V-1 upgrades?
 

Has anyone had recent experience doing the Valentine V-1 upgrade? I went online and input the serial number of my ancient V-1 (already upgraded once more than 10 years ago).

Turns out that it would cost $286 plus shipping b/c mine is so old. It amounts to a $110 discount from the MSRP of $399. I would actually get a NEW unit with all current technology. The main new feature is addition of their "Junk-K Fighter", which allegedly eliminates most of the nuisance false alarms caused by lane-changing systems and other radar-enabled BS in newer cars.

I am wondering if anyone has a new V-1 and finds that it really DOES eliminate the almost constant false alarms that occur when I fire up my older model. This problem almost renders the old one useless for my frequent trips on the PA turnpike. :(

I'm surprised you bother with a radar detector. I have a couple and tried to give one away last summer at a car meet and no one wanted it. I can't recall the last time I bothered with one.

I use my Escort 360C constantly and it has saved my butt multiple times.

I have a V1 but haven't been using it, Waze has been very good for this.

My V-1 is very useful on road trips but I've never upgraded one.

I was in a similar position to the OP with a very old early V1. We did the upgrade which gave us a brand new model when my wife got her Allroad (nearly impossible to have any idea of speed without constantly watching the speedo). It was a significant improvement in rejecting false alarms, especially from cars that use radar for adaptive cruise control. But it's not perfect either so we still get some false alarms.

Like others commented, I've given up using detectors in my cars - but it was important to her so we did the upgrade.

I'm with you........a lot with you. Both my Crosstour and S2000 have Escorts (S55 in the S2000) and I owe my freedom from jail time to both of them.

I wonder how well it would do in my cars with distronic radar which has two K band transmitter channels.
I have to believe there would significant interference with each other.

In my '09 S I have a Escort 9500ci. What a great detector but getting old.

I did a three month trial several years back with a V1 and an 8500 mounted in my S. I took two trips to Boston and back and one trip to the Dragon plus a lot of other driving. I sold the V1.

Thanks for all of the comments. As an old fart driving less, I have wondered about spending the money for the upgrade.

For $286, I could pay for a couple speeding tickets....although not sure about insurance surcharge due to points ? :coat:

Point 1: old fart
Point 2: too old to be speeding

You are too fast for me.

Oki, if I was going to travel multiple states like "the man" I may hook up my 2nd one.

I paired my V1 with V1Driver or YaV1, that will cut down on the fault alarms drastically.

There shouldn't be. Detectors are receivers, therefore should not interfere with your cars. I use an Escort 360 which had some nuisance interference from warning system frequencies at first but thru updates and me blocking some false warnings it works great.

Even receivers have a small amount amount of electromagnetic emissions.
Distronic has Kband transmitters and receivers.

:tipwink:

I have used the 360 in our 2018 CR-V which uses K Band with no issues. But that may not apply to MB. I'm sure the MB forums have had this discussion.

I use an Escort 360 in my wife's Lexus with all the electronic crap and the detector does exactly what it's supposed to do...work flawlessly with no interference from adaptive cruise control, lane change warning,automatic headlights and all the other stuff that's now required to keep us "safe".

Latest firmware for the Valentine1 was in all three of my cars last year when I moved from NE Ohio to Virginia. Worth the upgrade. Before updating the V1s to the latest firmware the traffic monitors on top of the light poles in NE Ohio tripped the radar constantly as did the blind spot sensors on lots of cars. I tried an Escort with a built in GPS screen in the S2000 to minimize stuff on the dashboard but the screen wasn't visible in sunlight nor was the detector decent.

This is all past tense as Virginia, where I now live, is the only US state where these are not legal to use. Heck, the State Police made a U-turn to pull over my Army Nurse wife when they simply spotted it on the dashboard of her then-Ohio licensed car a 18 months ago. Wasn't plugged in since she knew to not use it but the AH trooper insisted he go in the trunk. But I digress.

Been detectorless for 15 months now -- and not liking it. Radar detector detectors will detect the V1's internal frequencies.

--Chuck

Another reason why you use Escort They're shielded from RADAR detector detectors. Never been detected. I was following a friend one night from NC to VA. He has a V1 and I had the Escort. A VA State Trooper passed me to pull him over. Fortunately he only got a warning and had to put the detector in the trunk

And the 9500ix is what my better half uses and I have the 360ci.

The problem for us in Virginia (and DC) is even with a non-emitting IF, the thingy sitting on top of the dashboard is visible to everyone. My gut feeling is VSP pays more attention to out-of-state cars in this respect. I can't justify a multiple thousand stealth installation.

-- Chuck

Best thing about the latest Escort 360 line, is the built-in GPS. And ability to note same area, false hits. The Valentine I had, did not have this option. The number of false hits (esp in city driving) was crazy! The darn thing would goes off continuously on some major streets.

Escort is precise on highway. Nearly every Ka hit here in CA, is a CHP. Sometimes, you need to ready look to find them, as they often hide themselves quite well. :)

Oh, I can... :D I've probably asked before, but where in VA, Chuck?

Escort has had built-in GPS for some time. I bought the 9500IX just for that reason and then the 9500ci and then the 360ci. I'm rather fond of Escort. :)

Ha just mount it in the grill and claim it is part of the cruise control/collision detection system.