Radar Protection

[93Octane]

Hey guys what's going on. Just wondering if anyone on here has experience with radar detectors. I am thinking of buying one and just wondering if anyone is using them. My current radar system is, " if I see the lights GO ". Id like to have something to at least give me a heads up.

[typhon]

that subject is actually being discussed right now in another thread. check it out:

SHIT! not another ticket!!

[Dallara]

~

Used Valentine 1's for a while years ago. Switched to an Escort 8500 over a decade ago and never looked back.

Still use that Escort 8500 on my bikes. Use a RAM mount:

http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products...p?prod=RAM-PP3

Have it rigged where I can swap it from bike to bike to bike. I also use a Marc Parnes "Visual Alert" mounted right on top of the detector. Super bright LED's and works super day or night.

http://www.marcparnes.com/Visual_Alert.htm


I use a Beltronics STI in my cars at the moment, but I am planning on ordering an Escort 9500ix for my new Cadillac CTS-V.

BTW, Escort and Beltronics are just different brand names. Both are owned by the same company and many of their detectors share identical features, etc.

Also, if you are looking for hell of a deal on a radar detector, Escort is selling factory refurbished 8500's, complete with a full one-year warranty, on eBay for $149. That's a steal. Here's an example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330322751158

If you want to see more listings just use the terms "Escort 8500 warranty" in the "Search" box on eBay and you'll find several listed.

Hope this helps!

Dallara


~

[Caidly]

Dallara,

Can you explain your choice to dump V1 and any benefits you see using the Escort/Bel models?

CT

[olehen]

I have the escort 8500 since many years and I used it on both my car and bike. I have it hard wired in the car and it saved me numerous tickets. It's beeping everyday.
On the 848 i had it mount ont he handle bars with RAm mount and a system with a ligtht (I am lazy today and I cannot find the brand). Go into the gadget area on Ducati MS and you will know whant I am talking about. Damned I cannot remember the brand. Basically it is hooked to the radar detector and hard wired to the battery. A led light will go on when the radar detector is beeping. You can put it in your helmet or on the bike (it's wireless). Easy to mount and on the 848 no problem of space.
On the Hypermotard it is another story as I have already a Zumo GPS on with Ram mount on the handlebar. I also have a carbon screen on the front. I tried to find another way to put the radar detector but it is getting very busy on the handle bar and it looked like a BMW bike after all those electronics were mounted. I am still searching for a better spot for the Radar Detector itself. the alarm system (I cannot still remember the name!!!) is a small box and few wires do it is easy to install anywhere. The radar Detector is bulky and the hypemotars front does not have so much room.

[olehen]

the wireless system with the bright led light name is : H.A.R.D.

[Dallara]

~

Originally Posted by CTarna

Can you explain your choice to dump V1 and any benefits you see using the Escort/Bel models?

It might be hard to explain, CT. It's really just kind of a "feel", a matter of preference more than anything else.

I've been fooling with radar detectors since the first Fuzzbuster's and Autotronics Snooper's back in the '70's and I guess that over all those years everybody develops their own likes and dislikes with the damn things. IMHO, Valentine V1's are *noisy*... Kind of like the ol' "Boy Who Cried Wolf" story. They are so overly sensitive that to me they go off all the frickin' time. Even if you spend time burrowing deep down in the control functions and infinitely adjust settings, etc. the damn things are still screaming and flashing arrows all the time. So much so that I can't honestly tell what's a real bogey or not half the time, and it seems like much of the time spent with a V1 is getting in and out of the gas constantly.

Honestly, I think the V1's ARE more sensitive and have a true range advantage over Escort/Beltronics offerings, but for me it's just not worth the continual beeping, brapping, and buzzing.

I've been driving with Escort's and BEL's products now for over a decade, and certainly they "false alarm" at times, too, but not with near the frequency V1's do. I am so used to how they work, their "filtering", etc. that I pretty much know when one of their alerts is for real or not, and I drive with them accordingly - and they have saved me countless times.

In addition, I also like how Escort/BEL try to stay on the leading edge of the art... Remote detectors like the 9500ci and STI-R, laser shifters, GPS and incorporating speed camera locations, etc. I like Mike Valentine. He's brilliant, but he seems to be mired a bit in time. You gotta' love him. He believes in his product and its architecture, but not all his software and firmware "updates" have been improvements. I think they are up to version 3.872, yet it seems like the "best" version is 3.813... At least according to some of the radar detectors forums:

http://www.radardetector.net/forums/index.php

http://www.radarreviews.net/forums/index.php

And once you have "updated" your V1 you can't go back...

BEL/Escort has "updates", too, like the recent BEL STI "ramping update", but they are few and far between, and they seem to always be an improvement. And now with the Escort 9500ci's, 9500i's, and 9500ix's you can connect them to the 'net and get firmware and software updates that way - and not have to send the unit back to the factory like you do with Valentine.

Sorry if the this has run a bit long, but I guess it just boils down to my liking the "feel" or "user experience" of the BEL/Escort units better than the Valentine. I also like that they seem to be leading the technological race in areas like red light and speed camera radar, along with GPS and auto-lock-out of false alarms. They are also the only outfit that has made the huge investment of time, money, and R&D to produce the world's only detector that is truly "undetectable" by radar-detector-detectors - the BEL STI and BEL STI-R. These are a godsend to true "professional" drivers, like truckers, in states where RDD's are used since radar detectors are illegal.

If you read those forums you will find folks who love their Valentine 1's just as much, so it definitely is a personal choice.

And now we even have a new player in the motorcycle radar detector race:

http://www.adaptivtechnologies.com/

From what I have seen these have tested well, and are definitely have some pretty trick features for motorcycle use. I might have to try out an Adaptiv one of these days...

Hope this helps.

Dallara


`

[motoital]

Thanks for your review Dallara...

I've been a V1 user (cage only) for years and I must agree with your eval, but I still love it and it has saved my @ss many a times.

I going to have to take a closer look at the Adaptiv for the Hyper...

Cheers

[Caidly]

Big D-

Fair enough. I too had a FuzzBuster and almost every model Cincinnati Microwave produced until 1993. I even had their first gen 900MHz phone!

I still own a Escort Passport and it's X and K range is better than anything else.

I like the direction indicator and bogey count on the V1. I've owned at least one since 1999 and have "gotten used to it".

Still, I do not think it is the best for a bike...

Charlie T.

[Caidly]

PS- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y5-kiwNp0I