Holy crap you guys are so misinformed about radar detectors. Wow.

1) Cordless detectors SUCK. S U C K SUCK. They have terrible range because...hot damn, they run off batteries!

2) Whoever said radar detectors are useless sucks too. I've had mine for 2 years and have never gotten a ticket. Well, once I did, 60 in 45 that i thought was 55. But that was only because my damn 12V outlet blew a fuse

3) FourthGen, I always took you for smarter. The Valentine One has is a radar/lidar detector. It had laser detectors front and rear and provides almost 260 degrees of protection, more than any other detector. But you're screwed against laser anyway unless you get a lucky reflection off of another car or a sign. I've only been hit by laser from a cop 3-4 times in the two years of owning it.

4) Tir and delsol, what a terrible thing to say. Ugh. Radar waves expand as they get farther away from the gun, meaning you can...duh...DETECT IT before the cop is able to aim that gun at your ass. I usually spot cops on a flat road from 2-3 miles away. They see me 500 feet away.

The Valentine One is the greatest piece of machinery ever invented. I could get into all the stories about how it's saved my ass speeding, but I'll only tell two.

1) Me and 3 friends are coming back from a theme park, I'm doing 90 in a 55. ****ee ****ee speed. I'm about 40 feet from the top of a hill (I'd say about a 18% grade) when the V1 goes nuts, Ka directly ahead. I stab the brakes and get down to 60-65 just as the cop crests the top of the hill 20 feet from me. Why? Because my V1, perched at the top of my windshield, saw the expanding radar waves of the cop at the top of the hill and detected them before my car got into the radar's sweet range, which is when it can see your front end.

2) I did 138 MPH and didn't get caught. But a 2003 Porsche 911 C4S infront of me that didn't have a valentine one did. Read it here: https://www.honda-acura.net/forums/s...threadid=91177

The Basement is so un/misinformed. I would pay $800 for my V1. $400 is a damn bargain. BTW, I routinely do 15-20MPH over the limit and on highways it's usually more like 30MPH over.

 

I've gotta respond to this individually...this is one of the worst posts I've seen in some time. Not only are you dead wrong about radar detectors detecting laser, the fact is that I've run into laser maybe 2-3 times. Laser guns are a PAIN IN THE ASS to use because you have to aim perfectly (the wave isn't nearly as big as a radar wave). Plus they're hella expensive. Good driving and common sense won't get you shit. Valentine One plus super awareness will, as explained in the thread I posted. If you have the ability to master your surroundings while driving, the Valentine will do all the work for you that a human can't do...such as seeing at night. But I suppose common sense can see a cop sitting in the median at 11PM with his lights off when you're doing 95 on an empty highway, right?

 

Thank god there are some people in here defending radar detectors. Mine has saved my ass so many times it's not even funny. And All I have it a $100 (canadian) Whistler from Future Shop.

It's funny, idiots that ride with me (and i'm sorry but it's usually girls that do this) I'll drive by a cop and it won't go off and they'll be like "Haha, that thing doesn't work" ya well he didn't have his radar on dumbass.

As far as radar detectors detecting laser. Well here's the thing, they have the ability to detect it, but the odds of it doig so are soooo small. Radar spreads out EVERYWHERE, it's huge, when they use laser, it's about the sieze of a penny (to the best of my knowledge) and the odds of him aiming it right at your radar detector are small, and even then you are already caught.

In my experience, cops only use laser when there is an actual speed trap and they are not in the car. Usually in this case you are ****ed no matter what, only way out of these is if somebody flashes their lights at you.

Here is a few stories where my radar detector has paid for itself.

1) It was late, maybe 2-3 am, I was driving downtown and then started to head to the industrial area, I turned onto a road and was about to floor it and just haul ass down this road, but as soon as I turned onto it my radar detector went crazy, and those headlights at the end of the road turned out to be a cop.

2) Another time I was driving around town, doing, maybe 65 in a 50 and i was coming up to a bend in the road, my radar went off, I stabbed the brakes to 50, and a cop comes around the bend.

You can't just buy a radar detector and then go driving around like an idiot and not get caught. I don't depend on mine 100% and then just close my eyes and speed. It is a tool that HELPS, obviously I'm gonna watch out for cops. Another thing, people say by the time the radar hits you, it's too late, well for speeding, that depends on if you are alone or if there are other cars around. But lets say I'm with my friend in his mustang, doing the speed limit, and he decides he wants to get buck sideways around the next corner, but the radar goes off, now we're fine cause we aren't speeding, but now that we know there is a cop around, we aren't gonna drift that corner anymore now are we?

 

Even though you have a Cougar, you're a very smart guy :thumbup: Yeah the same thing happens with me (and mostly with girls) when I pass a cop and it doesn't go off and I have people in the car. But then there have been other times when my friends have been floored by its abilities.

You're absolutely right about laser. It's actually the size of a pencil. But, like I said, if the unit is up high you'll detect a cop coming over a hill before he detects you. Laser is tough man...luckily it's rarely used here in NYS. And it is impossible to detect VASCAR or a cop pacing you.

Just like you said, a good radar detector is a tool. I still get paranoid even doing 20 over the limit that a cop could be anywhere. Because they could be anywhere, and they could be running instant-on or laser or VASCAR and I could get ****ee ****eed.

 

I believe Valentines are banned in cali. Not sure tho.

 

Ah, no. You can't just ban one type of detector since most operate under the same protective law.

 

radar's have a city mode.. which keeps it quiet while the lights and beeps go off do to "waves" bouncing off buildings and what not from who knows what.. when you are far enough away from the cop to not catch yer speed just yet.. all you are getting is the exact same lights and beeps that you (i) get every second i'm in the city.. the more lights the thicker the waves.. and by the time you decide its not just the normal lights and beeps, your hit... if you are alone on the road... anybody that thinks differently has the wrong idea about radar detectors...

 

i dunno, for some reason i seemed to remember most places wouldn't ship the v1 to cali... :dunno:

 

I have deleted my post in shame. I just did the research - you're right. I had radar and laser mixed up. I stand corrected...

 

Tirod, you never struck me as a moron before...but you're a moron. The Valentine One's "city" mode (called Logic or Advanced Logic) does not do anything for Ka, only mutes K until it is semi-strong and takes care of X unless it is strong. X is always auto door openers in this state, Ka is always cops, K is usually door openers.

Anyway, you're a damn fool. Cops operate on a different frequency than automatic door openers, and when the strength rises in a particular direction in either K or Ka it gets obvious that a cop is a-comin. It is also obvious that you have never been in a car with a Valentine One...it reports up to 10 bogeys (different radar sources) and the source's direction with the strongest strength blinks. I've never surpassed 8 bogeys and that was only on a huge strip mall...on the highway I rarely get a false alarm passing through cities and in cities it is usually 0 or 1 unless I pass a mall.