First impressions of V1 versus 8500

Decided to give one of my sons the Passport 8500 for Christmas as his was a very old relic and would require me to upgrade. So I thought I would list a few 1st impressions: LIKES: ------ 1) V1 is obviously MUCH more sensitive than 8500 (will hopefully test side by side soon). 2) I really like the remote unit for V1 although I need to get it hotwired and place the remote on the steering column so I can more quickly read what type of radar is present. I like that the remote can attach to power adapter prior to hotwiring it so it's out of sight. 3) Love the automatic adjustment of light intensity (fantastic versus manually adjusting between three modes on 8500) 4) While I will admit that the arrows didn't do that much for me initially (prior to purchase), they do come in VERY handy especially with all of the false X band due to alarms, door openers, etc. (side arrows). Also, the very first alert I received was BEHIND me which was nice to know immediately since your natural tendency (at least mine) is to look ahead first. 5) Much lighter than I expected. 6) It was nice just to drive to their office to pick it up for Christmas since they are located on the north side of Cincinnati. SIDE NOTE: It was funny to see a couple of employees look out of their office windows nervously .. guess they wanted to make sure it wasn't Mike Valentine springing a surprise visit. DISLIKES (or areas of opportunity re: business world) --------------------------------------------------------- 1) WAY TOO MANY Falses; especially in X band! Probably in the 3-4X area which is hugely annoying!! What is truly unfortunate is I can NOT disable X band here in Cincinnati since I have observed (more than once or twice) city cops still using X band plus most of the park rangers use X band as well! 2) Minor point: turning unit on and off is a major pain compared to the 8500. Obviously hotwiring eliminates this point. All in all, a very fine detector (especially once I read the manual and figured out to really mute the alert correctly). It has already saved me once. On my way to Lexington, KY to pick up my stepson for Christmas, I got a K band alert ahead of me. Spotted nothing unusual but slowed down anyway. I noticed that the alert was already showing a strength of 3 (while false alerts always seem to start with just 1) so I was wary. As I watched a car speeding off the exit ramp behind me (which with the 8500 would have made me very nervous) ... with the V1 the arrow showed the threat was ahead so I continued to search the horizon. I finally spotted the trooper way up ahead, on the other side of the highway, and it looked like a disabled car (hard to explain why, but that was my first impression) but I continued to "stare" I quickly noticed it was an unmarked police car. Fortunately the person rapidly approaching from behind me slowed down as well!! NEUTRAL: -------- 1) This may surprise you but it's the bogey counter! While this is always a major "claim to fame" for the V1, I find it a wash. I always had my 8500 setup to display how many signals of EACH band was present so I could quickly figure out potential threats. Example: I knew that one particular area on I75 always falsed one X band very strongly so I always watched to make sure that 2 X bands didn't appear (that actually saved my wife from a ticket once). Now I find that I must recalibrate my norms so I can more quickly assess potential threats. That same area produced 5 separate alerts with the V1. BTW .. that was in A mode. I now use L (advanced logic) mode when traveling around the city. Any comments / suggestions ?? TIA

Both the arrows and the bogey counter will become ever more useful as you learn to use the V1. Over time you get better at reading the information it gives and (in my case) at tuning out the falses. You'll probably find that if you put the V1 and the Passport in the car at the same time, the Passport will set the V1 off. Most other radar detectors have plastic casings that allow stray signals out. I find that the most irritating falses are from other people's crappy radar detectors. Oh yes, and the annoying laser falses from Chevy SUV and BMW convertible LED CHMSLs. C.

What's a LED CHMSLs ?

Sorry, CHMSL is center high mounted stop light - the middle one up high at the back. LED is light emitting diode, not dissimilar in light to a laser. There are a small number of vehicles - Chevy Trailblazer and BMW convertibles being the main examples that have LED CHMSLs so bright that it causes laser falsing on my V1. It's particularly irritating when you're stuck behind them at traffic lights. I haven't had it happen with any other vehicle. C.

Thanks for your comments; hopefully I will get more used to the V1 soon. I do like it a lot so don't take my 1st impression wrong. Now concerning a side by side test (haven't done it yet but will soon) but today when starting up my V1 .... it actually set off the 8500 in my wife's car parked next to me in the garage. You should have seen her jump!!

I love the bogey counter because door ways always register 2 or 4 and etc. so I know it is unlikey that it is a cop when I get multiplkes unless a K band beeps in the mix also. I also have an 8500 and the new wireless unit. I hate the 8500. Not sure if it is adjustable, but the volume drops so much after the first initial beeps that I cannot hear it. I have run with both the V1 and the other two and the V1 definitely has better range on K band and ka band. The 8500 went back into the box to collect dust. The wireless one is not that bad and my wife likes it because there are no messy wires.

I got the V1 hardwired for $50 at a stereo installer--no messy wires!

V1 has save my butt many times. The arrows are priceless, and with X band you can filter out many false alerts. The only neutral/negative I have with the V1 is the volume control. I sometimes switch my V1 between cars. And probably more user error, in the process I inadvertently lower the volume control. Later find out volume control was lowered when driving for while and do no hear any alerts, than quickly remember to reset the louder (former) setting.

I agree with Chris that the most annoying thing with the V1 is its' sensitivity to cheap detectors. Whenever I get a bogey from the rear ,it is usually from another detector .

I've had all the Escorts and the V!. No comparison, V1 is the very best. I run mine in L all the time. Almost never a false beep

My V1 was set off whenever I adjusted the left (yes left only) mirror on the Integra Type R. Quite annoying on those 3 hour drives to track events. Regardless, the unit has saved me hundred of dollars in tickets. Once you learn to ignore most, but not all of the X-band warnings it is a delight.

I have an 8500 and am very pleased. I also like the voltmeter built in. The bogey counter, I find, is just as effective as the V1 bogey counter. On another note, is there any reason why my passport goes off whenever I "floor" my wife's minivan? It's the oddest thing, and quite annoying. regards,

I think that there is just too much ado about nothing regarding these radar detectors. The top line models of Passport, Bel, and V1 do an excellent job. If you believe in magazine test reports, and there are a lot of them, Bel and Passport trounce the V1. If you believe the guys the paid the extra cash and like all those arrows, V1 is the best. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the three. However, situational awareness is still the key to avoiding tickets, and radar detectors are just aids and are not the end all be all. Just for giggles, here is my story from an old post.

Palting, Not to change the subject, but I just noticed your pix under your signature. Great track shots during your DE on page 2. What track is that? regards,

Palting is right. The best defense against tickets is always looking down the road and looking to see if other cars hit their brake lights when going past areas where cops can hide and hit you with instant on right when you pop in view.

Great story Palting.....!

I had a cop once sitting next to me at a red light. His funny cop buddy picked up the radar gun and shot it into my car sending my radar detector ballistic. I looked over and they were laughing the ***** off. I was not about to the give them the satisfaction of reaching up and hitting mute or turning it off.

I like the V1 partic the arrows which are great for id..ing bogeys, but I also have gps detector ...in the Uk they have recently placed cameras measuring a cars average speed over a few miles on some motorways and they are to be introduced in other areas so soon they will be quite commopn. the V1 misses these but cos they are in the GPS database the detector alerts for the duration of the distance between the cameras ...it's really neat Donny J

Thanks, JBR. Those were taken at two tracks. The first set were at Mid-Ohio, the second were at BeaveRun.