This is for folks who have owned both. Which one is better overall?

 

i have the Valentine v1 and so do 3 of my friends.. one of the wife's has the Escort and when were in her car it goes off BUT WHERES the COP? left? right? front? back?... i cant go back to to knowing where its coming from..Valentine v1 ALL the way for me!! i think there's a pasport that does the same thing as the V1.

 

I've had the Escort ...haven't owned the V1 but that is what I want. I can vouch for that unit as have traveled in vehicles with one and I am convinced is the way to go.

Many folks in our Tampa group swear by the V1 and is on my list of must haves for the coming year.

 

I had a few passports, then 2 V1s, then a 9500i then a 9500ix. I do miss the arrows a bit, but I LOVE knowing that the alerts from my 9500ix is Always a real cop. My V1s falsed 80% of the time, so my brain eventually just tuned it out.

 

That's why I went with the 9500ix. Look, if Ka goes off, I'm slowing down. I don't CARE where the cop is, he's blasting radar and I'm hitting the parachutes. But the ability to lock out those CONSTANT K-band falses is a huge plus.

 

The V1 is so annoying. Never really found the arrows to be useful.

 

That's why I went with the 9500ix. Look, if Ka goes off, I'm slowing down. I don't CARE where the cop is, he's blasting radar and I'm hitting the parachutes. But the ability to lock out those CONSTANT K-band falses is a huge plus.
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The important radar bands vary by locality, but you can disable any band on the V1 or Passport. I had to disable X band and Laser on my V1's. The X band alerts were falses 100% of the time, and the Laser alerts were false 98% of the time. The 2% of the time that the laser alerts were actual cops didn't help me anyway (since they just notified me that I was already fvcked), so I just disabled it.

 

i had the escort 9500ix and i have the v1. i love the escort b/c it is rarely if ever is wrong and it has a long distance. the v1 on the other hand can tell me where the cop is, but there have been a few instances that i dont find out that there is a cop until he is close by, and i me really close by, to the point that if i were speeding and i had to brake, i would pretty much brake check the guy behind me. actually, i have notice lately that my front sensor doesnt really go full strength until i am 20-30 behind the cop and then the rear sensor would go to full signal right when i pass him and would stat full signal for about a 1/4 of a mile away. not to hijack this thread or anything, just my observations.

 

9500ix

 

Subjective matter (see my comments below to prior posts) as is generally the case with any "which is best?" question regardless of topic. Read up and see what suits you best. IIRC both give you 30 days to return.

If you do want suggestions then you need to provide your specific criteria. Otherwise best is fairly meaningless without context.

It's unusual but TrueLock can block police radar under the right conditions.

If your brain is just going to tune out the RD then definitely get the 9500ix. However, if you're looking for a device that you can just set and forget then you're setting yourself up for fail. You need situational awareness at all times. Don't rely solely on the RD.

I do. If I've passed the cop heading the other way and it's clear that his radar is only facing his front then there's no reason to slow down. YMMV, of course -- do whatever works for you.

Laser's fairly useless on all RD's. I have picked up scatter prior to having line of sight to the officer on 2 occaisions where it has helped but that's extremely unusual and not something to count on. Typically, it's going off on neon, Trailblazer CHMSL's, laser cruise control, etc.

Some do, some don't -- on both points. The majority of my driving is city driving and I prefer the V1. It does go off a lot but logic mode and a remote mute switch help. I also find it reassuring to know that the expected falses are popping up when and where I expect them. If they don't, it's time to send it in for tuning. I find arrows very useful but not everyone does. As I stated earlier, there's a lot of subjective preference involved if that's not apparent by the fact that not everyone owns just the one same device. OP needs to sort out his own preferences on the matter.

Read up on an RD forum. I highly recommend RadarDetector.net.