I currently own the UNIDEN RADAR/360 LASER DETECTOR WITH GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM GPS RD
and I love the features of it, but I'm wondering if the radar detection is up to par with detectors such as the V1 and the 8500?? Does anyone else own the uniden GPS? Is it really worth getting rid of it for the Valentine ONe? Thanks for any input!

 

Is the radar detection up to par with the V1 and the 8500? No. Is it worth upgrading? Only you can answer that.

 

Nobody else has this radar detector????

 

as best i recall - in every test i ever saw, this detector didn't approach 8500 or V1 performance...


while radartest.com has been questioned as being biased... his reviews do carry some level of merit. the Uniden GPSRD didn't do so well. http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleid=1026

otherwise -- that Uniden just doesn't show up in many recent reviews....

honestly though - i'm not even sure Uniden still sells radar detectors... i can't seem to find any info on their site... nor have they had any in the reviews i've seen of late...

 

The GPS thing is a gimmick. Most savvy people wouldn't bother with it anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the unit that can filter out radar based on Lat/Lon? If so, then you basically build a database of locations where falsing happens (like the local drugstore with K band falsing) and when you roll by, the detector doesn't chirp.

What happens when Smokey decides to set up camp in that parking lot shooting K-Band in morning rush hour? Your detector says this location is "safe" but smokey says otherwise. And you pay the fine.

Systems like those employed in the V1 and the 8500 alert you to how MANY sources are at that spot. If you roll by 5 times a week and you get one source, it's a false. If you roll by and suddently you see 4, you know somehting is going on...

I actually got hit with laser 2 weeks ago on the V1. Slowed down just fine so that by the second hit where he could have used the evidence against me, I was 2mph below the limit. I smiled as I drove past his dark cruiser and the people behind me found out why I slowed down so fast and were grateful.

Hows that Uniden do on laser?

 

It does decent, when I get hit it goes off 4 full bars and then quits... The only time i've ever gotten a ticket is when I wasn't using it. Also, I use it in Virginia all the time (at night anyhow) and have never gotten caught with it. I do remember one incident that really impressed me though. I was rolling through MT/Airy NC on 74 doing about 85, when I the detector went off at 4 full bars and stopped. I slammed on the brakes and slowed back down to around 70. There were no cars ahead or beside me and it was a wide open road. And I kid you not, about 3/4 a mile later I look in my rear view and I see a trooper parked in behind an on-ramp. Whether that was just a co-incidence or not, I was thankful. I really like the GPS, and even though the so called "up load trap" thing might be considered a gimmick, the only ones i've ever run into are the ones I uploaded. The unit flashes "TRAP" and I always slow down. In edition, you select your destination and it gives you EST. time until arival (based on current speed), mileage until arrival, and also displays your speed in real time via GPS. All while showing your directional path (S, SW, E, etc.) and a friendly directional arrow to guide you to your destination. So like I said, I really like the features of this unit, I just wonder how it stacks up to the V1. I mean, I'm sure the V1 is better, but how much better as far as picking up radar/laser etc. in terms of distance? Any S2k owners live near southwest virginia that own a V1? Maybe we can clear this up with some tests. =)

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SCoach
The GPS thing is a gimmick.

 

I've had a number of highway encounters with my V1. I'll relate one in particular. I was on a road trip with a friend and brought the V1 along. Nighttime on I10 in N.FL. I mistakenly left the thing on "L" mode, which is the equivalent of City mode.

Doing about 80. V1 gets a single hit of Ka and flashed "1" on the screen. Get a second beep, and 2 bars... friend pulls to the left lane. I check the watch with a second hand. Fully 35 seconds later the FHP goes by in the other lane with the unit on full tilt.

75mph = 1.25 miles per minute or .02mps. .02 mps * 35 seconds = .72 miles. The trick here is that this was not a fixed object. He was traveling toward us at a simiar rate of speed.. so you can double that distance. That's 1.45 miles on a congested highway in city mode. Mind you the cop probably wasn't operating in full power mode since it was contant on.

 

Yea, the only thing that bothers me about the Uniden is that I do pass a lot of cops and it never goes off... I wonder, is it not detecting them? Or are those cops not running radar/laser? Wish I lived in FL, we'd test them out.

 

Most cops do not run radar. Guns are expensive. But I didn't want to be in a situation where I was wondering, which is why I bought the V1.