Good evening all-

Well you might remember about 8 months ago I traded my V1 for the Passport 8500. Well Mishmosh pushed my buttons that other night at the NorthEast Ohio meet about the 8500. I started looking into the V1 again. I found out Mike came out with a new V1! It's called version 1.8 and it about 1/4" shorter and 1/4" less tall, too. It also picks up the new KU band.

I finally got the V1 and man is it small now. The old version was soooo damn big. I hooked the Passport 8500 up on the right side of my car and the V1 on the left so that they won't 'fight' and cause interference. I drove around and noticed that they both have about the same X-Band range. K band the V1 seems to have a slight advantage. I was lucky enough to get some Ka too. The 8500 chimed in about .0000005 sooner. However, the V1 gave a stronger signal and told me it was behind. The 8500 just beeped.

I will continue to test more and then the 8500 is going into my wifes car! I still can't believe I have $700 worth of radar detectors---makes me sick!

SHUMAX

 

$700

 

Tell me about it! I have been getting sick and tired of the Passport 8500 VS. The v1 fight. I finally will conduct my own test. I drive my fiances car more than mine so I want equal protection---thus the 8500 in there. The V1 is going in my car

 

Do they still do the trade and upgrade deal? I wouldn't mind a smaller version of it.

Jim

 

I went online and placed my serial # and it gave me a price of 189.00 for the following upgrades.

Our Instant Upgrade* will make the following improvements to your V1.


Our best Ka-band performance.
Our best X-band performance.
Our best K-band performance.
Adds radar coverage on Ku-band (used in Europe).
Our best, Generation 3 laser warning, front and rear.
Reduces V1's case height by about ¼ inch.
Reduces V1's weight by about 1.5 oz.
Latest windshield mount with new suction cups.
Latest visor mount.
New Lighter Power Adapter.
New Direct-wire Power Adapter
New coiled cord.
New straight cord.
New wiring-harness connector.
Dual-Lock® fastener.
New Owners Manual.
Spare fuse.
Spare suction cups.
One-year limited warranty, same as new units.

I have only had the unit for about 18 months, probably less. So it seems that they do offer us the option to upgrade. Now the question is "is it worth it?"

 

so you recommend the V1 over the 8500?

 

i think he meant the v1 1.8 and the 8500 cost him $700 so he has 700 hundred dollars worth of radar detectors

 

8500 is great

 

Can't wait to see some test results!!! Why would Americans care about KU bands??

 

Well, that's a good question. $189 is about the cost of any other decent detector new, right? The V1 does seem to come with alot of accessories. Do other detectors include all that mounting hardware, wire, and connectors?

I think I might go for it but I'm going to look into it a bit more. Has anyone else upgraded theirs already?

Jim

 

I have a V1 and am quite happy w/ it, but it is big.
I thought the "Instant upgrade" was some kind of download that would "reprogram" the unit - so how can it reduce the case size?

Or do you send in the old unit and get a new one in exchange?

I also got the remote display - but stil haven't gotten around to installing it.
Do you know if it will work w/ the 1.8 version?

Also, I wanted to tap the power for it somewhere in the fuse box area...
Any ideas?

Thanks

 

If they are replacing the whole unit *AND* there is a noticeable improvement in performance, I'd say $189 is probably worth it. If it's just a chip swap or something of that nature, then you definitely have to think it over. What they should give you or maybe what you want to find out is how much better "Our Best" is compared to what version you have.

I gotta say though, that that kind of upgradability is awesome for any product.

 

So this is a whole new unit rather then somekind of "internal" upgrade since its smaller. What does the new unit cost since i dont have a V1 period.

 

The new Valentine 1 is not listed on their website. Where did you purchase your's from? I use to own an 8500, but returned it cuz i got 2 tickets within a 3 month span. Let me know where u got the new V1 from. Thanks!

GC

 

The V1 is only available directly from the mfr. No retailers carry it. Forget about a group deal, it's been tried with no luck.

Jim

 

If you buy a new V1 now, just specify the new version when ordering. I've noticed that Valentine seems to be purposely not distinguishing between the new and 'old' V1, like the one I have At least I can upgrade to super bad radar for $189. I'll be doing it soon

DW

 

thanks for the info, i'll likely do this too

 

I inherited my V1 with my car and it was one of the first ones that came out and there was a new program for it by the time I got it, so I sent it in to have it upgraded. When I got mine back the case was different and it looked like a new detector, but it had the same serial number. What you do is call them and they will make an appointment so that they can work on it so that the turn around time is as short as possible. You send in the detector, any way you wish, they upgrade it and send it back. I think mine was gone about a week total. It was cheaper than buying a new one and it worked a lot better. . . For $189 I am really thinking of upgrading it again.

 

With this upgrade, they take the old and give you a brand new one. They're physically different this time, the new one being smaller.

DW

 

Gee thanks, some of us thought it was magic.

jt

 

I am wondering how they determine how much it is to upgrade as when I entered my SN I got a quote of $229 + shipping. Maybe it was because I didn't opt for the rear laser capability when I upgraded it last time.

I like how they put up the info about what you already have, and they recommend if you upgrade it or not. For example, this is what I got when I submitted my SN:

V1 Description: Radar circuitry known in-house as V1.7 gives high performance on all radar bands. Also, it remembers your “mode” setting when shut off. Has stack of four LEDs on front panel for band identification. Front laser only.

Upgrade Recommendation: While this version is not quite up to today’s V1 standard for Ka, it’s almost always good enough, and always better than detectors from other makers. X and K performance is excellent. Upgrading merely to improve radar performance is not cost effective, in my opinion. Upgrading does bring other benefits, including our latest Generation 3 front-and-rear laser warning, which is a really significant improvement over the Generation 1 performance of this unit.

Then the next page give me the cost. . . I don't think I will upgrade it soon, but it is nice to know it is an option again.

 

I also have v 1.7 with rear laser and my upgrade cost came to $189 when I did it.

The main reason I'm considering the upgrade is because even though the X and K band sensitivity may be excellent on the V1, the Ka and Laser detection aren't the best. Up here in the NorthEast, Ka and Laser rule, and cops have plenty of landscape to hide behind, making Ka and Laser even harder to detect.


DW

 

any of y'all done the remote install
and where did you tap into for your power?

 

I spliced into the cigarrette lighter.

DW

 

All you need is a switched power source. If you can run the wire to the fuse box area, you should be able to easily find a switched wire there. I believe the lighter adapter is switched, so you could tap into that too if you want.
Use a wire tap and it'll make your life much easier.

 

If you have enough wire to work with run it to the fuse box near your left foot. You can use any number of fuses in there, and if for some reason you blow a fuse only your radar detector goes out. I used the 10A Telephone fuse for my black lights and my radar detector BAT means there is always power, ACC is on with the Accessory key position, and IGN only gives power while the ignition is on. I'll have to take some pics of my remote display sometime even though it goes to my 8500
-hype

 

Yeah, I want to get my power from somewhere in the fuse box area and drill a litle hole on the side of the dash right by the box and run the wire up from there.

Never heard of it, but I was wondering if there was a device that you could plug into an empty fuse slot to get the power that way...

when you say you tap into a line,
do you mean that you can pull the whole fuse block panel thing out
and access the wires from behind it?

thanks guys

 

Since my V1 came with a power cord that had a fuse in-line, there was no need for me to go straight to the fuse box. Don't you all have the power wire with the fuse as part of it??

DW

 

This is what a wire tap looks like
http://www.users.voicenet.com/~breaux/car/fog/fog12.jpg
or
http://www.users.voicenet.com/~breaux/car/fog/fog13.jpg

Yes, you would need access to the actual wire. I've heard of people wiring off the lead of a fuse, but I'm not sure how secure this would be ... or how safe.
If you tap into the wire before the fuse, then you'll also protect your radar detector from any surges of current, because the fuse protects it.

 

No, if you are just using the lighter socket plug you don't need to tap into anything
and yes there is a fuse in the line.

I want to tap into the power from the fuse box area becuase I want to run the line up the side between the door and the right side of the dash.
Then I'll stick the remote display right by the "crease" in the dash near the air vent to the left of the sterring wheel and then take the power line up behind the a-pillar and across under the headliner.
There is an inline fuse included for the remote bit, but I suppose "double-fusing" couldn't hurt.

So, how do I get at the wires behind the fuse box assembly?

Also, those suction cups sometimes just give up and the whole unit falls down. I was thinking of securing the power line to the visor clip or the headliner or somewhere up there so that when the thing falls it won't pull the line out from the headliner. Any thoughts on this?

thanks

 

On my remote cord it came with an inline fuse which I kept, but I did not tap into an existing wire. I cut off the tap at the end of the cord so it was exposed wire. I placed the wire into the 10A ACC fuse for the telephone so my wire went
Fuse----+wire+--+inline fuse+---+wire+----Remote and Radar Detector
I popped out the blank switch next to the gauge dimmer and put my remote there by running the wires up near the steering column. I ran my power wires up the apillar and across the headliner to my radar detector which sits on my passenger visor. I love my setup because you can't tell anything is there
-hype

 

thanks for the info but:

What do you mean when you say "I placed the wire into the 10A ACC fuse for the telephone"?

How did you do this?

 

OK. So I'm the only one with 1 fuse between my V1 and a surge. Oh well, works for me!


DW

 

That is the same with certain parts of IL as well. Especially I-70 and southward.

 

fast97maxse when I said I placed it into the fuse I meant I pulled out the fuse, put the wire onto one side of the fuse and pushed the fuse in. As long as the wire is only touching one side of the fuse the fuse will remain in working order. If for some reason you connected both sides of the fuse you would still get power, but you would also be bypassing the fuse because power could just flow through the wire. So strip some bare wire and just clamp it down with the fuse Hope that helps.
-hype

 

xHypex -
Thanks. Yes that was my question exactly.
It seems that would be the easiest way to tap into power
- certainly easier than opening up the dash down there or removing the fuse panel to use a wire tap somewhere behind it.

So I take it you haven't had a problem with it coming lose?

And where/how did you connect the ground wire?

 

fast97maxse no I haven't had a problem with any of my wires coming loose. I have 2 + wires from black lights and one + wire from my radar going into the fuse, but the fuse holds the wires in. You'd either have to pull hard enough to break the wire for it to come loose or you'd have to take out the fuse. The easiest ground when running to the fuse box is under the dash behind a little kick panel. Look where the dead pedal is and remove the plastic cover on the left side near the door. Behind that piece you'll see some a bolt with a nut facing towards the floor. I grounded my stuff there and it works perfectly.
-hype

 

cool
Thanks
Guess I have a weekend project now...

 

I finally got around to entering my serial number on their website and got the exact same description and recommendation. Our units must have been from the same production run. I like the idea that it is a little smaller although that's really only an aesthetic consideration. I bet they just trim off the bottom section below the display since I'm sure the display itself won't change in size.

I dunno, the thing works great but better is, well, better, right? I wonder if you have to send they the remote display and all your other accessories. I think it's odd that they're sending you a new power adapter. I wonder if the power requirements are different. My adapter is already hard-wired to my car and I wouldn't want to replace it with the new one if I didn't have to.

Jim

 

Synki,

I'm pretty sure that a new V1 with remote display and laser goes for about $450. The remote display is optional and saves you about $50.

IMO, it is worth the money...if you drive fast alot. The directional feature is worth the cost of admission. Just knowing what direction to look when the thing beeps makes a big difference. When I drive my other car, with my old Uniden unit in it, I feel kind of lost when it beeps since I don't know where the threat is coming from.

Jim