Sorry guys, if this was 1993 I would had agreed on V1. But.. honestly once u go GPS, V1 just seems.. again, 1993!

 

======================

Damn you got the BEST!!!! I own the step below, yours the Passport 8500 X-50 blue screen. I don't like suction mounts on my windshield, so for 10.00 I bought the little metal visor bracket and had mine permanent mounted on my sun visor on my 530i, and mine is not as hi tech as yours, but they both keep us out of trouble, they pick up lazar too, with NO false alarms but yours can set GPS button from getting false signal alarms on your K and the Ka bands by hitting your button, and your GPS remembers. So far I would NOT leave home without it!! (Any passport radar detector)

Do you leave in the old X band or did you take it out? I left mine in, because I know it is annoying picking up false signal from doors, but here in GA there some country police that still use the old X band, and I saw a DeKalb-Atlanta Police use the old X band too, I guess hoping we deleted it out of our radar detector and they can pull a sneaky and catch us bimmer drivers, (LOL), but leaving mine in saved me from getting a speeding ticket too!!!

Eddie Presley

 

Someone asked earlier - how did you hard wire in the unit? Did you have it done professionaly? Where is the fuse block in the fromt and hiw do you get to it?

Thanks

 

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I dont think your talking to me, and if your not, sorry my bad, but in case you are talking to me? I had my blue screen Passport 8500 X50 hard wired professionally at Hi Fi buys for $35.00 here in Atlanta GA. (I know how to hard wire other cars for this passport, but these hi tech idrive BMW e60s that can tell us when we have to use the bathroom, etc, (LOL), so I am not taking no chances messing up our e60 idrive, onboard PC softare up, and I figure shelling out $35.00 is cheaper than BMW to have to re-program my idrive on board computer system, because I failed to say Chris Bangle: "MAY I", and put the right AUX install code in, and I did something wrong to my idrive!! LOL)


Eddie Presley

 

There is a 12v socket in the footwell of the passenger side. Just run the straight wire around the top and sides of the windshield and down under the dash to the socket. It's wired to go on/off with the ignition.

 

From the Valentine website:

What Full Coverage means for you
Finds all radars
Valentine One covers all four bands.
X band . . . . . . . . . most common for moving and stationary;
can be used in ?Instant-on? mode; this
frequency is shared with burglar alarms
and door openers.
K band . . . . . . . . . moving and stationary radar; can be
used in ?Instant-on? mode.
Ka band . . . . . . . . widest of the radar bands; moving or
stationary; can be used in ?Instant-on.?
Photo radar . . . . . K or Ka band; stationary only.
POP Protection . . covers POP mode on two bands?
specifically the MPH Industries models
BEE III and Enforcer on both K and Ka;
moving or stationary.
Ku band . . . . . . . . not used in U.S.; standard equipment
on all V1s, but not activated. To activate,
see: http://www.valentine1.com/lab/
MikesLabRpt3.asp.
Euro Mode . . . . . . narrows and intensifies radar coverage
and limits it to K and the sections of Ka
bands used in Europe for photo radar.
Standard equipment on all V1s; but not
activated. To activate, see: http://www.
valentine1.com/lab/MikesLabRpt3.asp.
Finds all lasers
Valentine One covers all traffic laser. In the U.S., the
operating wavelength of traffic laser is 820-950 nanometers.

 

GPS is a gimmick only needed if the unit itself isn't able to do a good job determining false alarms. With the V1 directional arrows and bogey counter, you don't need GPS...

 

I don't have either the V1 or Escort because in NY whenever you have one of those your window gets broken and the unit disappears. I have a Uniden that was rated well when I got it.
But the GPS seems a benefit because you do have interference locations that give false alarms, especially where I live, where it desensitizes you to any warnings. The V1 which presumably gives you more warnings could be ignored further still. Here whats gets your attention is if it does not go off in a while. Ha ha.
Probably the best detector is based upon where you live and how you drive.

 

Thats very impressive of V1 and also the fact that you guys favor it.

But guys.. im very confident of my purchases!

The bogey counter stuff is all available in pretty much any radar. The V1 will go crazy every time you pass your local grocery store, yes u can hit the mute button. But why should i do it every time? I dont think its speed sensitive either and wont mark your speed everytime it finds a radar.

It also dosent have USB input to enter file information from other 9500i users.

So yea! be happy with your V1 its a great product. But .. not really technologicaly advanced.

In my opinion.. who cares about arrows? (not me)

 

I'm glad you're happy with your choice and clearly, this is a matter of personal choice. It's clear to me, however, that you've never used the arrows on a V1 for any extended period -- ask any V1 owner if they'd give up the arrows for any of the features you mention and I'll bet you'll have trouble finding someone who would do so...

(BTW, on the V1, you can select advanced logic mode which will eliminate the false alarms from most grocery stores entirely. You can even tweak the settings further to filter out X band which is not used much for police any more but is still used for door openers, etc.)