I am installing V1 radar detector soon (very soon). I was planning on mounting on the visor, but have heard of others mounting it under the glovebox. What are the pros and cons of various locations? where is yours?
thanks in advance, michael
ps i sat in mine, and started it up as well, yesterday. picking it up tomorrow at 6 pm. the makassar and cocoa interior looks amazing!
There is an article in the Articles section I think on mounting the V1 along with a couple of topic threads, you might use the search engine to locate them and see if that helps.
Michael,
Great that you're about to take delivery - very cool. congratulations!
You'll get as many opinions on this as you would/did for car cleaning products. Many folks feel the need to hide the detector, and find it unsightly so they hard-wire it into the car. While that's a great solution and I don't begrudge anyone for doing that, it also makes it impossible to use the detector in any other car.
I personally don't find the looks objectionable, and use the suction cups to mount it to the windshield just to the right of the rearview mirror. The coiled cord then plugs into the electrical socket in the left side of the passenger footwell. I don't use the car as a daily driver, and don't really use the detector around town, where traffic seems to go plenty fast on the wide streets of Las Vegas anyway. I only use the V1 when I'm going on a long-ish drive where I know I'll encounter open roads, (which begets the urge to open it up) and radar equipped troopers. Since I also take these kinds of trips in my Honda Insight (which looks very funny with a V1 stuck to the windshield, but on my last trip from the Bay Area to LV, I saw 106 mph on the speedo) and BMW 5-series wagon, I want the flexibility to move the unit from car-to-car.
I don't clip it to the visor for two reasons: 1) it eventually leaves marks in it, and 2) it renders the visor useless for a passenger if you're driving into the sun, or the sun is in such a spot where using the passenger visor for yourself would help. BTW, lots of people ask if the suction cups hold well enough, and I can say from experience that I've never has them come loose unless asked to, even in serious panic stops from fairly high speeds.
Again, this is one of those purely personal choice items.
Make sure you read their directions thoroughly for proper placement so the rear sensors of the unit are not blocked. Mounting it under the glove box is not the way to go. Read all the info and directions anyway, because these guys know what they're talking about. Mike Valentine is also a Porsche owner and a member of PCA.
brad
There's another issue if your mounting the senser in the front grill. When the senser is that low the detector works 1/2 as good. I believe it should be mounted as high as possible.
I'm with beez--I mount it on the windshield under the RV mirror. The coiled cord hugs the dash very neatly as it plugs into the foot-well 12V outlet and I get great performance. When I park, I can just put the unit in the little storage area in front of the gearshift. If you're in an area where you want to be totally discreet you can take the suction clip down and store unit and cord in the center console box quite easily.
I use mine 100% of the time. It's saved me numerous times when cops were running traps in unexpected places (it's pretty easily to accidentally go 43 in a 30, for example, and the ticket stings just as much as 83 in a 70). Congrats on taking delivery!!
