Me too, Its super easy to locate the source with the V1 and know when youve passed it which helps me alot in the city where I drive. There are a couple of external sources I pass every day and as soon as I see them I can tell immediately by the arrows if they are the false alerts or an actual cop. Thats why I was really happy that they were able to get the arrows up on the cluster for me.

I had the 8500 for a few weeks and ended up selling it as it seemed to not have the same distance performance as my V1. On the highway I get alerts on the V1 so far in advance that its amazing sometimes. With the 8500 I had a difficult time picking up the signal until I was much closer. In particular it happened when the source was just over a hill or just around a gentle turn. The V1 was overall just better.

 

Just had a motorcop (motorcycle cop) convention in my town, There was a laser detector company with samples to try. I got to play with ther sample guns... their rep said the response was almost instant but in my experience with playing with the detectors you have about 2-3 seconds to hit the brakes once the trigger is pulled. By the way I have a Valentine One, love it!

 

Any information on how, where to get this installed? Many thanks

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0xVLsvqCs4

XJ9 - how & where did you get this done - keen to get myself. Were you also able to hide the main unit under the hood or something?

Many thanks

 

OK, a few things about radar detectors.

the V! is the biggest overrated POS I ever used. And how is it that I can talk to V1 owners face to face and they say the same thing? but on the internet it is the best thing since the wheel was invented? You can't ever speed comfortably with a V1, the damn thing goes off at everything, if someone walks out of a gas station 2 states away, the V1 will let you know. You can't drive like that

next the V1 direction... come on, it never picked up a rear threat faster than a K-40 or from a greater distance. I know this because the police station is right down the road and the fools drive everywhere with the radar units on.

next looking at the cluster to tell you what the hell is going on and where? seriously, it is a cool factor like nothing else, but taking your eyes off the road to read the cluster...

the k40 always gets crapped on, especially by radarking because he is just a poser... BTW do a search, his recomendations on the interceptor is a bit flawed, owes me $10k in a bet, and someone here posted the link on this forum about the interceptor scam... always good to be associated with a scam huh?

anyways the K-40 always works, the laser detector and jammer is probably the hottest thing out there, the blue lights can be scene out of the peroheral without even taking your eyes off the road left being front, right being rear, both being laser...

the whole idea of a radar detector is to keep you from getting a ticket and speeding safely, which is what the K40 does, and very well. it is designed to be mounted out of the way, not like the passport POS system

And if the V1 is so great, why don't they offer the theft protection like K40, the 3 year warranty, and the 1 year speeding ticket guarantee?

no one does what the k40 does.

K40 hands down.

And if anyone knows the link of the guy calling the elvis scam please post it... it was pretty comical

 

I dare say your evaluation is pure BS! Go ahead and buy the K40 if that is what you want, but don't bad-mouth the V1

Extremely pleased with V1. Direction arrows are very helpful. (Presently own three V1 units that I also keep current through their upgrade progeam.) Have run them on five different Audis, one Jetta, one Mustang Cobra, and now on the C300. Have not had a ticket in over 20 years.

 

The "which radar detector is best" argument is likely to go on for as long as we have cars... I have seen all of the discussed radar detectors in action and they all work reasonably well. I was never a big fan of the V1 until I went on a trip with it and saw it in action and saw how well it worked and it does work very well. The new K40 (the caliber) works really well too.

The biggest issue is who the radar detectors appeal to. Most sellers hate the V1 for one main reason: V1 controls their own distribution so there is no markup or profit to be made selling it. A V1 costs $399 and thats it.. There is no deal for buying 2 or 200. The K40 on the other hand is a sellers dream: there is lots of markup to be made on both product and installation. The K40 system really excells in two areas: Its easy to use and the detectors are properly weatherproofed. Alot of S class owners really like the K40 and many have had the K40 on every car they get.. In particular they like the fact that the LED's are a simple warning system: if they blink you hit the brakes. The V1 on the other hand must be weatherproofed: its a pain in the *** to do and when mine was getting done they had to order a special enclosure and seal it up completely. The V1 also does not have any jamming capability which is really needed for proper protection, the K40 does.

So while the K40 costs considerably more, you do get more for your money, including active jamming.. They also have the ticket guarantee which noone else does. I agree with jbondox that the K40 gets alot more crap than it deserves, particularly when it comes to the newest model which is really nice. The V1 however has it beat on price: for 400 bucks you cant beat its performance.

 

I think they have the contact info with the video. They put the actual V1 in a weatherproof case and mounted it in the front grille under the hood.

 

Valentine 1 is the only way to go - I've had two passports, sheer garbage. I cannot knock the K40, but no one can say that a V1 is a bad product. It has a quality build and has operated without any glitches for me...

 

Thanks. Got it! much appreciated!

 

+1

Great informative post!!

The K40 Calibre utilizes bluetooth connectivity. I have the full kit installed on my other car...

Although, I would love to upgrade to this V1 + Blinder Setup...

 

Like i said, I already owned the V1, The thing goes off at everything. I do have the K-40 also. I have tried everything out there, Passport V1, K-40...; K-40 hands down...

 

XJ9,

The K-40 isn't really a shops dream. for instance with regular product mark up you are at about $1200 for 2 defusers and the front and rear radar units. then the install, qualified tech $100-$125/hr and 8-10 hour install, from time of check in, preping the vehicle, taping off anything that can get scratched while being installed, fabricating brackets, bumper removal, testing, then delivery to the client and instructing them how it works, and how to maintain it.

Sure i have seen shops just slap the shiet together, glue the receivers on, led pods... come on, that isn't professional, probably the reason why some don't work well and giving the manu a bad name... it isn't like just tossing it in the window and plugging it in.

Last week i seen a K40 receiver sitting on top of a motor in the porsche turbo... that is going to work how? PFM? I seen a porsche cayenne with one mounted under the vehicle front and back ...I mean they just glued it to the bottom of the vehicle so when you look under the vehicle you see the K40 .... word I am looking for is... dangling. So for the shops that don't give a rats **** I am sure it is a profitable piece, but those that actually care, well they make what they are supposed too.

Also it is wireless not BT,something happened with K40 and BT, like they didn't want to pay to use the BT name. however I didn't pick up one while searching for BT devices, when they first came out they did.

Anyways, if i was ever traveling, had a nice vehicle, it would be K40

 

Valentine Valentine Valentine!

 

I agree with you... there are certainly no shortage of shops that do crap work and being in service Ive seen plenty of terrible half-assed installs in the name of money. The fact remains though that with the K40 there is a profit to be made when selling and installing it whereas with the V1 there is not.

Another thing that I noticed that I didnt mention before is that the newer K40 seems to have superior filtering compared to the older models and it even works better than the V1; We have a set route that we drive when we demo the radar installs to customers and the route includes one of those radar activated speed limit signs that tells you your speed... When I drive the route with the V1 I get some low level falsing around two buildings on X and K band with the V1 that I do not get with the Calibre.

When pulling down the street with the speed sign, I noticed that the V1 alerts before the K40 by about 2 blocks (on K band with this sign) so there is a definate difference: The V1 seems to have better sensitivity overall but also falses quite a bit in areas with alot of interference. The K40 is less sensitive but when it alerts you can be reasonably sure that its not a false alarm.


Honestly I think the one big thing that the Calibre could use is a proper display option for those who want it. They should keep the standard LED display as we have plenty of customers that like the simple LED setup but there are alot of people that see the K40 as being "dated" because there is no option for a full information display like the V1 or even the passport. If they offered a nice display option they would hit it out of the park.

 

So, I am reading the posts and no one really tells or shows, what needs to be done to hard wire a radar detector. Has anyone done it ? and if so How

 

I hard wired my passport and beltronics radar

 

can you tell me how.

 

Gonna post a thread how to

 

i installed mine to the right of the rear view, ran the wire through the headliner down the a pillar and into the glovebox to the 12v switched cigarette port in there.

 

Me too

 

did you break a clip off your a-pillar too?

 

I just had a K40 system installed on one of my cars after having it recommended by the dealership. My friend has the valentine system, his works so much better. I spent a small fortune having my set up with the blue LED's in the gauge cluster and stuff.... but his system just works better.... Don't get me wrong the K40 is great, its just not quite as good.

 

Nope still there and intact

 

Did you use the cables supplied with the V1? How long did the install take? Anything to watch out for, other than the clips in the pillars breaking? Any problems you ran into? Or I might run into? I've never really done anything to any car before, except for painting and such... that's easy.

I think I'm finally gonna bite the bullet and get a V1. I drive super-paranoid with eyes on full alert at all times, monitoring all mirrors. But a mechanical aid would definitely be helpful.

Can't stand to see wires everywhere inside the car.