Does anyone have recommendations for a good radar detector? I don't want to spend much more than $150 bucks, however I don't want to buy anything that is useless either.

Of course I never plan to exceed the posted speed limits in my new rx-8:p

 

Typically the only good radar detector that you can buy cheap over the internet is the Bel line.

Passport and of coarse Valentine One are great detectors as well but they are tough to get a really good deal on.

Bel and Passport are owned by the same company and thus benefit from each others reasearch. Mr. Valentine used to work for Passport before creating his own company.

Personally those are the only three brands of radar detection I would buy. Cobra, Uniden, Whistler etc. will all work but not as well.

-Mr. Wigggles

 

The V1 is by far the best detector out there. I had a Passport in my FC and a V1 in my FD a couple of years ago. The V1 was far more sensitive, with False Alerts coming from automatic doors... But the V1 saved my butt many times on drives from Vegas to Reno, to LA, bay area, etc... So much so that I sold the Passport and got another V1 for my FC. (I sold the FC with the V1)

Expect to pay an assload for the V1, however. They aren't cheap. But you sure get what you pay for. Plus free upgrades for life.

 

Thanks for the great suggestions. How much does the V1 typically cost?

 

Unless you can find a good one used, you really aren't going to find a good radar detector for $150 and below. Manufacturers have to skimp on performance to get below that price.

One way of skimping that occurs is that they limit the Ka band. You see, unlike X and K band (which is a single frequency band), Ka covers a wide range of frequencies. A good portion of common Ka radar units use one or two frequencies. So, one way that cheaper radar detectors skimp is that instead of covering the whole Ka band, they only cover one or two frequencies, and are completely incapable of detecting many of the Ka radar units out there (especially the high-end ones like the "Stalker", which you need to detect the most).

But that's just one way, and that's why there aren't any "good" radar detectors for under $150 new.

---jps

 

They aren't "free" upgrades. You have to pay a little to get an updated unit. The last time I checked into "trading in" my '97 unit for the latest and greatest, it cost in the ballpark of $150.

---jps

 

I think the V1 is about $400 new. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

$400 and worth every penny.

I love mine.

 

I'm new to this concept (current car too slow to need the warning ) , can anyone tell me where in the RX-8 I would mount the detector and how it is powered? It would be a shame to change the aesthetics of the fine interior by supergluing a non factory device to the dash...

 

I also have a Passport 8500, and I'm very happy with it. The 7500 I had before it, was a POS.

Everyone who has driven with a V1 raves about the directional arrows...I'd love to try one for a while to see just how much they add to the overall experience and usefullness.

 

Based off your suggestions and after doing a little research on my own, looks like I'm going to need to get the crowbar out and pry my wallet open a little more

I think the V1 looks to be about the best in terms of giving maximum information on possible threats. I guess I'll simply justify it to the goverment(my wife) as an insurance policy :p

 

LOL!
________
YAMAHA SR500

 

I have a Snooper S5-R that I bought at the birmingham motor show. It is very good especially with laser speed traps. That was about £240. If you really want to get the best the new Snooper S6-R is what you want. It is a GPS detector as well as a standard detector so the non radar emitting system can be deceted also. But a £600 its a bit pricey.

 

You can get the top of the line BEL 985 for a pinch over $200

http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=zer...0,pos:0,ppos:0

I think you'll be happy with it. I don't have this model but my current Bel is serving me well.

I think the Bel is the best value on the market and should preform very well against the Passport 8500.

http://www.radartest.com/article.asp?articleid=1064

-Mr. Wigggles

 

one of the best sites out there for detector comparisons...
radartest.com

btw, b/c of the physics of light, the arrows mean jack if the signal is from the left or right other than just letting you know where the signal is coming from since even if your doin 200mph, your lateral radar profile will be 0mph, think about it and it makes sense. Also keep in mind that radar signals are reflected off EVERYTHING; so a stay beam could actually trick the arrows.

I have the passport 8500 and it is the ****. Two reasons I went with the passport over the Valentine1 (V1):

1) $$$$ of course

2) aestetics, the profile of the 8500 looks cooler than the V1 w/o loosing any functionality. Not to mention the V1 is also the biggest detector out there and obstructs more of the road.

Other reasons are listed on the site mentioned above. A summary of these is:

V1 disadvantages: poor Ka band detection distance (23000ft where the passport detects at 40000ft). Since Ka is the hardest to detect and becoming the frequency of choice b/c of its very lower power output and high accuracy, this makes the V1 a poor choice for the 21st century. Passport can also pick up up to 8 simultaneous signals and the strength of each, V1 only shows that there are multiple signals.
V1 advantages: all that I can find is that it did detect the lazer signal more readily than any other detector. However, keep in mind that b/c of the extremely narrow beam from the lazer (about 18 inches at 1000 feet), unless the cop coughs and the beam grazes the detector, NO DETECTOR on the market will pick it up.

Passport 8500 and most of the 900 series Bel are fantastic, only difference for the most part is that the Bel's will talk to you.

Moral of the story. $150 will buy you assurance only, there is no way it will get you a detector that will save your ***. If you cant afford a Passport, Bel, or the V1, don't buy one till you can. All others are crap.

 

I don't know who runs radartest.com and I don't think it matters.

Car and Driver did a test of all the detectors and the V1 came out number one. I'll take their word for it.

 

that's a somewhat ignorant approach to information.

I am not in the business of cracking on one radar detector over another. i bought one over the other. i don't sell either of them so I have no reason to recommend one over the other except for what i have read on the web. I looked at every piece of info I could get my hands on and picked the one i thought was better IMO.

Car and Driver is a respectable company, as is Consumer Reports, and soooo many others. That said, any one of them can and do suffer certain biases. i never take any one persons opinion to make a blind buying decision, especially not when im throwing down 300 bux. i would never expect anyone to make such an uninformed decision about anything for that matter.

Take to POS kia sephia. Im willing to bet my life that a few, very credible companies rated it an awesome, but it ended up being a shitty lemon. Im not trying to start a flame war hear, just provide the information for other people to choose what's right for them.

 

Consumersearch.com has some interesting points re the various testing sites.

First-hand comparison at Epinions.com

Review commentary at Epinions

Finally, Mike Valentine's comments on Mike Peterson of radartests.com

 

speaking of ignorance and relevance...
who cares what it looks like.

 

Eccles- thanks for the links, they are very informative. Now I'm back on the fence betweeen the V1 and the Passport 8500

 

From what I have read on the Internet, several different sources warn about www.radartest.com not being objective.

 

Only reason I say to get the V1 is due to upgradability.

If there is a new firmware you can send yours out, and for $30 it's upgraded. If they change it entirely, you send it out and for ~$150 you get a new unit. Repair service is also reasonable after warranty.

That's why I'd suggest getting the V1. It's infinitely upgradeable and if the Passport gets outdated... you're screwed. The V1 you will pay a bit, but not as much as it costs to buy either. That, and the construction quality is really superb. Specially after they switched to magnesium casings.

 

How frequently have you upgraded yours? If the price difference is $100 up front, I would have to get an upgrade 3 times $30*3 +Shipping) to make up the difference between the 8500 and V1. If they completely redesign the unit and I need to pay for the upgrade it's then a $250 difference, without taking into account any upgrades I had purchased in the interim. At that point wouldn't I be better off buying the latest and greatest radar detector on the market?

Please don't get me wrong, I greatly appreciate your thoughts. I am simply trying to makes sense of the economics of it

 

ignorance, what are you talking about. Didnt pick it for this reason only. Secondly, relevance; your damn right looks matter. Don't tell me you would still buy the RX-8 if it looked like a eurovan.

The passport is upgradeable but i can't find any information on price, specifics. Anyhow the V1 is about 12 years old. In the X, and K band its the top of it's game, but it needs to be upgraded. If they can get my computer to go 30 times faster on the same size chip, they can shrink the V1.