Quote:
Originally posted by Cobra 29
There is simply no other good selections than the Valentine One. The owners were originally with Escort before they cheapened the Escort to complete with low price ($100) detectors. As mentioned before the Valentine One has a remote display option that permits the detector to mounted more out of sight and you can place the remote display in your field of vision. Battery powered detectors score poorly. The V1 is powered from a 12 volt cord.
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First, Mike Valentine WAS Escort and sold his company. Mr. Valentine has chosen not to improve the V1 in recent years and quotes an years old Car and Driver test in his current advertising. The current Escort 8500 X50 and its Beltronics twin have outperformed the V1 in most if not all recent tests.
The Escort 8500 X50 comes with a remote display as standard equipment and it detects the latest radar gun's POP mode, which the V1 DOES NOT. In POP mode, the radar gun emits a very short burst that's undetectable by most radar detectors including the V1. Mike Valentine claims that POP dectection is not important as POP mode is not to be used in writing tickets. Valentine is not being realistic as officers could use POP mode to nail you and claim to have used their guns in the approved way.
I used a new V1 for three weeks and compared it with an Escort 8500 X50. A drive through Malibu on Pacific Coast Highway any evening will prove how much POP dectection is worth. After getting six POP hits in three miles, I stopped at the local Shell station to talk with the Sheriff's Deputies who confirmed using POP mode in writing tickets!
The Escort 8500 X50 is less expensive and performed better than the V1 during my own side-by-side testing. The range was similar, but the V1 falsed considerably more.
Here's something for Cobra owners to think about before buying a V1:
The Valentine uses identical vertically stacked red LEDs to indicate X, K, Ka and laser. Since you won't hear the different tone for each in the Cobra, you'll have to rely on your eyesight to read the tiny inscriptions next to each LED. Good luck!
Valentine needs to update the V1.