None

To Many to list

And apparently Mike doesn't often look at other detectors or he'd know that some manufacturers don't alter sensitivity in X-band City mode, they merely raise the threshold at which an alert is sounded. So naturally their detection range in both modes is nearly identical. In our tests we rigidly group the contestants according to price, mindful that higher price usually means better performance. So it's not unusual for these comparably priced units to exhibit similar performance, at least on X and K band. Ka-band performance costs money and most of the manufacturers have slacked off in this area and usually only one or two show stellar performance on Ka. In contrast, Mike's tireless champions at Car & Driver routinely test the $400 V1 against models street-priced as low as $99, the ethical equivalent to asking a 911 Turbo to square off against a 1.8T VW Golf. The test results are hardly a surprise--but they do make for great quotes in magazine ads. Valentine: "The man behind the byline Rather than trying to explain Peterson's mysterious results, let me just remind you that his credibility has long been in question. In response to his December, 1995, test, Automobile admitted a flood of "angry letters" which "criticized our selection of the BEL 745Sti Plus as our first-place winner over the Valentine One, which tied for third place. Amidst all the allegations of invalid test methodology and unfairness were suggestions that Peterson showed undue favoritism to the BEL unit because he has consulted for the company." In the March, 1996, issue, Peterson replied, "Having consulted to every major detector manufacturer, suggestions that BEL received preferential treatment are nonsense." He's wrong on that point too. He's never been a consultant to Valentine Research, although he's approached us more than once. We declined his advances each time." My response: I volunteered the information that I'd consulted to the industry since I felt it only fair to my readers to know. But nobody had asked and frankly, no manufacturer but Valentine has ever expressed a concern over my consulting, either before or since that 1996 statement. The test results were repeatable and when Automobile sent editor Kevin Clemens along to monitor future tests, nothing much changed. In fact, such is my stature in the industry that in the early Nineties I consulted to all three of the biggest manufacturers simultaneously. Their faith in my integrity was so complete that even with intimate knowledge of their plans and future products--information potentially worth millions to another company--none showed the slightest hesitation in retaining my services, even knowing that I was providing similar expertise to their fiercest competitors. It's also worth noting that at the time of the 1995 Automobile flap, unbeknownst to me, the CEOs of all three of these companies wrote personal letters in defense of me to Automobile publisher David E. Davis, suggesting that he do a bit more than simply repeat the rantings of the Valentine lobby. Here's what really triggered Mike's outrage about the consulting bit: my statement in Automobile read: " Having consulted to every major detector manufacturer..." And I'd never met or spoken to Mike Valentine, much less asked him for a consulting gig. (Nor have I met, written to or spoken to him since.) Frankly it never occurred to me. Valentine Research, little more than a storefront boutique outfit, is so tiny that the industry trade association doesn't even bother to track its sales. Best estimates are that Valentine accounts for 0.9 percent of total industry sales. My thought back then was: Why bother? I'm already maxed-out with existing clients. And with Valentine's well-known abrasive personality, why seek work with an ego-centric jerk? That's one of the luxuries of being self-employed. Those who know Mike--and in the two decades I've been associated with the industry I've met plenty of folks who do--are unanimous in their opinion that he has, shall we say, some unresolved personal issues. "Mike's ego walks into the room 20 minutes before he gets there," a detector company CEO who'd previously worked with Valentine for years once remarked. And that's why he was forced out of Escort long before most of their landmark products were developed; nobody could get along with the guy. If I ever were to meet him, I suspect I'd fall into that group as well. One last item: Mike neglects to mention a rather noteworthy point about that hated 2000 Automobile magazine test he's so upset about. He won. I declared the Valentine One the winner of that test. --Craig Peterson

Similar Products Used:

Many of them

None.

To many to list. DO NOT BUY THIS DETECTOR.

I don't make it a practice to make personal attacks on those with whom I disagree, although the anonymity and safety of Internet-launched attacks has certainly elevated this into an art form. Fortunately, my stature in the industry is such that I've never received hate mail from owners of detectors sold by BEL, Cobra, Escort, Uniden or Whistler. This in spite of the fact that while my tests over the past decade in Automobile and a dozen other magazines both here and abroad have declared as winners a model or two from every one of these outfits, so have we declared others in their model lineups as losers. On the other hand, we constantly get hate mail from fans of the Valentine One. And we almost daily run across excerpts--sometimes the entire pages-long diatribe--from Mike Valentine's personal attack on me, prominently carried for years on his company Website. This kind of personal attack is rather rare in the corporate world (when is the last time you've witnessed something similar?) and we've ignored these rantings since they began in 1993--Mr. Valentine is nothing if not relentless--but frankly we are weary of responding to e-mails mentioning them. So just this once, we'll examine some of the more contentious charges on Mike's Website--http://www.valentine1.com/lab/V1Hater.asp. Then you'll have a balanced look at the facts. Here are some of the high points of the Valentine attack. Valentine: " 'Craig Peterson's December [1995] radar detector comparison test generated more angry letters--and on-line discussion--than anything since the Davis Ferrari/raccoon incident.' -- Automobile, March, 1996" My response: There's been some editing done to this quote. Actually, it read: "...generated more angry letters--most of them from Valentine owners-- than anything..." Nobody else has complained about any of my tests during the entire decade I ran them for the magazine and in the years since for Radartest.com, Mr.Valentine excepted, but when I fail to pay homage to the V1, many of those who purchase this heavily-hyped, and hyper-expensive detector instantly go into attack mode. We get exactly the same reaction from purchasers of Rocky Mountain Radar's bogus radar/laser jammers. They've just spent megabucks for what's reputed to be a world-beating product and here we have the temerity to question the supremacy of the product. Valentine: "He gets measurements wrong But instead of debating philosophy, let's look at his record on simple facts. Peterson opens his website review of V1 by saying it is "by far the largest and heaviest unit tested..." On our scale, Passport is heaviest at 8.9 ounces followed by V1 at 8.6 and the BEL at 8.0. Only V1 has a metal case (magnesium), the others are plastic. Passport is also the longest by a huge margin at 5.29 inches, followed by the BEL at 4.72 inches. V1 is shortest at 4.46 inches, more than a quarter inch shorter than the BEL and nearly an inch shorter than Passport. In thickness, all are within 0.1 of an inch (V1 is thickest). Only in width is V1 significantly larger than the others, but the difference between them is less than the difference in length." My response: We weigh the unit complete with power cord and the V1 with its substantial plug did tip the scales a bit more than the Escort and BEL at the time of that 2001 test. And face it: width in a detector is of far greater significance than length. A wide detector blocks more of the driver's view of the road ahead, an item of some importance to most of us. Length, on the other hand, is of little consequence. Despite his denial, it's worth noting that recently Valentine abandoned the fat housing we mentioned in the Automobile test and returned to the original 1991 case that's slightly slimmer and lighter although just as wide. Valentine: "His range tests raise questions about his methods In the Automobile straightaway/hill test, notice how his results mostly fall into four narrow clusters at 23, 27, 31, and 40. In fact, only three bars are not in those clusters. Look closely. Four of five detectors have the same K-band range. Seven different X-band tests have the same distance of 31; two detectors get exactly the same results for both City and Highway modes (why have both modes if they perform the same?)." My response: As we mention in the story, those "narrow clusters" correspond to slight hillcrests which naturally tend to group together detectors with similar sensitivity. As they reach a crest, they come more directly into the radar beam and bingo, they alert. That phenomenon didn't occur until, after years of complaining by Mike, we lengthened this nearly-flat 4.1-mile straightaway test site because we were accused of truncating the site to unfairly limit the true maximum range potential of the V1. Once it became evident that several other models had equal or better maximum range, particularly on Ka band, our selection of test sites came under attack.

Similar Products Used:

MANY OF THEM

ARROWS, LAZER DETECTION, CONCELIBLE w/ CONCILED DISPLAY.

NONE. GUARENTEED!!!

Used the V1 for over a year now and am STILL IMPRESSED with the performance~~ That arrows are the best thing about the V1 and is #1 in detecting LAZER. Just a week ago. I was go about 90 in a 50 at night and the radar picked up a lazer from a cop clocking another car. Though he was not speeding, it benifitted me because i WAS speeding about 6+ cars behind him. Though false signals are every so often. Over all, Performance is Excellet. BEST of the BEST no matter what anyone says. I have tried alot of radar detectors including the 8500 and V1 ranks top on my list. Otherwise i would have stuck with the 8500 and save $100. V1= #1

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BEST OF THE BEST. NONE COMPARE!!!

None

To many to list. But I would still have to say that the arrows are on top of the list I mean if it was not for the arrows Mr Valentine would have been out of the detector business a long time ago.

I have been reading so many reviews on both the 8500 and the Valentine one that I had to go out and try both of them for myself and I can say that the Passport 8500 wins hands down. The Valentine one is so over rated just becasue its the only detector with arrows. I have also been reading all the test reports being done on both detectors and the 8500 has been winning all of them. But yet there are still some people climing that the Valentine is better but these people just cannot live with the facts of life. Fact #1 The Valentine was the only highend detector that did not see the Bee III on the Ka band. Fact #2 The Valentine faless more then the 8500 fact #3 Almost all the experts picked the 8500 over the V1. fact #4 the 8500 is $100 less then the V1. fact #5 The 8500 has better range on K and Ka band then the V1.( TRUE EXPERT TESTS PROVE THIS. } fact #6 The ONLY feature that the 8500 dose not have that the V1 dose have is the arrows thats all. fact #7 Mike Valentine used to work for Escort and the only reason why he came out with his V1 was to try to put Escort out of the radar detector business and this is a very true statement. fact #8 The only test Mr Valentin quotes is Car and Driver because the C and D test was the only test that the V1 won and the only reason why the V1 won this test was because the people that run the C and D test work for Mr Mike Valentine. There are many more facts about how much better the 8500 is then the V1 but iam sure everyone reading this dose not have time to read for a long time?. As far as the V1 blowing smoke at the 8500? Well the only way I could ever see this happen is if the V1 was turned on and the 8500 was turded off because my 8500 has picked up radar from at least 4 miles before my V1 even started to go off. I have never ever gotten warnnings like that out of my V1. I have tested both detectors for over 6 mouths now and I can say that the 8500 is better then the Valentine One and thats a fact of life.

Similar Products Used:

Many others

the best the valentine one is the best

none

hello i have seen all theses reviews about how the valentine is a joke well and the passport 8500 smokes the v 1 well i know better then that just ask my friend who bought a passport 8500 he said he trusted all the reviews about the passport 8500 well i made him a bet that my v 1 could smoke his passport 8500 and the winner got to run over the loser radar detector well my v1 beat the passport 8500 on every radar test by more then 2 mile on every test the passport pick up the radar less then 1/2 amile on every test even on the over the hill test so my friend got to watch me run over his $300 passport 8500 that he had just bought three days before from escort well i'm sure escort got the passport back in a box with a nice nasty letter so i will say this i have used them all and my valentine one smokes every other radar detector out there long live valentine one and don't listen to the reviews on how the passport 8500 beats the v1 because it won't trust me on this people

Similar Products Used:

escort 4500 escort 4600 escort 500 passport 8500 bel 745sti cobra 9200 cobra 512 bel 855sti whistler 1580 1610 1660 uniden 6400 uniden 2150 brel 850sti bel 840

Direction Arrows. Bogey Counter. Great detection abilities on all Bands.

Falses. Falses. Falses.

I think that the Valentine one is the best detector money can buy. Sure the price is high but you get what you pay for. I have tried other detectors over time and WOW, this one destroys any other one I have every tried. The features available like the Bogey Counter and Directional arrows are great to have items in letting you know when the threat passes. You can't live without the V1 once you've used it.

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All of the other great detectors you may consider.

Very little if any at all.

Missleading reviews,arrows are missleading,I lost over $300 trying to sell it.

The Valentine One is a joke. I have been using the V1 for a little over a year now and I can't beleave that people are still calling this the best. My friend spent much less on his Cobra detector and it seems to work much better then my V1 ever has. Well I did something the other day that iam very happy with and that is I sold my V1 for $75 and went out and got a Bel Vector 985. I have only had my Bel for a little less then a week now but it seems to be working much better then my V1 ever did. I was asking $250 for my V1 but no one wanted it at that price so I just kept lowering the price intell someone wanted to buy it. Ya I know I lost alot of money with the V1 and iam very unhappy about that but the good news is that I now have what seems to be a much better detector. Just last night my Bel saved me from a ticket and I could not beleave how far away the cop was from the time it started to go off too the time I saw the cop car it had to be at least 3 to 4 miles away before I saw him. I never got warnings like that from my V1. Iam not sure why the Valentine One gets so many good reviews? but iam here to tell you that you do not need to spend $400 on it. Save your money and go out and buy something eles like i did. But please do not make the same mistake I did otherwise you will be out more then $300. be very careful about this detector as the only reason why i got the Valentine in the first place was because all the good reviews I have been reading and so one day I wanted to try out a V1 for myself and man a little over a year has past and now iam asking myself why?. Well my friend agrees with me as he also did at one time own a V1 and he said that its not worth what you spend on it and there are better radar detectors out there. I think he now owns a Passport and he said that his detector has been called the best detector ever made. I told him about what happed to me and now we are both so much more happy then we where when we had are Valentine Ones. If you are looking for the best? then the Valentine is not it at least from what me and one of my friends can see.

Similar Products Used:

Bel Vector 985,friends Cobra.

NONE

I GOT A TICKET USEING THIS PIECE OF JUNK.

After reading all the great reviews on the Valentine One I had to go out and Buy One and try one out for myself and I must say what a joke for a detector costing over $400. This is my first detector and I must say that it is going to also be my last as I just got a ticket with this detector oh Iam sorry I ment to say locator. This detector points to where the radar is coming from and I must say that I did find the nearest WalMart but when it came to finding the Cops it did go off but not intell he had my speed looked in. SAVE YOURSELF SOME MONEY AND DO NOT BUY THIS DETECTOR IT IS JUST PLAN JUNK. Oh and by the way I was not the only car on the road as there where cars everywhere on the road and do you want to know what the cop said after he pulled me over? he said that he loves pulling people over with radar detectors and he just loves giving them tickets.

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THIS IS MY FIRST AND LAST AS AFTER GETTING THAT TICKET I WILL NEVER EVER BE USEING ANY DETECTOR EVER AGAIN.

Outstanding range, Programming mode to disable bands or change other features, Locator Arrows, Counter, Very good volume, Clever Mounting (very adjustable) and easy removal, Sufficiently long power cords, Upgrade program (this is big and hardly ever mentioned here)

No auto-mute (you must reprogram the unit), display too bright at night when reporting an alert, Difficult to identify bands at night (audio makes up for it)

After using different radar detectors and getting shoddy results from them, I was sold on the V1 after seeing it in action with a friend. After reading various car enthusiast message boards, as well as some of the radar testing sites (aware of the beefs between Valentine and Peterson), I decided to try out the V1. I paid $429 including shipping - a little steep. The unit arrived within 2 days as promised. The V1 uses standard phone jacks for connections between the adapter and the unit. After mounting it high on the windshield and above the mirror, I ran the wire underneath the roofliner, behind the passenger side pillar and glovebox, and finally under the plastics to the adapter. The straight wire is sufficiently long enough to be run that far, with some extra room. My biggest annoyance with radar detectors are the false X-band alarms. Especially with the previous units I owned. Not only were the "city modes" ineffective at shutting up the detectors, there was no real way to disable X-band. Until I came across the V1. Those who complain here about having a chatty V1 should seriously look up the V1 web site and learn how to reprogram it or use it in Advanced Logic mode. I printed out the programming report and went through the sequence, disabling X band as well as enhancing Ka band LED response (note that this does not affect Ka sensitivity). To deal with K band false alarms, I programmed the unit to remain muted for 4 seconds and to unmute after 4 or 6 LEDs. I could have changed the numbers to extend the mute period, but K band is still a threat where I live. The ability to auto-mute AFTER an alert, rather than at the onset, should still be there, regardless of the philosophy behind it. The range of the V1 is phenomenal. Proof came on a trip at 3AM, when I was the only car on the road. V1 reported a single Ka shot to the rear, signal strength of 2. Slowly but surely the signal crept up the LED meter. And, sure enough, there he was...a lonely CHP motorcycle looking for someone to talk to. Now I've had rear radar encounters before with other detectors, and it was frustrating to see that the Ka signal would never go past a few bars, even when the pursuing officer was right up on my caboose. I would only get a high reading if I was lucky enough to have enough reflections. This is what makes the rear radar antenna a crucial feature. With the V1 I had plenty of time to ease up on the gas and slow long before the officer would see me and get a lock. Two more indispensible feature are the arrows and the counter. I find it funny that those who attack these two features have never used it to see how valuable they are (or they haven't used their detector properly). In the story above, it was nice to know that the officer was sneaking up from behind. Had it been any other detector, I would have been playing the guessing game. Is he behind me? Ahead of me in the dark? Going the other way? Was it just him or was there another one waiting? With the arrows and the counter, I know what I'm up against. Still not convinced? There's one place I pass by on a daily basis that always trips two K-band alerts (very weak though). One day the V1 reported three alerts, except that as I passed by the place, the signal kept getting stronger. In addition, the front arrow remained on and flashed, while the other alerts were behind as usual. Sure enough, a motorcycle officer was waiting with his radar gun. Had it been any other detector, I would have dismissed the alert as residual signals from before. I won't comment on LIDAR as it's practically impossible to detect. I do get annoyed by the false LIDAR alerts because of the GM SUVs in front of me. Word has it that Valentine is aware of the issue and is working on a fix. I guess you could disable LIDAR detection if you really want to. For me, however, I chose to leave it be.

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Radio Shack, Cobra ESD 9110, Cobra ESD 9210, Bel Vector 940

Still has good range

Price'missleading info,false alerts,miss leading web site.

The ONLY funny thing Iam seeing is all the missleading reviews on the Valentine one. You have all the V1 fans saying that the Valentine One is better then anything eles and yet I ONLY see One detector in front and that detector is the Escort Passport 8500. Here is a list of all the tests the Valentine one wins http://www.valentine1.com/lab/detectortests.asp. Now here is a list of all the tests that the Passport 8500 wins. http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0107_radar/index11.html http://www.escortradar.com/eurocar.htm http://www.escortradar.com/automobile.htm http://www.escortradar.com/motconnews.htm http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleid=1064 http://www.escortradar.com/backroads.htm http://www.escortradar.com/vette.htm http://www.speedzones.com/ As you can see the 8500 has been blowing away the Valentine One in all but one test and that test is the Car and Driver test and the ONLY real reason why they picked the V1 over the 8500 is because this test is run by Mr Mike Valentine himself. Go to Mikehttp://www.valentine1.com/ Valentines web site You will see that Mr Valentine makes a point to slam ONLY the 8500 and nothing eles. You will also see that there is ONLY one test that Mr Valentine quotes and that is the Car and Driver test with good reason because the Car and Driver test Is the ONLY test that the V1 wins. I know that the Speedzones test dose not pick winners BUT the test showed that the Valentine one DID NOT SEE the KA Bee3 Pop gun AT ALL on the KA band and the 8500 saw the Bee3 on both the K and Ka band. The V1 still falses more then any other detector on this face of this earth REGARDLESS of what ANYONE SAYS. I here alot of the V1 fans saying that the reason why the V1 falses more is because it has better range then anything eles and when I here people saying this I just laugh because the 8500 falses much less the My Valentine and yet the 8500 has much better over all range. I wonder why the V1 fans DO NOT talk about test results? well I guess numbers speak for themselves. Iam not someone who just likes to slam the V1 I have been testing both the Valentine one and the Escort Passport 8500 for well over a year now and this is based on hard facts. Iam also someone who dose not buy a detector and use it for a week or two and send it back and say that its junk I make sure before I call it junk that it really is in fact junk. Let me in fact say that the Valentine One is not junk I just think that the V1 is an ok detector but for less money you can have a better over all detector. I do however feel that the V1 is a very over rated detector for what they give you. As far as the arrows well I really do feel that this is the ONLY REAL reason why the Valentine is so over rated. In my own testing with the arrows I find them to be useful at times but not worth the Money you spend for them. The reason why I beleave they are not worth the money is because NO ONE NEEDS ARROWS TO SLOW DOWN THE MOST IMPORTENT feature of ANY Detector is OVER ALL RANGE NOT ARROWS. Oh and one last thing I own both the Valentine and the 8500 so Iam someone who has used both detectors in fact iam still useing the Valentine One today but ONLY IN MY WIFES CAR. DRIVE SAFE!!!!!.

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I have been a radar detector owner for a little over 10 years now and I have always used the best.