after a while you get a good idea of the distance from you to the pig after the initial warning. It is THE ONLY radar detector i've ever owned or used that can identify laser b4 it hits you. All the other radar/laser detectors on the market warn u after u get lasered. This will give you a second or 2 warning if there are cars in front of you getting painted. LAser is a tricky one though because it has a beam that is very narrow and small and it only needs to be on for a split second to work. So if the pig sits there and your weavin in and outta traffic at a high rate of speed, he can just wait until he's got a clear shot and pull that trigger before you ever realize he's there,unlike radar the beam doesn't spread out and paint a really wide area that widens as the distance increases so he can get you from almost half a mile away and you won't know it until it hits making whatever detector u chose a $400 windshield ornament. Around here the good news is that the pigs only use it during the warmer months and once it drops below 70 degrees they don't use em around here. The good thing about laser is laser must be run from a stationary vehicle with the window down. If it looks like a good hiding spot just slow down or the cop can be outta the car. radar can be used while in motion and a sneaky pig can sneak up on you and just follow behind. With other detectors it'll just blare to the point it gets annoying and you shut it off and speed back up. Meanwhile you now have jus sped up with a cop right behind you and are getting stopped. The valentine has arrows to alert you of this. Another thing around here is that the piggies usually leave their radar on when driving so if you get a warning of radar from the rear and its weak and very gradually getting stronger theres a piggie comin. It is simple to use,but the 4 tiny little red dots telling of the radar band can be hard to see which one is which. Not really a prob as the tones are diffrent for the radar bands and laser makes a huge screech tellin u to slow now. The system is very sensitive however and can false neutral alot in residential/commercial areas. You shouldn't really speed through anyway due to population density. On the open road it shines. I love mine and have a clean liscence with out a single moving violation. If your serious about keepin your liscence clean like i am, a CB radio and scanner for the piggies will complement the V1 nicely. Not every pig keeps the radar on and some will just sit chilling yappin away on the radio until he hears an A4 aproaching at triple digits and decides to turn the radar on at the last second in which case the V1 couldn't have done anything. Remeber a radar detector isn't a pig spotter and you still have 2 be smart about your surrondings. Some cops will sit hidden and not use radar period. They will just sit and wait 2 pull over jerks who are tailgating or driving crazy like they should instead of generating revenue off the poor schmuck doin 50 in a wide open 35 through rural woods. The radar detector is a tool and will take a bit to learn how to interpret it properly. Ignore a signal thinkin its a false warning cause theres a store with the door opener every da but not checkin the bogie counter showin 2 radar sources instead of the usual one will def hurt finacially. Pay attention,learn to use it and get the supporting mods of CB and scanner and you'll be next to unstopable.

 

Heheh, I'm using my old (and very trusted), low-end Uniden that I got new about 12 years ago lol. And it has none of the fancy features of a V1 or the other high-end detectors. However, if you can believe it, it has amazing range, 360 scan, and has NEVER failed me.