I'm looking for the best radar detector that can fit my budget. $100-150. Anyone has any sugestions? Maybe the cobra 797?

 

Most are going to say don't waste your money on that, get a V1 but if you have a budget i'd suggest searching google for radar detector reviews to get an idea...

And So I understand it, alot of police wait till they see you to get a reading...the only thing I think the RD is good for is if they are clocking somone else, at which point they'll prolly pull them over anyways GL

Hope this helps a little, I'll try and find some links, Let Us Know what you get and how it works

 

Well, Escort just put their new 9500i up on their site. Seems like a new one comes out every three years. Actually, it doesn't seem that much of an improvement over the old one. Although they have some cool features on their like memory stored location for hot spots, I still don't think it is worth 450 bucks.

 

As a younger guy I went through through five of the $100-150 radar detectors including a couple of Cobra's and several Bels. None of them worked very well, with lots of falsing signal issues, and on top of that durability sucked with the on-off and mode buttons literally wearing out on a couple of them. The cords were another issue, and all of them required a replacement cord and two ended-up with cord receptacles in the detector going bad.

I had originally looked at the Valentines early on and decided against them because of their high cost. After wasting my money on the other cheaper options, I finally saved my money and bought a V1 in the early 90's and it was money well spent. I travel a lot, and it has saved me so many tickets its not funny. The accuracy level and directional feature are on a different scale than anything I had owned previously. Reliable is the best way to describe it. 12-13 years later I still have the same detector, same cord, still working like a champ after all these years. I seriously doubt any other detector is going to give you that long-term investment value. Just a thought from a guy thats been down both paths.

Thats my .02, and you knew someone was going to throw the V1 in there didn't you?

JR

 

If you don't mind buying items like this online I'd suggest searching through Ebay (once you've decided on a model). I have an Escort SR7 which is basically the 8500 but you install it permanently. It works fantastic. Some people will tell you that the V1 is better and not to waste your money on anything else.

Radar Busters is a good website for learning about radar detectors, reading reviews, and learning what all is out there.

I have found in Washington that 99% of the time the State Patrol is using laser guns and city/county are going to be the ones using a ka band radar gun. This is if they actually are sitting at a speed trap. If they are driving around with a gun on it's going to be radar. Point? You'll probably want to look into getting laser shifters as well as a radar detector. My shifters have saved me on many many occasions.

 

im actually disppointed with my wireless escort. everbody says they pick up cops a couple miles down the road. mine picks them up when they are like 2 seconds away or i can see them already and i just brake. i was expecting it to be a lot better than what it turned out to be. i know someone who has the cobra and is very happy with it.

 

Bought a used 8500 from craigslist since the previous owner upgraded to a V1. Works great and has saved my A _ _ a few times. Look around, if 150 is what you have, try a used 8500 passport and be done with it

 

do you realize that a radar detector detects radars that are on? maybe cops on the side of the road dont have a turned on radar or arent even looking or responding to the people on teh road for that matter. they could just be sleeping lol.

all cobras suck. proven fact lol. i have the 8500 it works and functions perfectly. try to buy a used one or get it off ebay. the v1 is just as accurate imo but also has directional output readings. plus its not as portable as an 8500.

 

Thanks but the V1 and the escort are a little to much of what i'm looking for. I'm going to keep looking for a couple more days and I will choice one later this week and post my results.

 

try looking for a 2nd hand V1 rather than a new cheaper brand . Really - why waste your money on something that may not be up to the task.

 

like others have said - either save your money, or buy a Valentine V1. Yeah its 400 dollars but it's saved my *** tons of times. A radar detector doenst make it safe to speed, it only gives you a higher probability of knowing when NOT to speed. If that makes any sense.

 

^^^Ditto--Amen!!

But I think you meant "do save your money and buy a Valentine V1".

A top-of-the-line radar/laser detector (that's the V1 IMHO) performs vastly better than the cheapies and is a sound investment.

 

I used to have a cheap RD in my old car. After I got pulled over the cop looked in the window, saw it, and said "You might as well throw that thing in the trash." I saved up and bought the V1 and have never looked back. It's paid for itself over and over. After having it for so long it just sees silly to have a detector that doesn't tell you what direction the radar is coming from. And yes I did throw the old one in the trash like the cop suggested.

 

You'll have to decide between an Escort and a V1. Escort being much cheaper and almost works the same as a V1. Any others is just a waste of money.. I was going to get one of these but here in Miami, I rarely see any cops lol.. But I will soon enough.. I always speed coming down from work.. Maybe one day they'll catch me. Gotta get a radar detector..

 

hehe

 

http://www.escortradar.com/9500i-inside-look.htm

 

Do not waste you money on any Cobra product - they just din't do the job. ANYTHING else is better - and I have a few tickets to prove it...

 

The Valentine One is still #1 according to the latest independent unbiased radar detector test.

http://guysoflidar.com/radar-detecto...ctor-test.html

 

Also I should mention for those with a V1. In my area no one uses x band for anything car related, but it would detect it all the time.

Went to V1's site and found the directions to turn off that band entirely. Now it only goes off for bands I know the cops in my area use, no false alarms.

 

FWIW I use a Bel 980 and love it. Few very and minimal false positives even on highway mode and never misses a legit signal.

 

I actually had pretty decent performance out of my Bel detectors in the early 90's, and I found that the only thing that made them really false badly had to do with early model Bel detectors which for some reason would set mine off like crazy.

 

There's a Valentine One on eBay currently bid at around $100…
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Valen...spagenameZWDVW

 

Just buy Valentine's man... it is a little more expensive than anything else but you the arrows pointing to where the signal is coming from is priceless... sometimes you DO get what you pay for...

 

The Valentine One is still #1 according to the latest independent unbiased radar detector test.

http://guysoflidar.com/radar-detecto...ctor-test.html

Call Valentine Research at 1 800 331 3030 and ask for a returned V1 and you will get 10% off the retail price of $399. It will be the latest version V1.8 POP2 w/ Euro-mode and 3.858 firmware and that comes with all the accessories and a 1 year warranty.

 

I've went through several over the years. Best source of radar reviews I've found is http://www.radartest.com/. The Bel 920 is a good reliable RD that is very economical. It scores fairly high on sensitivity (in "range" with the higher priced Bel's, including the RX-65, AND the V1 and Escort), but lacks alot of the bells and whistles. I looked for high sensitivity since I knew my price range was on the lower side and was willing to trade off "falsing ability" for better warning ability. After all, the main purpose was to not get zapped, annoyances of false signals aside.

I bought the 920 from Whale-Mart ($99) last year and used that pretty reliably in my 83 280ZX. When I bought my 8 in August, I used Bel's trade-in program, got $80 credit, and bought the Bel RX-65, which is rated as high as the V1 and Escort 8500. The trade-in program is better than V1's and Escorts'. I got almost all the money back that I paid against the better detector. V1's trade-in isn't that great because Mike Valentine doesn't have the range of products that Bel has (granted the V1 is top-notch and there are plenty of arguments against cheaper RD's). But if you think you might upgrade later, the Bel offers a good value. Stay away from any other brands (i.e K40, Cobra, and even Uniden now. Uniden was started by the same guys who started Cincinatti Microwave, where Mike Valentine also began his career; but Uniden's have gone downhill since the divestiture to Escort)

The Bel also has a "smart cord" (like the 8500) that allows you to relocate the interactive buttons, and I set my RD in dark mode at night, so Officer Friendly doesn't see it from behind.

Watch out for Ebay auctions and the V1. There are alot of these on eBay, but you have to pay attention to the firmware versions. Most of the good auctions will post a serial number, which you can then track through the Valentine website to see how far back the firmware is to the current release. Most of the ones on Ebay are 3-4 years old, and the owners are selling them off to upgrade to the newest release. You get a better return by selling to a noob on Ebay Than the V1 trade-in.

Caveat Emptor!