[Lassaxi]

Originally Posted by Calgary Agent

And to those who quote journalists who characterize the programing steps as archaic, let's just say that in less than 1 minute you can custom tune your V1 to tune out 95% of the annoying alerts so prevalent when driving in the city.

Of course, such "custom tuned" settings are untested- both in terms of how effective they are in reducing falses, and in terms of how they affect the detector's performance. The effect that reprogramming will have on the V1's warning performance likely depends significantly on what you change. After all, as Valentine Research clearly says about reprogramming: "The risk is that you’ll diminish your situation awareness. Worse yet, you might inadvertently disable a protection you really need. So think carefully before changing the factory settings."

The alternative is that you could spend less money and buy a different model that has better false filtering on its factory default settings. The benefit of sticking with factory defaults is that the various independent and industry-supported tests generally stick close to the factory defaults in their tests, so you will have a better idea of what sort of performance to expect. But, I suppose if you just can't live without your arrows, reprogramming is probably your best option.

[RaDaRkInG]

Bel and Escort do not offer better filtering than the Valentine One, they make detectors that are less sensitive to radar and lidar and they use a computer to judge that it is not an alert if it only alerts for a brief period of time.

Just check out the third video of the Escort 8500 X50 not alerting to a lidar gun in stealth mode while the Valentine One does. The guy thought that he was using POP radar in the first and second video but he was actually using instant-on radar so the Escort 8500 X50 was not alerting to instant-on radar 50% of the time in the first video but the Valentine One alerted to it 100% of the time in the first and second video.

Lasaxxi, be sure and tell me about all that great Bel and Escort filtering that they offer and how they dominate the V1 in filtering so I can laugh at you again and again. The Bel and Escort "filtering" makes their detectors not alert to real alerts and people will receive a ticket because Bel and Escort users like quiet detectors no matter what the cost. The Valentine One lets the intelligent user decide what to do with all that useful information.

[Lassaxi]

Originally Posted by RaDaRkInG

Bel and Escort do not offer better filtering than the Valentine One, they make detectors that are less sensitive to radar and lidar and they use a computer to judge that it is not an alert if it only alerts for a brief period of time.

Just check out the third video of the Escort 8500 X50 not alerting to a lidar gun in stealth mode while the Valentine One does. The guy thought that he was using POP radar in the first and second video but he was actually using instant-on radar so the Escort 8500 X50 was not alerting to instant-on radar 50% of the time in the first video but the Valentine One alerted to it 100% of the time in the first and second video.

Lasaxxi, be sure and tell me about all that great Bel and Escort filtering that they offer and how they dominate the V1 in filtering so I can laugh at you again and again. The Bel and Escort "filtering" makes their detectors not alert to real alerts and people will receive a ticket because Bel and Escort users like quiet detectors no matter what the cost. The Valentine One lets the intelligent user decide what to do with all that useful information.

Right. I would totally believe a random Youtube video over published testing results. We've already discussed the difference in laser detection abilities, which were both clearly reported and put into proper context by the Motor Trend test results we discussed previously.

Now, regarding instant-on radar, I have a hard time believing that you would trust a Youtube video over published test results. In fact, and much to my surprise, even the GOL instant-on tests you like to trumpet as the best prove that you are wrong, and that the 8500 (and other units) correctly found instant-on radar 3 of 3 times:



However, since you seem to believe what people post on youtube, I'm sure you'll be interested in this video, which demonstrates the V1's poor filtering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq-5Ch8UwDE

Or perhaps this video, which shows the V1 being utterly confused by false signals, while two competing models are not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJJAVN9A3kY

But, alas, I'm sure you'll decry these as erroneous, incorrect, or the product of "stupid" users, while your information is the only correct information.

Frankly, I'm not surprised that you would laugh at me for pointing out the Escort's and BEL's superior filtering because, after all, people often laugh at things they don't understand. In an effort to try and make it easier for you, here is what three other reviewers have to say:

From Autoweek: "But the Valentine unit lets you know where
everything is; in metro areas, it sounds off so frequently
that you find yourself ignoring it, or you just turn it
off."

From Amazon.com: "False alarms are one of the major
annoyances of radar detector use. In our tests, the 8500
was surprisingly adept at minimizing false alarms from
home garage door systems, as well as home and commercial
security systems that commonly operate on X-band radar.
The unit's city sensitivity setting decreases sensitivity
to X-band sources, while the highway setting does not. We
found the unit's powerful "AutoSensitivity" mode the most
accurate, however, as it dynamically filtered all types of
radar signals and identified which sources were a
legitimate threat. We got a few false alarms, but for the
most part, annoying chirps from bogus X-band sources were
uncommon."

From laserveil.com: "Unless heavily programmed, the V1 can
quickly become tiresome during city driving because of
it's extreme sensitivity from both the front, back, and
side to all bonafide radar sources, and that includes door
openers and the like. I would sure like to see some more
filtering modes, like minimizing the intial alerts from
the side with weak radar signals, which routinely come
from door openers (X & K) or the passing of other vehicles
which have a cheap (ie; leaky with Ka) radar detector. . .
For those not willing to accept the higher false potential
that the Valentine may provide in certain circumstances,
there are a number of other fine top radar detectors that
provide very nearly the same level of radar detection
performance with an arguably better balance of filtering
resulting in a generally quieter detector (particularly
the Beltronics RX-65 Pro, Beltronics STi Driver, Escort
Passport 8500 X50, and potentially the Escort Passport
9500i with it's speed sensitive sensitivity filtering
mode). The advantage that these alternatives provide is
that they tend to alert to a higher percentage of bonafide
radar threats than to false ones."

We can play this game all day long. In fact, it would seem that you do play this game all day long, because people on other forums have noticed your overwhelming fanboyism, and have questioned your credibility and reliability too:

From cherokeesrt8.com:

Many have claimed that "RaDaRkInG" is either Mike Valentine himself or an employee of Valentine. I agree that he must be. I am on many forums and this guy is EVERYWHERE spamming it up. If my assumption is wrong than "RaDaRkInG" is just a loser with no life.


With that said, I still love my V1 radar.

From nsxprime.com:

RaDaRkInG, Do you work for Valentine? You are on most every automotive and radar detector forum and all of your posts are talking up the V1. Seems a little suspect that you only go to forums to talk about about one thing. Anyone that is curious, google search his name. Kind of interesting.

Will

From iwsti.com:

yep. He denies working for them - but he spends every single post he ever makes promoting the V1 and being sure to insult all other detectors. Again, check his posts on NASIOC and even here - you'll see what i mean.

What's very unfortunate is that IF he is somehow compensated by V1 - i would feel sorry for them. I am a V1 owner and love the product - but I kid you not, i second guessed buying it when i first came across this guys posts - because I was skeptical about giving business to a company that condones such poor business ethics.

From mbworld.com (from a post immediately below RaDaRkInG's:

Please don't listen to anything this guy^^^^^^^ says. While he's right about the V1 being a great detector, everything else on the market isn't crap. Read his posts, he bashes anything and everything not named Valentine One. And he always, ALWAYS, quotes the same website over and over and over. I don't know if he works for them or what. He's bashed my K40 detector and jammer countless times when I have real world evidence that it works great.

And, from redlineforums.com:

Originally Posted by XeroState
"radarking, the ONLY time you come on here is when a thread has the words "radar detector" in the title and all you ever say is to get the V1 and post thousands of links... 1 or 2 is enough.

And truthfully, after 2 years it almost sounds like you work for them.

They maybe the best, but you don't have to quote everyone and tell them they are wrong or misinformed when it's FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE [how can that even be misinformed?]. How about a simple response stating what you want to say and thats that. I don't even read your posts or click on any of your links anymore. "

umm.. obviously he works for them, he gave a number to call and buy them and promised a 10% discount too.... do i smell non-listed vendor? thats neither here nor there. anyway i hear good things about the V1 BUT the price range is 3-4 times what the others cost too..

__________________

Their words- not mine. And, there's plenty more where these came from.

So, my friend, how much longer would you like to keep this up? Personally, I think I've made my points, supported them appropriately, and am happy to let the users decide. There is a choice in buying radar detectors. The V1 is what it is, and nothing more. Choose wisely.

[Appropriate]

Aye carumba.

[Richwm]

Originally Posted by E92Vancouver

How the heck did they cut that square so perfectly?

dremmel really slow speed, click V-1 concealment link in my sig.

[Atsnow]

Originally Posted by Richwm

dremmel really slow speed, click V-1 concealment link in my sig.

told you

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by RaDaRkInG

Bel and Escort do not offer better filtering than the Valentine One, they make detectors that are less sensitive to radar and lidar and they use a computer to judge that it is not an alert if it only alerts for a brief period of time.

Just check out the third video of the Escort 8500 X50 not alerting to a lidar gun in stealth mode while the Valentine One does. The guy thought that he was using POP radar in the first and second video but he was actually using instant-on radar so the Escort 8500 X50 was not alerting to instant-on radar 50% of the time in the first video but the Valentine One alerted to it 100% of the time in the first and second video.

Lasaxxi, be sure and tell me about all that great Bel and Escort filtering that they offer and how they dominate the V1 in filtering so I can laugh at you again and again. The Bel and Escort "filtering" makes their detectors not alert to real alerts and people will receive a ticket because Bel and Escort users like quiet detectors no matter what the cost. The Valentine One lets the intelligent user decide what to do with all that useful information.

RaDARkIng or should I call you Mike Valentine? You sound desperate in your attempts to convince us, so much so that you are losing all credibility. Posting your own Youtube videos does not help matters.

Mike, it sounds like you need this sale to make your next lease payment.

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by RaDaRkInG

Just because you aren't smart enough to program the V1 to control falses doesn't mean it falses more. Try reading a little and you might learn a thing or two.

http://valentine1.com/lab/MikesLabRpt3.asp

RadARking is the smartest, Valentine are the best and everyone who doesn't agree is stupid. Way to convince us! You are the Master Debater! I hear you like to fish. Should I call you the Master Baiter?

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by RaDaRkInG

Just in case you didn't read my whole post. Speedzones.com is paid by all of the detector makers except Valentine Research to test their products.

The only testers that are truly independent and unbiased because they aren't paid by anybody are the guysoflidar.com and the Valentine One wins.

http://guysoflidar.com/august-2007/r...ctor-test.html

I would like to bring to everyone's attention that Radarkings advice is totally biased and unobjetive. He has posted 80 times on this forum and it is only to rave about the Valentine. It is obvious that Radarking is seriously demented or works for Valentine or is Mike Valentine. He lurks on this forum, but doesn't even own a Bimmer.

In fact, a quick Google of the word "RadarKing" shows that all he does all day is post on car forums such as this one, E46, CNET, 6speedonline, NSX prime, driveaccord, 300cforums, etc. This behaviour is totally pathetic! If you are going to listen to Radarking, you might us well phone the Valentine factory and ask which detector they recommend.

If the Valentine was this good, would they really have to resort to these type of Guerrilla tactics? Valentine only sells direct so that they can keep all of the profit margin for themselves, cutting out the middleman. Their prices are high. If they sold the Valentine through retail channels, the product return rate would put them out of business. People would ask for refunds because of the falsing.

Valentine's are old technology and as a result, false way too much. They try to sell their product with useless gimics like the bogey counter (which Bel and Escort have and is called a threat count) and RaDaRkInG posting on every forum possible.

RaDaRkInG cuts and pastes the same message in all of the forums. What's his ulterior motive? He must work for Valentine. Plain and simple.

Does Valentine sell a Bull Sh*t detector too?

[E92Vancouver]

Lassaxi, I just read your post that preceded mine. Looks like I came to the same conclusion after you did.

Where did RaDaRkInG disappear too?

On all the other forums, he recommends that posters call Valentine direct for the 10% discount on a refurbished unit. Valentine sure has a lot of defective units by the looks of it. Here is a RaDaRkInG quote from many forums:

"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. Tell them you don't mind being put on the waiting list. Guaranteed, they will ship a V1 out within 2 days. It will be the latest version V1.8 POP2 w/ Euro-mode and 3.864 firmware and that comes with all the accessories and a 1 year warranty."

Unbelievable!!! Thanks for your research.

[RaDaRkInG]

I am not Mike Valentine and I do not work for Valentine Research. If you live in Viriginia or a country where radar detectors are illegal, buy a BELTRONICS STi because it can't be detected by radar detector detectors. Do you think that Mike Valentine or somebody that worked for Valentine Research would tell you to buy another product?

Most intelligent people know that the Valentine One is the best at detecting radar and lidar. If you think I am biased, go to any high performance car forum and ask them what the best radar detector is and the majority will tell you Valentine One. Do you think they are all biased and work for Valentine Research? Do you realize that Valentine One radar detectors make up less than 1% of all radar detectors sold every year.

I love how you say that the $399 Valentine One is expensive. You must think that the $450-$500 Escort 9500i and $500 Beltronics STi are cheap right?

Don't get pissed off that the Valentine One is the best and most people know it except for the few dummies that cling to their Belscort models.

[Lassaxi]

Originally Posted by RaDaRkInG

Most intelligent people know that the Valentine One is the best at detecting radar and lidar.

Incorrect. Most intelligent people know that BEL and Escort make quality detectors as well.

If you think I am biased, go to any high performance car forum and ask them what the best radar detector is and the majority will tell you Valentine One.

Incorrect. In fact, people on most other high performance car forums think you are biased (as demonstrated in my last post), and agree with me that other detectors provide more than adequate performance.

Do you realize that Valentine One radar detectors make up less than 1% of all radar detectors sold every year.

No, I didn't realize that. But I think that supports my point- not yours.

I love how you say that the $399 Valentine One is expensive. You must think that the $450-$500 Escort 9500i and $500 Beltronics STi are cheap right?

They are expensive. But let's remember that the V1 is just a radar detector, while the 9500i also includes built-in GPS technology to enhance its false alarm filtering. And, you already told us why the STi is worth $500 - it's undetectable by RDDs. That's a real benefit -- not a gimmick like arrows -- that makes the STi useable in places where you can't use any other radar detector without getting a ticket.

If you want to compare apples with apples, compare the V1 to the 8500 x50, which is as much as $100 less from the factory.

Don't get pissed off that the Valentine One is the best and most people know it except for the few dummies that cling to their Belscort models.

Insulting owners of other radar detectors does not make the V1 the best. It just makes you look like an ass, and it distorts your credibility. The V1 performs well, but there are plenty of tests where the V1 does not come out on top. And, virtually every test that has compared false alarm filtering has shown the V1 to be vastly inferior to models from BEL and Escort.

[neo871]

i have the Bel STi Driver and am really satisfied....

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by RaDaRkInG

I am not Mike Valentine and I do not work for Valentine Research. If you live in Viriginia or a country where radar detectors are illegal, buy a BELTRONICS STi because it can't be detected by radar detector detectors. Do you think that Mike Valentine or somebody that worked for Valentine Research would tell you to buy another product?

Most intelligent people know that the Valentine One is the best at detecting radar and lidar. If you think I am biased, go to any high performance car forum and ask them what the best radar detector is and the majority will tell you Valentine One. Do you think they are all biased and work for Valentine Research? Do you realize that Valentine One radar detectors make up less than 1% of all radar detectors sold every year.

I love how you say that the $399 Valentine One is expensive. You must think that the $450-$500 Escort 9500i and $500 Beltronics STi are cheap right?

Don't get pissed off that the Valentine One is the best and most people know it except for the few dummies that cling to their Belscort models.

RaDaRkInG, unfortunately most of what you say is dishonest, biased and embarassing. Your actions are obviously motivated by financial gain due to the scripted propaganda you spread on all of the car forums. This would lead anyone with a modicum of common sense to suspect that you work for Valentine One. How else can your inappropriate behaviour be explained?

One only has to GOOGLE your moniker to see that you are an unwelcome troll on other car forums and the moderators are quick to ban you. The vitriol you spew from your mouth is tiresome and your arguments on why the Valentine is the best is mostly incoherent and backed by facts mostly made up by you.

When other posters quote reliable 3rd party reviews and comments that are detrimental to the Valentine or praise other detectors, you resort to juvenile insults.

Most intelligent people know that the Valentine One is the best at detecting radar and lidar. If you think I am biased, go to any high performance car forum and ask them what the best radar detector is and the majority will tell you Valentine One.

On any of the other car forums, people have an intelligent debate on radar detectors. Unfortunately, you have a propensity to troll forums, looking for threads that are about radar detectors and immediately start your communist, scripted, cut and pasted propoganda.

Do you think they are all biased and work for Valentine Research? Do you realize that Valentine One radar detectors make up less than 1% of all radar detectors sold every year.

This is exactly what I would expect. Why do you think this is? Maybe, just maybe, they are not as good? Personally, I think Valentine are fine and the performance is on par with other high end detectors. Unfortunately, Valentine is a direct marketer and many people are not comfortable buying products this way. When you purchase an item from a retail channel, you can buy the product instantly and return it instantly if you don't like it. Plain and simple.

I love how you say that the $399 Valentine One is expensive. You must think that the $450-$500 Escort 9500i and $500 Beltronics STi are cheap right?

Gringo, you are not comparing apples to apples. The 9500i is a superior product with features not offered by the Valentine. The Valentine is not offered through retail channels, so there is no competition and one price! Because other detectors are available online and from retailers, there are discounts to be had, making detectors that are comparable to the Valentine, much cheaper.

Valentine is a small niche player that does not make the same scale of profits as a manufacturer like Bel or Escort. As a result, Valentine has limited money to put into research and development. For all intents and purposes, he is offering the same detector as he did from day one. Don't forget that Valentine was the last radar detector to offer POP protection and when the Valentine did not have POP, Mike Valentine spent a lot of marketing dollars saying that POP detection was not needed. Finally he capitulated and offered POP.

Don't get pissed off that the Valentine One is the best and most people know it except for the few dummies that cling to their Belscort models

There you go with the insults again. The only think people get pissed off at is you. You are not a car enthusiast, but a marketer for Valentine One. Your tactics are highly suspect and detrimental to the reputation of Valentine One. Should I buy a Valentine so that you think I am smart? How could Iin good conscience, buy a product from a company that would employ the likes of you and condone your behaviour?

If you truly don't work for Valentine One, you have some serious mental issues and I would recommend that Valentine One get a warrant to find your IP address and get a restraining order against you to cease and desist. Valentine reads these car forums and their inaction tells me a lot. If I was Mike Valentine, I would not want you pretending to represent the company to the ether.

"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. Tell them you don't mind being put on the waiting list. Guaranteed, they will ship a V1 out within 2 days. It will be the latest version V1.8 POP2 w/ Euro-mode and 3.864 firmware and that comes with all the accessories and a 1 year warranty."

The above statement has been cut and pasted by you numerous times in other car forums. This statement speaks volumes about the Valentine product. Either a lot of people don't like them and return them or return them because they are unhappy about something. This statement is not the way to market a supposedly good product.

RaDaRkInG, the gig is up. Move on to another forum where they don't know about you yet.

[nmcampbell]

Originally Posted by RaDaRkInG

First of all, Radartest.com is run by a guy named Craig Peterson who works for Bel and Escort so he bashes the V1 every chance he gets and promotes Bel and Escort products. He got busted trying to sabotage the Guysoflidar.com 2007 radar detector test and he had to part with a couple thousand dollars on top of the $1000 radar gun that he hid under camouflauge on top of a mountain to throw off the testing.

http://www.radardetector.net/viewtop...biassed+biased

http://www.guysoflidar.com/march-2007/sabotage.html


Second of all, Speedzones.com aka Speed Measurement Laboratories (SML) is paid by all of the radar detector makers except for Valentine Research to test the radar detectors so how do you think they are going to talk about the Valentine One?


Radarbusters.com is run by Radar Roy Reyer who doesn't sell the Valentine One so which radar detector do you think is going to win in his testing?


Myradardetector.com uses the same testing from Speedzones.com aka Speed Measurement Laboratories (SML) so they are paid by the detector makers except for Valentine Research.


And last but not least, try using the latest 2005 Motor Trend test and not the 2004 Motor Trend test like you used. And for the record, Motor Trend based their review on the radar detection test that Speedzones.com aka Speed Measurement Laboratories (SML) held. I will help you out with who the winner was in the latest test.

http://www.motortrend.com/features/m...r_buyersguide/

http://www.motortrend.com/features/m...de/index8.html

"With its directional arrows, combined with outstanding sensitivity across all bands, the Valentine One remains the standard by which all other radar/laser detectors are measured against."


http://www.motortrend.com/features/m...de/index9.html

Valentine One received 88/100 points
BEL Vector 995 received 84/100 points
Escort 8500 X50 Red received 78/100 points
Escort 8500 X50 Blue received 78/100 points

Hey Mike (Valentine):

I already bought your product....no need to keep trying to sell me on it. And for those who aren't sold, they probably still aren't going to agree with you.

[nmcampbell]

Originally Posted by Hester

Thats nothing - last night, a D.J. saved my life!

You're an idiot.

[E92Vancouver]

Nmcampbell. There is nothing wrong with a Valentine One. RaDaRkIng though is another story.....

[radix]

Originally Posted by Lassaxi

I just realized that I neglected to respond to this rubbish.

I'm not even going to cite any numbers. I'll just post a picture:



I stand by my position...

Do you usually drive right down the middle of the road?

[nmcampbell]

Originally Posted by E92Vancouver

Nmcampbell. There is nothing wrong with a Valentine One. RaDaRkIng though is another story.....

Dude,

With all due respect, you need to learn how to UNDERSTAND what you read before trying to give someone your opinion as a response.

If you had, you would have realized that I have a Valentine 1 and have no complaints.

[Lassaxi]

Originally Posted by anmcguire

Do you usually drive right down the middle of the road?

Only when I'm driving through the desert with 3 radar detectors on my windshield.

[E92Vancouver]

Originally Posted by nmcampbell

Dude,

With all due respect, you need to learn how to UNDERSTAND what you read before trying to give someone your opinion as a response.

If you had, you would have realized that I have a Valentine 1 and have no complaints.

I did read it, and was endorsing it.

[lablueboy]

Originally Posted by ElectroVoice

TO all the Cali people:

I thought CHP no longer use radar to catch speeding?!!!

They use aircrafts to catch speeding now.