CTalbott

I have owned the Escort Passport 8500 since Feb. 2001. It is a very good detector and was my number one choice for a long time.
Valentine One just upgraded the V-1 about two months ago so I thought I would try it out. The V-1 is now thinner and has a new software version 1.8. This detector will beats any other detector I have tried including the 8500 with out a dought. I can't say enough about it and the arrows telling you where the radar is coming from are one the top features for me. I guess if I had to say anything neg. about the new V-1 it woud have to be the price. But then with the ability to up grade the whole detector any time makes it worth it.

LeoB

try living up in Canada where Mastercard adds about 60% for the exchange rate . that turned out to be a $750.00 hit for me..Ouch..but still worth it!

Vyrus

iTrader: (4)

Why do I have to live in Virginia!?!

Gotrice4

You can still use it, just have to be more creative so as not to get caught

Newman

iTrader: (3)

i live in virginia too im kind of paranoid to use it BUT my 8500 broke after 2 months so i cant use it anyway. "service required" it says. just send it in yesterday. anyone else have the 8500 say "service required" after trying to "self cal" for an hour?

krzymax

iTrader: (2)

are these things illegal in California?

tbsmith

Don't think so. Just VA, DC, and eastern Canada. At least as far as this continent is concerned.

Tim

maximadave

iTrader: (10)

No....totally legal

LeoB

Not onlydid my V1 cost me over $700 bucks, but it's illegal here inOntario too. So yet a bigger OUCH if they take if from me, but there are some pretty creative ways of dealing with concealment, should the cops stop me..so it's all sorta like a big game of PAC MAN ..bleep bleep

tbsmith

At least the V1's immune to VG2 guns. In order to get busted for the detector, someone's actually going to have to see it. If I were fortunate enough to own one, (maybe I will when I have more $$ to burn), I'd have it mounted permanently up high, and cover it with a similar color material as the headliner on the sides. Maybe even put an identically shaped "box" on the other side so that it doesn't look suspicious when vewed from the rear. (Matching silouettes.) Then I'd hook up the remote display where I'm the only one who can see it. But I have a tendency to overdo things.

Tim

Gamezilla

If you really want to do some custom work, hook up a radar jammer to your rear license plate. My friend did it and he says it's an absolute pain in the *** to get in and working right. Very interesting, though. He has the whole internals hid among his amp and sub wirings. He's had it for about a year now and never gotten pulled over. Not sure if the cop thinks his radar gun is busted or he's never speeding when there's cops around, but I know he hasn't gotten hasteled about it....YET.

tbsmith

That's interesting. I can't say that I've been hearing good things about radar jammers. I read a story somewhere about a guy who'd had his jammer for three months and insisted that it worked. A cop friend-of-a-friend stepped in one day and was willing to help test it out. Out of three runs, the cop had no trouble clocking him all three times. But I suppose the only thing that's really the same about all jammers is that theyre illegal for one reason or another. Maybe your friend has a good one. What kind?

Tim

P.S.- In more than three years of driving, I've never had a ticket. I've just come way too close for comfort and I seem to get closer every time. So it could just be your friend's driving habits. But you would know better than me about that. Maybe the jammer makes him paranoid so he drives slow?

akrus

iTrader: (1)

A friend of mine (also in Southern Ontario) kept an old, cheap BEL unit in his car so that if he got pulled over, he would just hand over the cheap unit. Try checking pawn shops or ebay for something you can give to the cop. He's never been harrassed about the V1, so he hasn't given up his old BEL, so I'm not sure if this would work. I think the first thing a cop would do is check whether the unit was warm or not. You may want to place it in front of a heat duct and crank the heat, while slowing down and pulling over for the cop.

Disclaimer:
I don't endorse or condone illegal activities, especially on the highway, but if you were to be conducting a scientific exercise of some sort, I'm all for advancing mankind

Albert

Gamezilla

My friend actually bought the jammer off some website. It lines the inside of a license plate cover. His dad works as a cop and let him and another friend fiddle with the laser gun one day. That's how they got it working in the first place. He said it's accurate half the time. Pretty much, you have to be kinda far away and have to hit the license plate dead on. If you hit the bumper or trunk, it bounces the correct speed back. When you did hit the license plate from a certain distance (i think it was 100ft or something) it just sent back random numbers. Cost him somewhere around $100. In my opinion: not worth it. Too small of an area, and too much trouble you could get into if caught with it.


I think there's a special radar detector/jammer that NOT illegal. It's on the web somewhere. It looks just like a normal radar detector, but as long as the cop doesn't get within 100ft of your car, it doesn't send back any numbers (which makes it legal). Problem is, it costs $500. Truthfully, I'd spend the money on a V-1 or something and avoid the harassment.


Oh - If you wanna make your own jammer, take a motion detector (home security, sliding door, etc...) that's got a big angle (i.e. not just detects what strait ahead) and give it a power source from inside the car. Cigarette lighter would work. Then mount it on your dash. No matter how close the cop is, the signal from his gun (even laser) will interfere with the signal from the motion detector. He gets back random numbers. Only works in the direction the jammers pointed.


Disclaimer: Most of what I have stated above IS illegal and is only for educational purposes. I do not recommend any of the methods proposed.... unless you are sure you can get away with it