One flaw that my Valentine1 has is when I'm behind Chevy Trailblazer or GMC Envoy at a stop, my laser goes off. Anybody else have this problem?

 

It's the Onstar.

Happens other places too, but that's what I'm betting.

 

Yea it's only few of American SUVs. Hasn't happened with a car though. It's just anoying.

 

Actually, any GM cars and trucks will set off the Valentine 1. Reason being is the brake lights. On some of their car and trucks, the third brake light has the same wavelength as the lasar guns that law enforcements uses. Hence, whenever you follow behind a GM car or truck that is stopping and if you are close enough, the Valentine 1 will go off with the lasar warning. Another vehicle that will set off the Valentine 1 also is the Infiniti FX35/45. On that vehicle there is an option that buyers could have in which the vehicle emits out a lasar beam in front to gauge the range of other cars ahead. It is related to the cruise control system so that the FX will not plow into the car ahead, but instead keeps a steady distance away with the CC on.

 

I have the same problem, some bright neon signs will set it off too. As does the CTS and Lincoln Mark VIII with that type of brakelight. It gets annoying though.

 

yup yup. if you read the manual it actually warns you about it.

 

Valentine1 manual? I don't remember reading anything like that. Maybe because mine is the older model?

 

V1 users, I have another question, on the arrows when the radar source is ahead of you, the ahead arrow lights up but when I pass the radar souce, the ahead arrow lights is still on, then a few seconds go by then the side arrows light up then the back arrow lights up. Is this normal with the V1?

Thanks

 

That normal of the Valentine 1. I have version 1.7 while my brother, Thurznite, have version 1.8. Both versions of the Valentine 1 does exactly what you described, a slight delay from foward, to side to rear arrows when passing the radar source.

 

I have 1.7 and it also does as you described.

 

I have one, the slow arrow thing is iritating, cheep DSP.

 

Least your arrows point the right direction... almost all of my signals show to be coming from the rear- even when I'm staring at a cop parked on the side of the highway pointing a radar gun at me. least it still has the earliest warnings of any one on the market.

have a friend with an instant-on radar gun.. we sat my V1, a Bel, and an escort in front of it and pulled the trigger. mine went off instantly, the bel and escort took 2-3 seconds before they went off. soon as he let go of the trigger on the radar, mine stopped. the other two slowly went from full signal down to nothing.
hmmmm.

 

Yes any red neon signs will set off the V1. Chevy Trailblazer, Avalanche, and GMC Envoy all have a red neon third brake light. There is also a short delay when swapping directions; this is most like to prevent echoes from making it swap directions constantly.I have seen it switch directions from an echo when I knew where it was coming from.

 

I have the same kinda problems.

I almost consider the arrows useless.

It is prolly my fault due to my window tint and the fact that I put the V1 behind the windshield strip at the top.

 

The arrows are kind of useless when your city driving cause of the all the false alarms from automatic door openers but they help on the highway when most of the radar is going to be from cops.

 

the windshield strip does not affect the detector, not sure about your tint on the rear window though, but I suspect that it should not affect it

 

It does not affect it

 

Omegasrk _ have you compared the two versions side by side on a road trip? Tryin to decide whether I should upgrade to 1.8. Although i'm pretty happy with the Ka detection of my 1.7.

BTW ammi, SUV brake lights and red neon flourescent lights always trip my lasar too.

 

Just like you, I was considering whether to upgrade mines to V1.8 like my brother's. According to the website I was quoted at $189(upgrade cost) + shipping. Well, here's what I've been able to tell from using both versions. The V1.8 does indeed have a bit better sensitivity in picking up K and KA band. It will alert just a split second earlier than the V1.7. The circuitry in the V1.8 has a slightly better filtering of false signals for X and K bands. Therefore, in my opinion, I would not upgrade to the V1.8 since it doesn't performance that much better than the V1.7. But in the looks department, I do like the newer thinner case for the V1.8 than the thicker case of the V1.7. Unfortunately, this doesn't really justify the $189+ cost in upgrading the unit for me as of yet. I will probably wait until Valentine make a newer version, V1.9, and see what does that one offer in the future.

steve...

 

When did this V1.8 come out? Anybody know?

 

arnold, I think it came out like 3 years ago. But then again i'm old and my memory is fading.