Radar/uh Laser detectors Suggestions?

[FJR1300Jeff]

Its been a while since I looked into Radar detectors, at the time I believe Valentine was the shit..Is this still true have the prices come down?...I need one more for my car than bike.

Is there a good wireless one out now....any experience would be appreciated. I want one that can catch it all.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[squeezer]

Valentine V1 and Passport 9500 still seem to be at the top of the pyramid when techies do benchmark tests. The Adaptiv TPX is a motorcycle specific one that is both waterproof (neither the v1 nor the 9500 are) and has wireless headset or visual prompt options.

No, prices haven't come down. If budget is an issue, though, you can get a reconditioned Escort Passport 8500 -- a former top dog -- with full warranty for $150 on eBay. Escort had a customer loyalty trade-in program for the 9500. This deal is how they're getting rid of the 8500s that were traded in. Since I don't use a radar detector very often, that's the route I took.

 

[Fred W]

As did I after Squeezer told me about the refurbished Escorts on eBay. It is a very capable radar detector for short money. Has saved me several times in both the car and on the bike.

I wouldn't waste much time or money on laser detectors. If it lights up you're already done.

The added feature a V1 brings of telling you which direction the radar signal is coming from would be nice. Just not worth the cost difference to me to get it.

 

[CRMH Eagle]

Valentine 1.

Having the arrows indicating direction is worth it's weight in gold. During an alarm of multiple bogeys the arrows also indicate which bogey is the most threatening.

The two negative features of the unit are that you can not dim/brighten the lights, and all the lights are red. I've contacted Valentine 1 research dept suggesting to add different color lights and be able to dim/brighten the lights. I received a reply that others have said the same thing and the options are being considered.

Also with V1 you have a lifetime option to upgrade to newer technology for a small fee (I think it's $50). So after you buy the unit it will never become obsolete. Well, it might but as long as the company is still in business then they are supposed to honor the option.

 

[03HiYoSilver]

Jeff,

I don't have experience with the Valentine, however the Escort Passport 9500, Bel_RX65 (Beltronics now owned by Escort) and the Escort Passport Solo S2 are wonderfull units.

The Solo S2, if you can find one, you can use 2-AA batteries or can use hardwire power system. With the Passports, you can attach an Earbud to the unit which is very handy.

Good Luck with your search.

 

[Zorlac]

FWIW, if you've got an old one you don't want, it might be worth $80.

 

[Bounce]

Take a stroll through the bikes waiting to ride an endurance rally. The vast majority with detectors will be running V1. There's a reason for that.

 

[FJRBluesman]

I have an Escort Passport 8500 X50. No idea from experience on how well it is compared to others etc.

 

[glide99]

Heard of a few that have this one and love it.

https://www.adaptivtechnologies.com/products/tpx/

 

[JamesW]

I have been running Escorts for years with a screamer alarm speaker plugged in, works quite well for an audible alert at speed. Still need to keep your head out and drive aware. Even the oldest radar guns with a hold button can be deadly.

 

[Auburn]

Valentine 1.
Having the arrows indicating direction is worth it's weight in gold. During an alarm of multiple bogeys the arrows also indicate which bogey is the most threatening.

The two negative features of the unit are that you can not dim/brighten the lights, and all the lights are red. I've contacted Valentine 1 research dept suggesting to add different color lights and be able to dim/brighten the lights. I received a reply that others have said the same thing and the options are being considered.

Also with V1 you have a lifetime option to upgrade to newer technology for a small fee (I think it's $50). So after you buy the unit it will never become obsolete. Well, it might but as long as the company is still in business then they are supposed to honor the option.

+1000 V1

I have seen as many as 6 radars at once on mine. The arrows are very handy to tell you which threat is the most urgent to pay attention to. Very rarely get a false alarm. When it goes off, the is a threat in the area.

Nothing will protect from laser. If the detector goes off, it justs confirms you have been caught.

Your best defense is to be aware at all times, look waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead for anything that looks out of place or unusual and adjust your speeds/riding accordingly. My V1 rarely goes off before I have already seen the LEO. The second most important rule, is be smart about where you choose to explore the limits of your feejer.

V1 has an adapter you can get to run the sound through your earphones or comm system.

 

[Fred W]

The counter-position to the V1 arrows superiority would be that when the (any) RD alarms, you want to just slow down to be sure that you are running at legal speeds regardless of where the bogie is.

Sure, if I was in the position of purchasing a new $500 RD unit I would consider the V1 as one option and weigh the features of all of the available units at that price point. Maybe the arrows would tip the scale. I went with a refurb Passport 8500 because at the price ($150 shipped) it gives be infinitely better protection than what I had before that (nothing) and I realize that no RD provides 100% protection.

 

[ionbeam]

There are two classes of radar detectors to consider. First and only in its class is Adaptiv which is a true motorcycle radar detector, it is waterproof and glove friendly. The second group are automotive, non weather protected units. The big three units that always seem to end up going head to head are BEL, Passport and Valentine. There is a third category that some need to consider and that is for your radar detector to be 'invisible' to police radar detector detectors (RDD) which sniff out vehicles that are using radar detectors. The police RDDs are real good at this job. Some people would prefer that the police don't know that you are using a radar detector and there are some places where radar detectors are illegal. They are illegal in many parts of Canada, District of Columbia (Washington DC), Virginia and US military bases.

There are lots of tests and reviews, to get a real picture you would need to read a number of test results. Radar detector testing isn't pure science, as the environment changes the test results will vary. This will happen from day to day and location to location so there are no hard, exact results on how one detector works compared to another, but you can find a trend.

This is a typical test comparing the big three --> TEST

Here is a test of the Adaptiv against a couple of the big name detectors:

(Note that X band is almost never used for police radar anymore)

click the pic



I'm not a V1 arrow person, at least so far. My Passport does show the frequencie(s) assaulting me so I could determine if there was more than one threat. I've never had a real need to know where the threat is coming from to prevent a ticket. Occasionally I would like to spot the cop quickly when my detector goes instantly from 0 bars to 5 bars so I can gauge how likely I am to get a ticket. When hit by instant on radar that strong it's usually too late to do anything about it. I suspect the arrow thing may have to do with the terrain and county type where you live, desert and open country vs wooded, hilly country. Line of sight and opportunities for the police to hide may make arrows more useful in some areas than others.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I wouldn't waste much time or money on laser detectors. If it lights up you're already done.

That's the way it is in Maryland, as most of the police have gone laser. The best laser and radar detector is still a CB radio to know what's ahead, letting somebody pass you now & then, and keeping your eyes open.

That said, I'm listening for how the old Solo S2 fares, as I've got one in a box somewhere.

 

[03HiYoSilver]

Checks,

I have a Solo S2 and it works fine. However, it is a little slower to respond when you are in BATTERY Mode. Its reaction time is faster when hardwired using the AC adaptor wire. I also use an earbud on all my Escorts so I can hear it while riding and don't have to be looking at it.

The reason for this, as explained by Escort to me, is it uses pulsing reception mode when in battery mode to save power and then when it gets a signal it locks ON while it is getting a hit. And it does not have the POP technology as built in the 9500 series which I also have in another vehicle.

On a side note, I believe you can send in your Older S2 and get it Flashed to the upgraded firmware.

 

[Fred W]

I did avoid (evade?) a Lidar ticket once. I was riding on I93 at ~20 over. It's in a section of interstate through the city limits of Manchester where the limit is lowered to 55mph, so 20 over isn't exactly reckless. The cops were in the median and were shooting everything in the left 2 lanes (of 4) at about 1/4 mile, so there was enough scatter off one of the cars ahead of me to beep once (the RD shows full scale on any lidar alarm, regardless of signal strength) before I was in their line of sight. In that case, running with the pack is what saved me several hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.

Running with no other traffic on the open interstate you are a completely vulnerable to a cop with lidar.

In that circumstance you just can't run the risk if you can't afford the payments.

Luckily, they almost never use lidar off the interstates around the northeast. Not enough long sight lines.

And most of the local yokel cops just leave their Ka's running while they sit on the side of the road, or while they drive around on patrol, for the most part.