anyone familiar with the latest valentine 1 detector and its POP feature?
how widely used are the instant on guns ( MPH Industries Enforcer / BEE III ) that this modified Valentine1 detects?

Instant on Radar?? Almost universal. Only hoe dunk dinky towns have the old junk. This trend began in 1980. The only time any state trooper drives around with the radar on is simply a warning, slow down. He realy doesn't even want to cite you, just inform you they are on the road. If they want to get you, they leave it off untill you are trapped. Then, lasers. Try to defend against a good laser opperating trooper. You can't. I use the Valentine and consider it the very best. If anyone knows of a better detector, tell us. Better to me is distance, like at least a mile. All you can hope for is that a trooper a mile up the road just shot it at someine else. Best defence; stay around 5 MPH of the zone or follow the truckers. States I've found to avoid, Kansas and Pa. Good luck from Oregon.

Bel has a pretty nice detector with laser jammers front and rear.

Fully built in unit..

Has gotten some very good reviews.

Most people I know use a V1.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon - Sold
2006 E350 Wagon - 368 - Dead
2015 GL350 Bluetec - 197U

Good post. If the troopers are serious, a radar detector won't help you -- there is no defense against laser other than reasonable and prudent speed. I have an older Valentine One in my car; my wife has a Passport 8500. I simply like to know what is happening on the road. If a cop is on the highway shooting radar/laser, it affects the flow of traffic. A speeder in front of you can brake quickly, so if you know a speed trap is ahead it can make you a safer driver.

The advantage to a high-end detector is that a traffic cop is less likely to detect that you have a radar detector. I remember driving around with a Whistler in my car -- I used to get pulled over all the time. One told me that the Whistler was "obvious." He was pretty cool, though -- I was doing about 73 in a 65, and he let me go after chatting me up a bit to see if I had a snootful.

BTW, you can add Wisconsin to your list of states with aggressive speed enforcement, Dan. Tourists from the Land of Lincoln make it a rich revenue source.

Russ M.

I have a Valentine 1 in 3 of my vehicles, and an Escort Passport in my older Suburban as it is built in from years ago. The Valentine 1's have paid for themselves many times. You still have to be aware of what around you. Obviously if you are the only vehicle on the road and going 100 mph, and there were no vehicles in front of you to be radar 'd you are pretty much a sitting duck, but the V1's give you plenty of warning front/rear & to the sides.

__________________
Mercedes Fleet:
2004 CL600 Designo Espresso SPORT
2004 S600 Designo Espresso SPORT/Lorinser Pkg.
1999 S320
1988 300TE
1972 280SEL 4.5
Diesel Fleet:
2014 GL350 Blutec
1987 300SDL Blk/Blk 4 place seating #18 head
1987 300SDL Smk Slv/Burgangy #17 head
1986 300SDL Blk Pearl/Palomino #14 head w/ 280K
1984 Lincoln Mark VII Fact BMW Turbo Diesel

It's all about laser jamming nowadays.

Not too expensive, but not sure on the legality of them in some states.

Either way, pretty much any early warning device should be sufficient.

I am a big fan of the V1, don;t have one, but have only heard good things about it.

Thouhg The BEl RX75 pro I think thats the one with the laser jammers looks pretty damn hot.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon - Sold
2006 E350 Wagon - 368 - Dead
2015 GL350 Bluetec - 197U

Jammers don't work. Proven fact.

__________________
Andrew
300e 294,000mi
380sel 185,998mi
380se 309,980mi

[QUOTE=Maki]Good post. If the troopers are serious, a radar detector won't help you -- there is no defense against laser other than reasonable and prudent speed. I have an older Valentine One in my car; my wife has a Passport 8500. I simply like to know what is happening on the road. If a cop is on the highway shooting radar/laser, it affects the flow of traffic. A speeder in front of you can brake quickly, so if you know a speed trap is ahead it can make you a safer driver.

I have a Passport 8500. Works great, has saved me many times. But all are correct, if they really want to get you, the good ones can
Question for the Valentine owners......my feeling was it wasn't worth the extra $100 for some arrows. While kind of neat I thought I could do without for the price. Other than the arrows, is there a significant performance difference between the 8500 and the Valentine?

__________________
'85 300D - 206K (sold)
'81 240D - 149K (sold)
'03 Jetta TDI - (sold)
'79 300D - (sold)

Valentine is definately a quality unit, magnesium case and an upgrade plan that is a nice feature.

There is an ongoing argument between Steve Valentine and a person who runs radar test for magazines like Motor Trend and is a quoted voice on lots of radar detector sales sites. If you do research on the web you can find out wha it is all about.

Those arrows on the unit are a major help, I could never use a unit without them.

There is NO QUESTION that the arrows are worth the $100 premium. This is the feature that makes the unit so valuable vs. other detectors. As long as the range is as good as other units, that's fine.

Any military person will tell you that the more information you can get about your enemy (where he is, how many of them, how threatening they are) puts you at an advantage over them. This is the guiding philosophy behind the Valentine One -- to provide as much info as humanly possible about the radar.

I can't believe that this feature hasn't already been copied by BEL or Passport, actually.....

Cheers,
Gerry

So our entire squadron of ECM planes here in Washington are just "posers"? Jamming works fine. Its just many devices sold as jammers that don't work. You can make a jammer that works, but it is illegal probably.

Mike

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

That is of course, what I meant. Those cutsey, tootsey little ones that are meant to boggle the mond of your friendly traffic cop? They don't work.

__________________
Andrew
300e 294,000mi
380sel 185,998mi
380se 309,980mi

I have always used Bel Radar Detectors for the last 10 years. I have been to court 19 times and have won 18 cases. The only one that stuck was when I didn't have my BEL!!! Never will make that mistake again. I live in VA and I have to say that over 30% of this commonwealth states revenue is from speeding tickets. I use my Bel everyday in my 16 valve and it has saved me at least 3 times a week on average. The thing that everyone does around here is drive between 10 to 14 miles per hour over the speed limit in packs. Thats good untill the pack dips off of the exits untill you are the last one still doing the 10 miles over. Thats the one ticket that stuck but I was able to get it reduced. Some personal testimony on my behalf.......

1) Drove from Va Beach to Orlando 8 hours and 48 minutes
2) From Va Beach to Mobile Alabama 10 hours and 2 minutes
3) From VA Beach to Baltimore Maryland 3 hours 5 minutes

I think the V1's are very good but I have to go with something that I know works and has never let me down!! B E L

Next trip VA to CA with my new BEL RX 75 GO BEL!!

__________________
DRIVE HARD-DRIVE FAST-DRIVE TO GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY.

1986 190E 2.3-16 Pearl Black!!
1987 190E 2.3-16 Smoke Silver!!
1986 190E 2.5-16 Pearl Black!!
2004 CLK 500 Cabrio Designo package!!
1994 E320 Cabrio Red with black top!!
1985 500 SEL Anthracite Grey !!
2011 Subaru Impreza STI 380HP (Yeah Baby)

Any jammer that works is obscenely illegal and will likely land you in a Federal prison in the blink of an eye. As to how you would get caught, I don't know, but I sure would NOT want to take that risk. All the others are complete scams, and I am highly annoyed that magazines like Car & Driver, etc take ad revenue from these theiving companies.

The V-1 is the best thing on the market, period. There are a few features I wish it had (different color LED's for example, and a 'dark' mode) but you just can't beat the performance. Biggest hassle is moving it between cars. I'd like to buy a second one to avoid that but at $399, well, ouch...

__________________
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

I've used a V1 for over 10 years with it being upgraded twice. I highly recommend them.

__________________
Lawrence Coppari

2002 SLK32 AMG
2005 Acura TL
1987 328GTS
1986 944T