i know this radar has directional. but i also noticed that the left and right arrow are connected. If the police is on the right will it only light up right or will it light up both side of the arrow? also if i have limo tint ALL around will that affect the radar at all?

 

I don't think it actually shows a "right" and "left" or more like "middle". I had V1's in the last 4-5 cars I've had and a few have had some 20 tint's. No problem here...


Jim

 

what if a cop is behind me and just driving? do cops ever drive with there laser on or some sort of machine that would give off signal for my V1?

 

Some of them do drive with the K or KA running all of the time (gotta luv em ) and yes your V1 will alert with either front or rear signals. That's the beauty of the V1 Just make sure when your bogey counter goes to 2 or 3 - there is more than meets the eye...


Jim

 

what is the K and Ka band? and what do they use it for? i'm trying to figure out why the cop would just drive with it on?

 

K is pretty much always on - and KA is NASTY just like laser and can get you with "instant" on. All I have to say is you made the BEST choice in Radar detectors and PAY ATTENTION to the alerts !!

Jim

 

I'm considering the V1 also. Does it give off a lot of false warnings?

 

The V1 does not discriminate between right and left, only front-to-rear. Discrimination of right vs. left would likely mean that they'd have to double the number of antennas (they would make them half the size of the current ones to fit in the same package), which would probably compromise overall sensitivity and range. It isn't too important to know left vs. right - the front/side/rear arrangement works wonderfully. It is indispensible (in my opinion) to know whether the radar is in front or behind, makes a huge difference.

X, K, Ka are different radar frequencies. X is generally the most common. It depends on which equipment the police department decided to buy. Generally, the K band stuff is more expensive. The instant-on vs always-on feature doesn't have anything to do with X vs K vs Ka - it has to do with how intent the cop is in catching you. Instant on has to be triggered by the operator, requiring more attention on his part. Lazier cops will leave the signal on, catching people who don't have detectors, and there are plenty of them. The best reason I've seen for leaving the radar on all the time is if the cop wants to fry his brain or nuts.

Tinting: Some window tint films are metallized, but I don't think that it's enough to affect the radar reception significantly.

False alarms: My V1 gave off a bunch of false alarms for the first couple of days or so, then settled in very nicely (I guess it learns to set its sensitivity over time). It is excellent - no complaints from me, highway or city. It is the best I've had, and I've had a couple of versions of Passports in the past (still have 'em, actually)....

Not that I speed or anything...

 

sweet, thanks for the long reply. coming in tommrow(wednesday) can't wait. had it shipped 2 days air.lol

 

quick question. i've read that the valentine would also pick up automatic door openers. and since the valentine picks up range around 1 mile away, would that mean that everytime i come within 1 mile(without and objects in the way) of a automatic door, would that mean the valentine would go off?

 

IT CAME. My ups guy usually comes at 4 in the afternoon, but today he came at like 9 to drop off a mail. then i was like don't you have 2 other package for me? and he went check, and my valentine one was one of the package inhis truck. lol. while outside i opened it up plugged it in and went driving within 5 minutes of getting it in my hands. lol. dam drove down the big street and x band goes off like crazy. first impression is that its too sensitive to x-band. i might just disable it.

 

Jmai22:

BE PATIENT!!!!!!!
That is what I was referring to --- mine went off like crazy the first couple of days, so bad that I was almost ready to return it and get a Passport 8500. (Very glad I didn't.) It will settle down. Keep in in "L" mode. (Logic) The logic needs time to learn.

All detectors will pick up automatic door openers like supermarket type. This is unavoidable, but the better detectors (V1 & Escort) minimize this. The automatic door openers operate on the same frequency as x-band radar, and they apparently pulse their signal as well, so the detector gets faked-out and produces a false alarm. Generally, the door openers are not high power and are fairly directional, so you don't generally have the problem of picking up every supermarket in every neigboring town. A good detector must do a very hairy balancing act between detection sensitivity vs. false alarms. You can't have NO false alrms, because if that were the case, the detector wouldn't be sensitive enough. The flip side is that if the detector is made too sensitive, there are an untolerable number of false alarms. You will get used to what the false alarm signature is for your detector after a short while. The arrows and bogey counter on the V1 help tremendously with this. Good luck with it. Enjoy.

 

Ok, now did you guys hardwire your V1's, or did you just do the cigarette lighter plug and play install? I have a phone charger thats currently in my cig lighter and when I get my V1 (next mod) will I have to choose one or the other, or is the hardwire easy enough to do?

James

 

I no longer have the cig lighter in my GS4, since I yanked it to make room for my EQ and sat radio controller. So I used the aux power plug (lighter plug) that is in the center console, and ran the wire down the side of the console next to the drvrs seat, under the rug, around the dash, and into the detector in center of dash. You cannot see ANY of the wire. Works out nicely.

 

Some pics would help us out a lot boss! Please!