looking for a radar detector.

Looking to choose between these 2. Most of the people at http://www.m3forum.com/ are using the valentine and swear by it.

Anyone have the escort 9500i ? i guess this is the latest model w/ GPS.

Thanks in advance

 

Please don't start this argument. lol. From what I've read the 9500i has the edge right now, thats what I would get. The only thing I don't like about it (small issue) is it looks like a honda toy, blinking light security system, etc. Its a nice detector tho. V1s need an update IMHO

 

Tastes great!

Less filling!

I've got a couple of V1's for my Nissans. It's a personal preference as no radar detector will protect you from all tickets and any of the good ones will protect you for most applications.

Last month I was traveling to Las Vegas for business and my detector was giving me four to five miles worth of warning across the flat desert. At that distance you can't even see the cop car looking right at it ... and there's no way in heck he could see you either.

Around town the cops work in hunter-killer groups on motorcycles. The hunter will park his bike 20-40 feet down a side street and he'll stand with the radar gun held close to his body. Even if you see him (unlikely) he looks like he's writing a report or something. The killers sit one or two city blocks away and ticket the catches as radioed from the hunter. I've see one hunter work with three killers. The killer just leaves his gun running 100% of the time so the traps are easy to detect.

The CHiPs are know to trail vehicles in their blind spots so no radar detector is going to work there. The detectors do pick up the aircraft using speed radar.

 

Bel RX65

I went through the same thing and all of the review pointed me to this one. Plus the speaker is on the left side (towards the driver if mounted in the middle). I purchased the mirror mount from joycrafts and the install looks as clean as a whistle. This detector has been great. I also got the smartcord with the mute button and located that to mute when needed. See this thread > https://my350z.com/forum/audio-and-video/219275-beltronics-smartcord-custom-install.html

 

Right now I would say the 9500i just because there are actually some useful features now.

I have a V1 and love it, and will always keep it... Maybe get a 9500i if the V1 doesn't get an update sometime in the near future.

But with the different GPS things you can do, and getting rid of the false signal's right now the 9500i has the edge. But it is brand new so that is expected.

 

I still need my arrows, i have 3 v1's...one for each car. But since only one car is running, my best friend has one and my little brother is supposed to have another.

 

thanks guys for the help, been doing research for 2 days now.

Going to SB and Irvine next week, so wanted to make sure i can speed without getting into too much trouble =)

Thanks again

 

V1 with remote audio and concealed display

used it in my firebird for a long time, moved it to my new z\

best radar i've ever bought, too many stories to go into to tell you how much i love it

i actually just finished hardwiring it last week, ill put some pics up
can't figure out where to put the remote audio yet, so i just stuck it on the right side of the driver's seat

mounted the concealed display right in back of my inspection sticker (dead bottom/driver-side part of winshield)
mounted main unit on rear passanger-side headliner, 2nd clip on the headliner, drilled a hole through the V1 mount and grinded/sanded it a bit, also cut a line from the hole i drilled on the V1 mount out the side of the mount so i could fit the wire in, otherwise i would not have been able to use the oem headliner clip. worked perfectly

wiring...
bought "Add-a-circuit" from autozone...
wired main unit to remote audio adapter, through headliner down driver-side a-pillar through dash up center counsil
wired remote audio adapter to the direct power adapter, mounted direct power adapter at the fuse box
wired concealed display down below the a-pillar and connected to the direct power adapter accessory

 

I think you will be happy with either. The escort has the advantage with the GPS features, and the v1 has the advantage with the arrows. I personally would go with the escort, just because false alarms are really annoying to me, and sometimes they make you not take the alerts seriously. I also have the laser shifter which links to the escort detectors.

 

I just went out and bought this, thanks again for all the input.




sorry for the pics, camera phone

 

For the same price(maybe a hundred $ more) than the new escort 9500i costs you could have bought the escort SR7 with shifters(jammers) on e-bay.... The SR7 is hidden in the bumper and has what the V1 and the 9500i don't have(a scrambler). Have it and swear by it! I have three cops in the family and tested it myself with the help of their radar AND IT WORKS! I would love to know how the 9500i works though from a user and not the company. I wanted to get one I can switch between my other two vehicles.

 

I have an Escort 8500. Is this model way out dated? BTW Jammers won't work against Laser

 

I just bought this yesterday after a serious scare with my GF driving the car (save that for another thread when i have enough time to tell the story). It seems to work really great so far and not alot of false alarms. Never used the v1 though so don't really have any way of comparing the two.