Gonna buy a radar detector

[tranzformer]

Well I have been saving up and now it is time to make a choice. I have searched and narrowed it down to the Passport 8500 and the Valentine 1. I know there are plus's and minus's to both of them. I would like to hear from those thave have either had both or tried both of them, and which one you think is the better choice. I drive mostly highway and rural. thanx for the help

 

[changedman]

i have an el cheapo $40 fuzzbuster 4000. kicks ass.

Why spend hundreds of dollars- you drive mostly highway, any detector can detect K/KA and laser (which they use). And since on highway most troopers leave their radar active, any bad detector can still read, even at high distance. mine was reading .5 before i even saw a cop in the median on my way to oklahoma.

 

[tom@kartboy.com]

V1! period.
i own two of them. i got lazy and didnt switch them from car to car.

they will pay for themselves the first long drive you take.

Tom

 

[Rism]

www,radar-detectors.com

GO through that site and read all the reviews. ITs a great site.

 

[vodapas77]

Last time I checked the reviews Valentine One and the Passport 8500 were the top two on the market.

 

[bazooka joe]

i have the 8500. just saved me three times on a trip done to lexington ky. i do like the val 1 directional setup though!!

 

[FLSilverP5]

V1. but i have never used the 8500 so i wouldnt know how good that is. I just love the fact that it has arrows, the amount of reading it gets (so wen i cop stand beside the publix u pass by everyday you know!), and the mute button. Plus i really like the dual sensors. I say go with the V1. if u buy it off ebay its a lil cheaper

oh yeh and a v1 never gets obsolete. Whenever a new version comes out cuz the cops got something new, u can just get ur radar detector updated, instead of having to buy a whole new one. Version 1.8 rite here!!! (headbang)

 

[Captain KRM P5]

i have a radio shack POS that works pretty well

 

[snooky]

i have a cobra, but since i live in Canada, they caught me and impounded my car and i lost my licence for 3 months, i hate the law!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Murray]

V1, definitely. Mine has more than paid for itself in the 2 years I've had it.

 

[YellowMP5]

i have used friends passport 8500 going to nopi and back. it seems to work fine (although i wouldn't say better then a $150 radio shack detector that i had before) but the beeps that it makes when it finds a signal are super annoying, the screen is very small compared to the radio shack detector and it doesn't have voice alerts or a compass. and did i mention the beeps are ******* annoying? in the end, i wouldn't spend the money that they want for it.

 

[agtj]

I have the 8500, I have not tried the V1, but I currently like the 8500, I usally keep it in the mode where it can show up to 10 different signals againest the car. It has saved me plenty of times, I think it has like a 2 mile diameter around the car where it can pick up radar(even sometimes when coming up a hill it will pick up the radar). I like the 8500, but yes sometimes the beeps are annoying that why they put the mute button right on the Smart Cord (12volt cord), and it is very easy to extended the 8500, say you want to run the wire behind the dash or something instead of having the wiring running up the dash, all you need is a 4 wire phone cord and an another piece ( like 2 bucks radio shack ) and it works.

 

[mp3moose]

V1 with remote rocks. Hell, a 80 dollar cobra with VG2 is all you need unless you live in a stupid state that doesn't allow them....f***ing Virginia.

 

[YellowMP5]

I have the 8500, I have not tried the V1, but I currently like the 8500, I usally keep it in the mode where it can show up to 10 different signals againest the car. It has saved me plenty of times, I think it has like a 2 mile diameter around the car where it can pick up radar(even sometimes when coming up a hill it will pick up the radar). I like the 8500, but yes sometimes the beeps are annoying that why they put the mute button right on the Smart Cord (12volt cord), and it is very easy to extended the 8500, say you want to run the wire behind the dash or something instead of having the wiring running up the dash, all you need is a 4 wire phone cord and an another piece ( like 2 bucks radio shack ) and it works.

agree, the radar does pickup signals ahead over hills (but so did my radio shack one) and the mute button on the plug is a GREAT idea/feature. however, when the detector goes off it is still ******* annoying (i wish you could listen to my old radio shack one) and this is my biggest gripe against it.
so in the end, it is a great detector but whether its worth the money or not is up to your wallet. i know it doesn't worth it to me.

i am cheap and a while back i asked everyone here to pitch in to buy radar detectors reviews from some site that does them. nobody replied, oh well. we could have had a wealth of information on them and everybody would have been able to make a decision on what the right detector is for them. now we are left guessing which one is better and which one sucks.... (shrug)