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Valentine V-1 or Escort 9500ix

37K views 195 replies 70 participants last post by  Umizoomi 
#1 ·
Are these 2 the best out?

Anybody out there that would like to get rid of yours? If so, I'll take it!

Also, where would be my best bet for a new detector?

Thanks for helping a noob out :p
 
#3 ·
Personally, if I weren't in the radar-hating state of Virginia, I'd be running my old Valentine One. Being able to read multiple #'s of signals with the arrows giving you situational awareness is huge! The 9500ix is cool if others are using the Cloud though.
 
#9 ·
I've run both units at the same time and received much better results with the V1 on suburban highways and out on the interstate. In town it seemed like they were very evenly matched, but the 9500ix definitely seems more suitable if you do a lot more city driving where the red light camera and location delete would come in handy.

I have the Beltronics STi Magnum simply b/c its invisible to police radar detector-detectors. It works just as good as the 9500ix, but I'll be selling it once I move to Arizona and getting another V1.
 
#12 ·
V1 ftw
 
#14 ·
V-1 been running one for 13 years
 
#16 ·
V1 here and love the directional output. Now if they added GPS, it would be the the mofo for sure.

I have a mirror mount purchased from eBay. Soldered some leads to a couple of vga pins from an adapter kit from radio shack and stuck them into the mirror plug. Works great and mount is 3 axis adjustable.
 
#17 ·
i still have my 9500IX for sale, PM me if you're interested.
 
#28 ·
Whoever bought the V1 (TTT?), if it is a newer version (with ESP), spend another 50 bucks and get yourself either the VIC or V1LE bluetooth adapter and app(Android or iPhone) and take the V1 to another level of performance and functionality.

The 9500ix doesn't even compare with the V1 as far as balls-out performance goes. Its forte' is more urban areas with lots of falses, but it doesn't run with the big dogs on the highway. Good choice!
 
#42 · (Edited)
Rob,

By default, all RDs scan (ie sweep) the entire Ka band radar spectrum - which ranges from 26.5 to 40 GHz. As a RD is essentially a computer, the unit takes a certain amount of time to sweep the entire spectrum. It has been found that with police frequently using very quick bursts of instant-on (I/O) radar, that an RD can miss such a shot because it was sweeping a different area of the spectrum at the time the radar signal was sent. The (original) Escort Redline earned the name "sleeping beauty" because of this - it was vulnerable and completely missed some very short I/O shots.

What sweeps / band segmentation does is allow the user to select certain ranges of the spectrum that the RD will scan, so it can ignore the rest. Police Ka radar only operates on a few select frequencies - in North America those are 33.8, 34.7, and 35.5. So, the user can set his RD to sweep only narrow ranges around each of these specific frequencies, without it wasting its time scanning frequencies that are not used by police. This allows the computer in the RD to make smaller, faster, and more focused sweeps thus making the RD much more reactive to very short bursts.

Also, by setting "custom sweeps" (Valentine 1) or using "band segmentation" (Escort / Beltronics), Ka falses are also reduced. For example, cheapo detectors such as Cobras are notorious for "leaking" Ka band in the 33.6 - 33.7 range. Anyone with a V1 may have observed it give a Ka alert followed by a weird sound and a "J" on the display. This is the V1 detecting a "junk" detector and identifying it as such. Using custom sweeps also help improves the overall reactivity because the unit can be told to ignore the typical false frequencies used by Cobras allowing the built-in filtering to be turned off. With a V1 this filtering is called Ka Guard and with Escort/Beltronics it is called RDR (Radar Detector Rejection).

Not only does this improve the reactivity (speed) of the RD, it has also been proven to improve, sometimes significantly, the sensitivity (range) of the RD.

These options are only available in a few high-end units (Beltronics STiR-Plus, newer V1, Escort Redline), but it is WELL worth it. Seriously, if you are going to buy a RD, spend the money and buy a high-end model. The original Redline has been turned into the hottest RD on the market, simply by a firmware update that added band segmentation.

Here's a video of the benefits of the V1's arrows and its rear antenna horn. As you can see, both my STiR-Plus and the V1 alert at exactly the same time to a very weak I/O shot (over 4 miles ahead). I slowed down and as I eventually went beneath the underpass, I was shot in the rear by a cop hiding up behind me on the on-ramp. Note how the V1 alerted almost 6 seconds before the STiR-Plus did (and the Plus is the top of the line custom installed unit!), and the arrow told me the cop was behind me. Fortunately I had 2 high-end units that detected the very first alert (lesser models would have missed it) and I was slowed down. With lesser units, I would have likely driven right into the trap (or sped right back up after the first alert was over) = a ticket for ~30 over.

If I didn't have the V1, when the cop shot me I would have received only a relatively weak alert from the STiR-Plus (a reflected signal) and I would have been scouring the road ahead trying to find out where the cop was. In this instance, the strength of the V1's rear alert and the arrows told me to look over my shoulder, and I knew exactly where he was.

I run both the (band segmented) STiR-Plus and the (custom sweep) V1 on the highway, and I am well-protected. Maybe overkill, but after experiencing the benefits of the V1s rear antenna/arrows, I won't leave home without it and it is an excellent compliment to the STiR-Plus.

Sorry for the long post.

 
#30 ·
The 9500I (not even the IX) really changed the game as far as eliminating the reasons people don't like radar detectors...It addressed people's most common complaints about radar detectors and solved them with the GPS. The accuracy / distance it's necessarily better than the 8500 or 7500 or valentine 1

1: the radar sensitivity is almost 0 at under 20mph, therefore in parking lots, auto-doors won't set off the radar detector
2: ability to eliminate common false alerts such as school crossing radar sites that are always in operation, you can mute that specific signal while all other signals will set the detector off, so even if a cop was to try to sit next to it, their signal is a different wave length and it will not be muted.

now the I versus the IX differ because the I came out prematurely and even though it has a USB port, it won't update the internal gps database with people's input to the website....then they came out with the IX which does what the I was supposed to.

I sold these radar detectors at this time and that's the story they gave. I have the 9500i and won't ever upgrade to the IX because having the ability to share information with other owners doesn't guarantee their information to be accurate so why bother...seems a used 9500i would be the best bet with my particular mindset.


as for comparing to the valentine 1.....when I was selling these we actually got training on how to interpret the alerts, and it helped a lot to know if the cop is most likely stationary, driving with you or against you (no way to tell side to side) but I don't really need the arrows because....IF THE RADAR DETECTOR GOES OFF YOU SLOW DOWN regardless of if it's in front behind or on the side, everyone slows down at an alert.

and everyone speeds back up when the alert is over.
 
#31 ·
I don't really need the arrows because....IF THE RADAR DETECTOR GOES OFF YOU SLOW DOWN regardless of if it's in front behind or on the side, everyone slows down at an alert.

and everyone speeds back up when the alert is over.
The bolded text is precisely why the arrows and the number of signals displayed are so important in the V1. I've had three different encounters where my Valentine told me there were 2 KA signals coming from in front of me. I topped the hill and sure enough there was a cop sitting in the valley. I pass him only to see that I have 1 KA signal behind me and 1 KA still in front of me. If I had a Passport, Beltronics or whatever at the time, I would've sped up after passing the cop, just as you suggested because I would've thought that I was still getting a hit from the cop I just passed. Instead, I stayed at the speed limit and found the second cop on the backside of the next hill.

The other two times were identical to the one above but the cops were around two separate curves.
 
#39 ·
I just googled the valentine one gps....it's pretty much hilarious to see how they are trying to say that GPS is bad, all of their marketing is geared against the Escort, and it's using false information

for example it says GPS is bad b/c it will block all radar at that gps location. In reality Escort's only block the specific frequency from that particular radar gun and there are hundreds of frequencies that are used, so it blocks for example 57.694mhz...it doesn't block all of K band or all of ka band but the marketing for Valentine says it does..kind of a cheap shot there.


it says you have to get a seperate adapter and plug it into the obdII for it to read the car's speed.....did I understand that correctly?
 
#44 ·
What good does that do you if he already shot you from behind? Looks like you just happened to not be speeding under the bridge. Are you saying that you slowed down 4 miles before the bridge because you knew there was a cop there?

On another note Wannago, I am getting ready to have body work done and I was planning on frenching in my front laser shifters into my front bumper in the correct location. Is the laser shifter system you have an upgrade from the escort/bell shifters? If so, how do they integrate with my escort 9500ci?
 
#47 ·
I had the escort zr3 hooked up into my 8500 back in the day... I had to remove it, way too many false alerts due to hard acceleration and interference...that was in my atom so I don't know if a real full sized car would handle it much better but it was useless in the atom
 
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