I would contest, but if I lose my insurance will go up a lot. Going to driving school erases the record as though it never happened and although I am reluctant to give any free money away they did put be in a jammy jam.

 

VALENTINE 1 is BAR NONE the way to go. Updates help but either the cops use Ka or they do not. Laser is so fast you are pretty much DONE if they hit you with it. No match for quick BURSTS. Look on OFFRAMPS ALWAYS. Always check your review mirror every 20 minutes. See a suspicious car. SLOW Down. Do all this and you MAY rarely get any tickets at all.

 

I have had a number of detectors recently. I currently own a V-1, which I use in my wife's truck when we are going on a long trip. I also have an Escort 9500ci in my Range Rover Sport. The former cost me about $400. The latter cost me $2,000 installed. (Also had a K40 calibre in my Jeep - it was CRAP) and an Escort SRX in my E55.

Do you want to constantly mount and dismount your radar detector (PITA) or are you looking for something mounted that is ready at all times? Do you want a professional install or do you want to be "clever" and hard-wire a detector, velcro it onto your headliner, stick it in the headliner (where it will have diminished sensitivity) or do something else to make a dash-designed radar detector mount like a remote detector?

My views - I will take the Escort 9500 ci over the V-1 any day. Stealth install that is always there and ready. I can't imagine having to go through the trouble of mounting and dismounting/hiding a detector every single time I get in and out of the car. Am I going to put it on when I am running late and only going two miles? Probably not. And does that mean that there won't be police activity somewhere on that route? Of course not. So why bother to have it if getting it ready for use is a pain?

The V-1 is a noise machine. Drive in the city for ten minutes. If your every day commute is through a busy town, you will have to deal with a pin ball machine of lights and sounds every day. The 9500 ci knows where the false alarms are and locks them out. After commuting to work for the third day, it now only goes off when there is a new - real - threat. It beeps, I slow down.

Some people swear by the arrows, I really could care less. If I get a KA band alert, I know to get on the brakes, regardless of whether it is in front of me or behind me.

The V-1 and the 9500 ci have great range. I have yet to pick up radar and think to myself that I did not have enough time to slow down. Both are great for that. Comparisons I have read show them to be pretty equal on range, giving much more than enough of an alert.

The V-1 will do nothing to protect you from laser. Nothing. The 9500 has jammers in the front (2) and rear (1). Have yet to be hit with laser in the Range Rover, but I did get hit a couple of times far from home with the E55, and the SRX alerted me and "shifted". I was moving at a good clip once when I got the alert (80 mph), so it must have worked.

Convenience - The 9500 is in the car. The display is on the side of my dash and goes dark when I push the power button. It is maybe 2 inches long. If I ever get pulled over, a cop will not know that I have a radar. Try hiding your V-1 when you get pulled over for any reason.

Now - If you do not want to do a remote install and are limited to around $400, then I would choose the 9500xi. It is the dash mounted version of the ci sans laser shifters. I will trade arrows for a quieter commute any day.

 

I'm an owner of a hard wired V1 since Dec '06 (only way to go is to hard wire). While I love the V1 and the arrows, I can't ignore the recent reviews on radartest.com (the Escort was more sensitive, i.e. more range, in the bands that are mostly used by law enforcement now). If I were to purchase a new radar detector tomorrow, I would give the 9500ix a try. The GPS downloads of red light/speed cameras and the ability to flag an area around town would be a nice improvement over what I am used to (the aforementioned "busy" V1 around town). Like enzom said, when I hear the alert, I'm hard on the brakes and then looking at the arrows, so they aren't a deal breaker for me.

 

Last year I was trotting along at about 80-85 up a long highway with an Altima pacing me on my side minding my own business. V1 screams KA which of course is CHP and the arrow pointed behind us. In the rear view I could see a car coming up on us quick when we went around a long turn-it was still a ways back. I immediately got off the next off ramp and stayed there for a few minutes and then got back on.
Yep, cop had the Altima pulled over. As I was in a nicer car it would have been me-guaranteed.
Arrows give me the freedom to choose if I can continue on even with a KA signal-it all depends on how you use it.
I'm not one to slam on my brakes due to a KA signal which would be silly as they come up often enough in California. Most of the time it is on the other side of the highway where the cop already has someone pulled over. Once you know how to use the arrows, they can be a huge ally in preventing tickets and panic attacks.