finally upgraded the V1
 

Well the windshield bracket split in half last week on my 9+ year old V1, so I decided it was time to upgrade. I had ZERO problems with my old V1 and it payed for itself many times over. Sent in my old detector and got a new V1 with laser and POP protection. It seems to weigh a tad bit less. Just in time to pick up the 5 speed swap later this month! Hoping for another 10 years. Thanks Mike!

where could a guy find one?

here:
http://www.valentine1.com/

ive had mine since 95 as well....
cant say enough about the product..

if yours was old enough, the new one should weigh less and is a little smaller. when i upgraded, the face was about 1/4-1/2" thinner. i had a v1, got a passport 8500 when they came out, returned it after 2 weeks and upgraded the valentine. it's hard to go back after you've had the arrows.

I had mine for 5 years and upgraded 2 years ago and now Mike comes up this "POP Protection" shit. :mad:
I guess I'll wait a little to upgrade again, but will say this, you can't live without the arrows once you try them. :bigthumb:

Another satisfied Valentine One user here! I don't have the latest "POP Protection," but I don't know that it really matters.

neat product but how does this have to do with fd's?

FD's seem to go slower even when you think your doing the speed limit.
The V1 is a good reminder to check your speed to slow down. I was doing 80 mph that seemed like 60mph in my FD.

I plan to buy one for my FD as well.

Its hard to do the speed limit in a FD cause you want to always kick in the turbos to feel the G's!!!!!!!

What is "POP Protection". Mine is about 5.5 years old and I don't think I have it. Thanks. Still love the V1 though.

Pop protection is some complicated program it uses to recognize "pop" or instant-on radar. It's when a cop's waiting on the side, w/ his radar gun OFF, then waits until he sees a car, turns on his radar gun for a second, and turns it right back off - barely enough time to get a reading. http://www.valentine1.com/pop/ has a lot more info, but also note that such methods of obtaining radar readings are extremely inaccurate...

Long story short, cops in areas such as here (Fairfax County) where radar detectors are illegal, KNOW ppl still use detectors, so they use the pop method to try and beat them at their own game. Since the radar gun isn't on for more than a second, you prob will think it's a false alarm or possibly not pick it up at all. POP mode helps you detect and identify pop radar.

As for upgrades, I bought my V1 about a year ago, it was the latest model save the POP upgrade. I sent it in about a month ago to get upgraded, and it was only $55. Not bad at all IMO for a very important function for where I live, while not having to buy a new unit.

I've had mine for a little over a year as well. What exactly does it do to help you distinguish the POP? My experience is that if a cop is really gunning my direction, the signal will be VERY strong even if just for a brief moment.

To be 100% honest, I don't know lol. I read all the info they had about it on the website, and Dan (Scrub) and I were like huh?? :scratch: lol. Weren't really sure what was going on. I haven't had a chance to try it out because it was about a month ago, and we're still in snow season (in fact, there are 3 inches on the ground right now) so the FD has been staying in the garage, all nice and warm :) But bottom line, I know that Car and Driver's test (I think it was them) had the V-1 in second place for the very first time because the Passport had pop protection, but the V-1 didn't, so it was only a matter of time until the V-1 came out w/ it too. I just know it's important for my area because cops use pop mode a LOT over here, but don't know how the detector will give me a head's up on that yet. I'll let ya know in a month or two tho when it gets warmer and all the sand and salt's off the ground...

How much did it cost you for the upgrade? My V1 is also like 8-9 years old, never upgraded it, still works good though...

The older your detector is, the more it will cost to upgrade. You are paying for all of the upgrades they have made since you bought your detector. Btw. I just bought my first V1 about 3 weeks ago, and it is awesome. If you have a tendency to drive fast, I highly recommend the V1 and nothing less.

It saved me twice in just this last week. The pop protection works great. You just have to know how to interpret your device. It's worth the money.


Story:
The cop was sitting in a hidden drive way right off the road. He would turn his radar on and nail a car then off. I saw the V1 go nuts for a split second then nothing. This all started about a mile or two before I saw the cop. A moment later, nuts again with the arrow pointing forward. This was in an area that I usually don't get false alarms (by stores ect.), so I slowed down to 35 (the speed limit). As I approached the cop it kept going nuts then stopping. Then I see the cop, at that moment the V1 goes nuts again. This time the arrow was in front, as I passed it was side to side, then the rear. Shortly after I saw the rear arrow light up, the V1 went silent. As I made it further down the road it would still go off but show rear arrows and the signal was getting weaker.

I have even been able to see cops drive by the opposite lane (freeway) with the radar on. It will pick them right out of traffic if the cop has his radar on.

The thing works well, just learn to read it and use a little smarts behind it.

Yep. I think a lot of people are under the impression (not in this thread) that a radar detector gives you a license to speed. That is a terrible and dangerous misconception. My V1 has saved me from getting pulled over several times, but there have been other instances where the motorcycle cops were using laser that I would have had no warning because of very light traffic. I have been pulled over for speeding once in the FD. I was on the beach going north in a 35. Traffic was slow, and I passed another car under light throttle. As I approached the bridge onto the next barrier island I got a laser warning. I quickly tapped the brakes, but quickly noticed that there was a Trailblazer in front of me. Most Trailblazers have a strange center brake light that sets off the V1. As I got closer to the the Trailblazer, I saw that it was not the correct kind of brake light. Not 5 seconds later, I saw a beach cop SUV changing lanes rapidly behind me. He pulled me over and said I was doing 52 in a 35 according to his "laser radar." My detector is up at the top of my windsheld so he wouldn't have noticed it. He asked me what my association with law enforcement is because I have a Police Athletic League license plate. I correctly told him that I used to do fundraising for PAL and that my brother is in the police academy. He took my license and registration and went and sat in his cruiser for a few minutes (after asking me to turn off my car, LOL). I watched in my rearview, and he didn't even look anything up in his computer. He told me that he gave me a formal warning in the system, and that if I were to get pulled over again in Treasure Island that I would receive a ticket. I thanked him for his kindness and pulled away as quietly as possible.

Long story short: A radar detector is not a license to speed. You must be careful in areas that laser could be easily used especially when there isn't much traffic to alert you to their location. Getting a law-enforcement-related license plate is not a bad idea but be sure that you have a reason to give as to why you have it (not because you want to avoid tickets).

Most def. So what's it mean when ALL the lights come on all of a sudden? I'm guessing that's what you're referring to by it going crazy. That happens every now and then to me...and it's diff from regular radar, because w/ radar, I get a weak distinct beep, and it gets stronger as I approach. I can always tell when I hear that sound that it's a legit radar reading. But other times, I'll be driving along, and the detector goes haywire. All the lights light up, and it beeps like crazy. First time I heard it, I thought the world was gonna end or somethin :rofl: Not sure what it means...but the only time I verified it was actually something real was when I saw a cop eye me on the side of the road, and about 1/2 a mile up, my detector went crazy, and I saw another cop a few feet ahead of me on the size, aiming his gun at me. Dunno if it's radar or laser or pop or what. :scratch:

Oh and both of you are right about still driving smart w/ a detector. The only time I got pulled over in the FD was when I was speeding all alone, and considerably so. V-1 didn't work because the cop used pop mode on me... So yea you gotta think smart.

I got a ? for you long-time V-1 users. Does your V-1 also have "A," "1/2 L," and "full L" (logic) modes? If so, which mode do you guys use? "A" goes off from EVERYTHING around you lol but I'm afraid/worried to use "1/2 L" or "full L" in case it'll filter an actual warning that I should be getting... Anyone?

Hell, I still need to read the directions.:D

What I meant by nuts was, it would beep loud and hard (strong signal) showing the arrow towards the front.

I to have had it all light up (show all arrows) and beep abnormally but I thought it was due to the power (cig connection) connection and having it disconnect for a split second. Causing the radar to turn off and on. But now I am not sure.

Full logic mode and 1/2 logic mode was news to me.

I guess I'll read the directions in full and take better notes.:p:

"Everything going crazy" is probably the laser warning. It has the European siren sound.

I run my detector on "1/2 L" which is Advanced Logic mode when I'm just driving around town. If I'm going to be doing some "spirited" driving on the interstate or other open roads, I'll switch it to "A" which is All Bogeys mode.

:rofl: You dork haha (j/k)

1) Your prob does sound like a power prob. I don't think I have all the arrows light up. Just all the strength lights light up, and I think there are vertical lights too (3 on top of each other) that light up as well? And it makes a different and distinct sound. My guess is it's the "you just got hit by laser" alarm...

2) For the logic modes, you know how your V-1 has an "A" on the front left? If you hold down (ie press it inward) the power/volume button, then let it go, it'll switch to a "1/2 L" mode. Do it again, and it'll switch to "full L" mode. One more time, and it'll go back to "A" mode. A is most sensitive, but also means it'll pick up false alarms. L is using computer logic to filter out what it thinks are false alarms, although it should beep once if something classified as a false alarm gets really strong.

Ok, so I guessed right. I'm guessing when it goes off in the middle of nowhere, w/ no cops around, I'm prob catching someone's middle (laser) tail light? It's funny because there's a shop or two that EVERY TIME I pull into, I get that laser alarm :confused:

Ditto...so no one uses full logic mode, eh?

Oh, haha. :rlaugh:

I read the part in the directions that said it turns on in "A" all bogey mode and I was set. I have only had it for about a month now, so I do have a little excuse.

I am pretty sure mine is a power problem because my LM-1 turns on and off too.

I have never messed with the logic mode, I just figure I can determine the false alarms better then it can.

Either way it is a great tool that you need to learn how to use. Drive safe.
:bigthumb:

Some neon signs are the same frequency as well. There is at least one place that I think of where I my Laser warning goes off every time, but I can find no reason for it to do so.

I have an FD! This gives me license to post products that I think may be of use to other FD owners, and to share info that helps enhance our FD driving experience. Thanks...

as for differences the auto mute after it detects that the radar is not traffic radar is a lot better. I rarely have to push the button to mute things now. It is a bit smaller and lighter. It also has laser and POP. POP IIRC is undetectable by conventional detectors, but also inaccurate, and any ticket with POP could probably be defeated in court as the user manual for POP radars says that results should not be used in court. Go to www.valentineone.com for the complete story. My "upgrade" was $249, but basically I sent in my old detector and they sent me a new one. Mike doesn't recommend that you upgrade soley for radar. You can go to the V1 site and put in your serial # and they will let you know if you need upgrade.

I read that bit on the webpage, but a) I'm curious if it'll actually hold up in court, and b) I can't really do that here in VA, because the only way I can say I know it was pop would be to tell the judge "because my radar detector..." and detectors are illegal :p:

I had the same problem w/ laser going off constantly. HARD WIRE IT. That fixed my problem. It should have come with an adapter to wire it directly to car w/o using the cig adapter. Once it was hard wired I never had the same problem again.

You must have a real old V-1, eh? The ones from at least the past 2 years come w/ a cig adapter and a hardwiring kit, that's basically a phone line lol ;) (It could be even earlier than 2 years...I just know because that's when I bought mine)

We both can Ramy! I would ask the Police Officer what type of radar he was using and then bring in the damning information from the manuafcturer. We would know it was POP from our detectors before we ever went to court. I need to send mine in I guess for the upgrade.
I love my V-1, it sings so much down here I don't need a radio!

I understand that...but I guess I should explain. The cop is liable to lie. I've seen them flat out lie many a time in court...to the point that it took me great restraint not to yell out "you #(*$&@#$ lying bastard" :mad: But whether he's lying or just forgets and assumes it was regular on mode, I can't really enter my radar detector's readings as evidence lol. The (anal) Fairfax County judges would def. ask "what makes you so sure it was pop-mode?" or "how would you know?" since I'm challenging the officer's statement. At that point, I'm in between a rock and a hard place....UNLESS there's some law that says I can't be punished/fined etc for admitting to using a radar detector illegally since I'm not on trial for it?

:rofl: Yea, I know what you mean. Driving back on 66 at night, there's a freakin symphony going on in my car haha

The police officer has to bring in the calibration, mode etc for the radar with him to court. Good chance you will catch him off guard with your questions.
I know I have had my share of liars in court through the years. The very first ticket I ever recieved the cop lied. I learned real quick...After that I would always beat them in court and I had my act together. Now that I am a bit older (well kind of) I don't speed much. I hadn't recieved a ticket in 12 years and got nailed about three years ago coming back from DC. (Henrico County/ie Nazi-land). Thus the V-1.

Possibly...but here's where it gets shady Chris. All POP is instant-on, but not all instant-on is POP. Most instant-on radar is admissible in court, but POP is not. To my understanding, cops are supposed to use a two-step process. First, gauge speed with instant-on, then switch to continuous to track. If he lies and says he switched to continuous mode to track your speed, and that's what the ticket is based on, case closed. If he slips up and says he only used instant on, and didn't follow it up w/ continuous, that's not admissible in court, because that's POP: instant on, followed by instant off. But again, with lack of proof, I think the cops can claim it was continuous radar. After all, a radar gun doesn't hold it's reading like a laser gun does (sidenote guys: if you ever get hit by laser, ASK TO SEE THE READING. Laser guns record the last reading, and it's your legal right to request to see it. It can't hurt!)

I know it's roll of the dice here in the "commonwealth"...lol

I've got a V1, well 2 actually, and I was wondering if anyone else using one gets a laser alert when under full throttle in the FD. First time it happened, luckily I wasn't going too fast, but it does scare the daylights out of you. It doesn't happen in my Integra. And when I called Valentine, they said some of our cars are prone to cause the laser to false b/c the electrical system voltage drops below 12. Hardwiring sounds like a pain, although it may be the only solution. Is it easy to do?

Yea....apparently that means "it's common for us to take your wealth" :p: How else can you explain a 94.5 million dollar expansion for the General District Court (mostly traffic cases)? I mean, DAMN, you could solve world hunger w/ money like that...maybe buy a country or two w/ the leftover change...

I have mine hardwired. Real easy. Find a 12 volt source fuse in the drivers kick panel that is only on when the ignition is turned on. Run the wire up the side pillar (pull the pillar off) and under the front lip of the roof lining. I then unscrewed the visor and ran the plug out and screwed the visor back down. I had to cut a small slice for the wire. You also have to ground the negative wire. I used a screw in the body near the fuse panel. I always take my V1 out when I am not in the car or I have to leave the car. Takes two seconds.

I was arguing with two legislators a month back, both Republicans about a proposed bill that would let DMV fine you on top of regular fines. I cornered them and told them it was bad legislation and all they were doing was revenue hunting. The clowns agreed! They said they needed to raise money to fund more projects. I really dislike this place and it is getting worse.

Thanks for the install tips, Mr TT. No wonder local car stereo shops wanted 50 clams to do it. Sounds like almost as much of a pain as changing the air filter, but maybe I'll give her a try when the weather warms up.

Umm...I used a power source in the same place, and ran it up the A-pillar and under the front lip of the headliner, but that's about it. I didn't have to cut or unscrew anything... mine's mounted right above the rear view mirror tho. :confused:

I'm not in the least bit surprised. It's painfully obvious. This new thing where you pay court costs whether you go to court or not (eg when prepaying a citation) is exactly that kind of CRAP :mad:

Here's my update, in response to how the POP feature works. I can't exactly say how it works in comparison to before, since I think w/o the POP feature, you pretty much got nothing, or at least didn't recognize it. Now it's REAL clear.

Just real quick background info tho...at least where I am, false alarms are simply beeps on the V-1: "beep." Any time I get radar, it's a chirp: "brpp" or somethin like that. It's a very distinctly different sound...so whenever I hear the chirp, I know it's not playing around, and slow down.

I was drivin back up from Charlotte NC to DC last night, and I got quite a few POP warnings, from OVER a mile away. I was driving, and all of a sudden, I got a faint chirp (one dot only). Then it would go away. Then like 30 sec later, I'd get the chirp, but stronger, and it would immediately go away. Then a few seconds later an even stronger chirp (more dots), then it would immediately go away. The arrow always pointed forward. Like 2 or 3 miles later, the V-1 went ballistic, as I saw a cop car on the side, who was obviously using POP intermittently. So hey, it DEFINITELY works. Tihs happened once or twice more along the way.

The other time was REAL dirty. I was comin off the 85N interchange onto 95N, and I saw an Impala dipping in front of me. I was like aiight straight...I found someone to speed with. So I started speeding up to catch up to him, when all of a sudden the V-1 chirpped like crazy. So of course, I slowed down, thinking there's a cop somewhere, and I'll let the Impala take the fall, not me :D But I couldn't find a cop ANYWHERE... So I sped up again to catch up to the Impala that didn't slow down....then all of a sudden, the V-1 went crazy again. So I slowed down again, and the Impala pressed on. This happened 3 or 4 times till I figured out what was going on (hey, it was 2 am, and I was struggling to stay awake lol...). The Impala was a copcar, who was flying down the highway, using POP radar WHILE DRIVING, as it came up behind cars. And surely enough, like 15 miles down, it slowed and turned off onto the shoulder, then into one of those cop trap spots on the left.

Speeding without a good radar detector is like sleeping with hookers without a condom.

I did the Pop upgrade about 2 months ago. I have a 2+ year old V1.

I switched to full logic mode about a month ago, I was too sick of all the bogus X alerts in the city, where I do most my driving. No problems yet. In the manual it also says that irregardless of what the logic thinks the signal is, if it is a strong/very strong signal, you will still get it. I hardwired the unit with the "phone line", underneath the roof cover and just leave the plug dangling about 3 inches down above the rear view mirror. No false/power surge alerts.

On a side note, my Escort Shifter Z3 Laser Jammer has saved me at least 3 times.

Who wants to sell thier old V! to me?

Sounds good. Keep us updated plz. My setup's the exact same, minus that I still run it on A mode, cuz I'm paranoid about the super troopers we have around here lol. I'm slowly workin my courage to try half and full logic mode.

Really? Could you please elaborate? Cuz what I read was those jammers don't do jack...but if they do, guess what's next on my list? :D I'll tell you though that the V-1 def. works for catching laser. The downside is, that's basically letting you know you just got hit LOL (unless it was someone ahead of you).

I wouldnt drive my car without a V1. I love this thing. Best detector on the market, IMO.

the Z3 shifter.
Originally, for about a couple months, I 2 or 3 warnings, brief ones, but never saw the cop. Laser has only slowly been coming into use around Houston.

About 3 months ago, I was coming back from some friends at night (about 11:00 or so). Very light traffic on 4 lane highway (US 59 from Sugarland -> Houston). I was doing 80. Rounding a bend, I saw this white car in the left median, parked. 200+ yards away. Next think I know the Z3 goes off and I hit the brakes. As I get closer I saw the cop standing on the driverside, pointing something. I turned the jammer off and drove past him. I was not pursued.

The instructions with the Z3 say slow down when it goes off, then shut it off to stop the jamming.

Anyways, I don't know if the Valentine went off, it probably did but I have the z3 at a max volume and it has multiple tones, so I wouldn't necessarily have noticed it.

Another occasion I wasn't speeding, I was in light traffic, doing about 30. The Z3 went off. I was like WTF??? I looked up the road and saw 3 cops standing next to the road, one of the pointing a laser gun. I waved when I was about 50 feet away and one of them started laughing and waved back. I was tempted to pull over and ask them what they saw but I didn't.

Radar Jammers don't do jack, that is correct. There is a review of the Escort Z3 and the Blinder system at RadarBusters.com. Don't get confused because they talk about passive jammers not working. These systems are active systems. There are 2 emitters in the nose intake (off to the sides) and one in the tail (above the rear plate). They detect and reflect back at the laser gun to give it screwy readings.

Laser guns are designed to reflect off a couple common areas.
1) Front Plate
2) Headlights
or from behind at the Read Plate.

With an RX-7, no plates, you have one of the best vehicles. Curvey, no chrome and concealed headlights. I have no plate so that helps. I would never get a headlight kit for these reasons, and the fact that I think most of them suck.

By Federal standards, Laser Jammers are legal, because Light isn't regulated :)
But, some stated have outlawed Laser Jammers: MN, UT, OK, CA, NB, VA.

Hmm...that's good stuff!! I was always weary of radar jammers, because that's a federal offense = jailtime. But if there are no federal laws against laser jammers, booyah... guess what's on my list?! :) Any reason you went w/ the Z3 vs. the Shifter? And would you recomend the Z3? Any probs, complaints, etc? You obviously say it works, so that's the positive hehe

The Z3 is the shifter.

The two choices back then (last summer) were Z3 shifter, or Blinder. I was able to find the Z3 shifter locally, so I went with that.

I occasionally get a false alert, but they are very brief. That false has been in the exact same area, so maybe there is something there that is causing it.

Yea I meant Z3 vs. Blinder. So otherwise, you like it a lot, huh? Looks like this is yet another thing on my list... How/where does it mount exactly?